Is Your Food Personality Making You Fat?

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* Choose high-volume, high-fiber foods for dinner. You can have a satisfying meal without blowing your entire day's calorie allotment in one nighttime sitting. Just make sure the bulk of what's on your plate comes from healthfully prepared vegetables.

THE NOTORIOUS NOSHER
The problem After eating what you consider a sensible dinner -- a diet frozen entree and some cherry tomatoes -- the snacking begins. Though you nibble on just two or three cookies at a time, the night always ends with a box as empty as the 1,440 cookie calories you consumed. "Hunger is either true and authentic or emotional," Daelemans says. "If food is a very temporary fix for whatever else is ailing you, it won't work -- and it's time to explore some real solutions. If you're truly hungry, you need more nutrient-dense calories at dinner and to plan ahead for the evening snack attack."

Solutions for Notorious Noshers
* Figure out what's behind all that snacking. Keep a food journal for two weeks to get to the bottom of why you're eating, Daelemans says. Record the times you ate, what you ate and what you were feeling at that moment.

* Work healthy fat into your dinner. If you're still hungry 20 minutes after dinner, it usually means you didn't have enough protein or fat -- both bump up a meal's satisfaction level. And there's no need to be fat-phobic. "A little fat goes a long way," O'Neil says. Try drizzling a teaspoon (a mere 40 calories) of lemon- or basil-infused olive oil over steamed vegetables.

* After dinner, prep for the next day's meals. By washing spinach, chopping onions, peeling carrots or rinsing grapes, you'll satisfy your desire to be around food in a healthy way, Daelemans says, and you'll be ensuring that tomorrow's dinner is nutritious too.

* Plan your snacks. Save 200 calories of your daily total for after dinner. Split them up in the way that suits you best. Like to nibble all night? Pick post-dinner delights that offer greater volume for fewer calories, such as light popcorn, pre-cut vegetables with salsa or Mock Deep-Fried Chickpeas (see recipe here.) Or, divide your dinner in two; eat half at your usual hour and the rest later in the evening, Daelemans advises.

THE COCKTAIL PARTY PRINCESS
The problem Your evenings are a whirl of work and social functions featuring cosmos and appetizers; you've never used your oven for anything other than shoe storage. More important, you have never taken control of what you eat for dinner.

Your excuse? It's a special event. "But this is not a special event; this is the norm for your life," Sasson says.

Solutions for Cocktail Party Princesses
* Never hit a party starving. Bring a second, small lunch to work, such as soup or a pasta dish with protein (see recipe for Sesame Noodles With Chicken), and eat it about one hour before dashing out the door, Sasson advises. Or have a 150-calorie protein bar "to take the edge off," Fernstrom says.

* Set some goals for each event. Planning ahead is key. If the party is at a truly great restaurant, save calories for it, Daelemans says. Typical cocktail fare? Try taking three healthy bites (the crudités) for every high-calorie bite (the crab puffs) you consume. Also, instead of grazing, put together a meal on an actual plate -- and then curb your eating after you've finished it.

* Keep your alcoholic-drink intake to one or two -- max. Drinks add empty calories to your day's total without doing a thing to fill you up. "Liquids are not perceived by the body as well as food," Fernstrom says. To maintain a festive look, ask the bartender to make you a mocktail with seltzer, a splash of cranberry juice and a slice of lime, O'Neil advises.