I work at home and don't have a family, so I'm lucky around the holidays -- no temptations. No Christmas cookie pushers.

I made a decision that on those rare occasions that I go out to eat -- aside from the "grab something after the movie" times -- that I was going to eat reasonably, but not agonize over carb counts. It worked for me on Thanksgiving. I had very small amounts of sweet potato and dressing, and a half a portion of apple pie with ice cream. The rest of the meal was genuinely low carb. To me, this is the way I hope to live for the rest of my life.

I think that for someone who cannot resist, say, potatoes and is used to eating two and three servings of them, this might be difficult. Probably the only other alternative is to take the bite the bullet approach -- "I'm on low carb this Christmas; please help me."

I think the most dangerous thing is to get into a mind set where you think, "If I blow Christmas, then I've failed." How many times have we done that? And then the thought is, "I'll start after the New Year," except, of course, on January 1 you have the flu, so it's starting after that, and...... and... and.....

I'd love to read other strategies, but good luck to you.