Before all that holiday stuffing, gooey gravy, and high-cal dessert comes your way! Be good now and eat as healthy as possible. That way you’ll be prepared and feel a little less guilty for the inevitable gorge that will bend your diet through Christmas and New Years.

"[The season] only comes round once a year, and the last thing a person wants to do is start a diet on the holidays," says Brian Wansink of Cornell University, author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. He suggests "banking" calories by being especially virtuous the week or so before a holiday.

Brian has spent a lifetime studying what most never notice: the hidden cues that determine how much and why people eat. Using ingenious, fun, and clever experiments, Wansink takes a fascinating look at the secret dynamics behind everyone’s dietary habits.