The winter holidays are often a barrage of non-stop feasting that spans from Thanksgiving to the Super Bowl. Week after week, you indulge yourself with goodies, justifying your poor food choices in the name of holiday cheer. You promise yourself to mend your ways as soon as the excitement dies down, but meanwhile the pounds creep on and bad nutrition becomes the new normal. Cleaning up your act is a process, but you can speed it up by taking some proactive steps.

Let It Go

Gifts of food abound during the holidays, and if you are like me, you still have plenty of sweets, snacks and junk food in your fridge and cupboards. To get your diet back on track, begin by banishing the bad stuff. If you cannot bear to throw perfectly good food in the trash, donate to your local food bank or homeless shelter. Or throw one final bash, featuring your holiday stash of goodies as the main course. Clean and organize your refrigerator to make room for fresh produce, filtered water and whole foods. Rearrange your cupboards so that healthy food options are at eye level.

Clean Routine

Sugary foods and carbohydrate-laden snacks and meals are holiday mainstays that can wreak havoc with your insulin balance. Going cold turkey on the simple carbs can cause discomfort and cravings that last for two or three days, but it is one of the quickest ways to normalize your blood sugar and reset your metabolism. Adding high intensity exercise can speed up the process. Create a menu plan for your week that includes fresh fruits and vegetables and healthy proteins, and stock your fridge with ingredients. Planning and preparing healthy snacks and meals ahead of time will keep you from being tempted to grab fast food.

Self-Defense

The end of the Holiday Season does not necessarily mark the end of the eating season. Valentine’s Day and Girl Scout Cookies loom on the horizon. Prepare for the onslaught by making committed decisions in advance. Instead of preparing special foods for Valentine’s Day, plan a romantic getaway or a movie date night. Ask your sweetie for flowers or jewelry instead of candy. Decide ahead of time to purchase only one box of Girl Scout cookies, and ration them out at the rate of one cookie per day. If you want to help out the Scouts, they accept donations in lieu of a cookie purchase.

Jay Del Vecchio is the Founder and CEO of the World Instructor Training Schools (W.I.T.S.). Jay is an advocate for establishing national standards for the health and fitness training industry.