When holiday dinners are mentioned this time of year, most of us conjure up images of guilty overindulgence, bloated bellies, and excessive amounts of wasted leftovers. However, if you can be thoughtful and prepare ahead of time, you can make healthy and mindful choices throughout the holidays to avoid the typical American weight gain of 1-3 pounds between November and January.

Fill up on vegetables first, and aim to eat much smaller portions of starchy vegetables such as potatoes/corn and meat. Did you know that a three-ounce serving of meat is the size of a deck of cards? Consider trying the plate method for your holiday dinners this year.

Choose lean meats without the skin. A 3-ounce serving of skinless white meat has 25 grams of protein, 3 grams of fat with <1 gram of saturated fat. If you skip the dark meat and skins, you will avoid the higher saturated fat content.

Prepare foods that most benefit your body, which is easy with sweet potatoes and pumpkins. These two vegetables are low in fat and excellent sources of vitamin A and fiber. Just watch out for the popular high sugar and fat additions such as brown sugar, marshmallows and butter. Consider eating a plain sweet potato with salsa or cranberries.

Buy at least half of your produce from local sources. You will be getting the freshest fruits and vegetables and will avoid the produce which has been shipped for days over thousands of miles, therefore helping the environment. Did you know that non-local fruit or vegetable may have to travel around 1,500 miles to arrive at your grocery store?

If you are accustomed to serving stuffing or gravy, consider a vegan choice and reap the health benefits by cutting back on excessive saturated fat and cholesterol intake. Try this vegan sage gravy recipe - it has only 40 calories per serving (and no saturated fat). If you would like to try a vegetarian stuffing, enjoy this wild rice and cranberry stuffing with walnuts. Eating Well has a great collection of more healthy recipes for holiday dinners.

Happy and healthy eating for your holidays!