Here are suggestions from Brian Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating," on navigating holiday parties, treats and family dinners:

Chill out: Load your drink with ice. Your body has to use energy to heat up an iced beverage — about 1 calorie per every ice-cold ounce you drink. Use tall, narrow glasses instead of short, wide ones.

The buffet rule: "Every time I go through the buffet, I can only take two different foods on my plate," said Wansink. "So you won't fill the plate up to the ceiling, and if you have to go back four or five times, you're likely to eat less."

Use smaller plates and portions: "If the matriarch of the family says, 'If you love me, you'll eat more of my dressing,' take a couple of very small helpings," advised Wansink. "She'll remember you liked it so much you took seconds or thirds, not that each helping was only a teaspoon full."

Move treats out of sight: If you must keep a candy dish out, choose candy that you don't like. "If you want to be a giving person, give a fruit bowl," Wansink said.

The best part of a dessert is the first two bites: If you order dessert, share it.

Show the evidence: Let empty cans, piles of candy wrappers, dirty plates or discarded bones remind you what you've already eaten. College students watching a Super Bowl could take unlimited amounts of chicken wings. At tables where the discarded chicken bones were quickly cleared, students kept going back for more. Students ate 28 percent less at tables where the chicken bones remained on the table.

Make serving sizes official: People eat less when food is portioned in small packages. Don't eat directly from a big bag of chips or big serving bowl of popcorn; portion it in a separate, small serving bowl or bag. When moviegoers were given a free tub of popcorn, those who got a small tub ate 53 percent less than those who got a big tub, even though it was all five day-old, stale popcorn. The taste of the popcorn didn't matter; the container size did.