How To Navigate the Eating Season

Holiday meals and parties are approaching. Thanks to Yahoo! Shine, here are some unusual ways to keep from packing on the pounds:

1. Sniff a banana, apple, or peppermint --researchers say the more you sniff, the less hungry you are.
2. Hang a mirror opposite your seat at the table -- a study says eating in front of mirrors slashes the amount you eat by nearly a third.
3. Surround yourself with blue -- the color blue functions as an appetite suppressant (red, yellow and orange encourage eating.)
4. Shoot your food -- rather than writing down your food intake in a journal, take a picture of it. Weight loss experts have found that seeing a record of all your food helps you curb your intake.
5. Tie yourself up -- many French women wear a ribbon around their waist underneath their clothes when they go out to a dinner party. It gets them to pay special attention to eating when the ribbon feels tighter as the evening goes on.