With apologies to Clement C. Moore

Many of us, no matter how hard we try, have a hard time adjusting what we eat to what we need. We eat when we’re not hungry, we eat more than we need, and we don’t stop eating when we get full. The result of that lack of adjustments shows up on our hips. Ouch!

With beverage prices rising at your favorite coffee shops, wouldn’t you like an inexpensive and tasty beverage you can make in your own home?

Enjoy the following beverages at home or give as gifts to friends and family for birthdays, holidays or other special occasions. Consider these beverage mixes a fun and easy way to make delicious drinks without breaking your budget.

Holiday snacks can tempt anyone to let good intentions go, but for those with food allergies or special dietary needs, these treats can cause serious problems.

Brent Fountain, a registered dietitian and nutrition specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said planning ahead is the best way to handle the challenge of holiday cooking and eating for those with dietary limits.

10. A Healthy Dessert. Top mixed fruit with a dollop of sorbet or sherbet for dessert.

 9. Meat Substitutions. Make vegetable lasagna for non-meat eating guests. Instead of the meat layer, try spinach, eggplant, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms, or your favorite combination.

 8. Fruity Condiments. Serve fruit chutneys and relishes as condiments.

Almost two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and more than half don’t get enough physical activity. This holiday season encourage your friends and relatives to eat healthier and get moving by giving them health-related gifts. You might want to buy duplicates for yourself!

A popular way to celebrate holidays or any party occasion is to invite friends and family to a buffet. However, this type of food service where foods are left out for long periods leave the door open for uninvited guests — bacteria that cause foodborne illness. Festive times for giving and sharing should not include sharing foodborne illness. Here are some tips from the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline to help you have a SAFE holiday party.

1.Have regularly scheduled routines. Everyone in the family needs a regular bedtime and getup time, not just the kids. It may take time to get used to this if you have not had a regular schedule. Plan meals at regularly scheduled times. Help everyone in your family "reset" their body clocks.

2.Slow down and give others a break. If there are ten things on your "TO DO" list, cross off five. Reduce the pace in your life and let your body recuperate.

Smart preparation and presentation of vegetable entrees not only can enhance the enjoyment of a meal, but they also can boost a diner's perception of the person who prepared it, according to Cornell researchers.  

"Simply put, vegetables make people feel more positive about the main course and the cook who prepared it," said Brian Wansink, the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing at Cornell's Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and lead author of the study, "How Vegetables Make the Meal: Their Hedonic and Heroic Impact on Perceptions of the Meal and of the Preparer."

A new resource area,   Healthy Portions for Preschoolers  has been added to the Families, Food and Fitness resource area at eXtension. org.  There is information on helping preschoolers develop healthy eating habits and serving them appropriate portion sizes. Articles and videos provide guidance on healthy child portion sizes, creating a supportive and age-appropriate feeding environment, and helping children learn to select healthy portions. Under the Interactive Tools section of the webpage is an interactive game for preschoolers called Tummy Talk. The link to the resource area is also posted under "useful links" on the Nutrition and Health Program page.