From delicious meals to tasty treats, the holiday season is often a main source for unwanted weight gain – but it doesn’t have to be! Keep your calories in check this year by avoiding these 4 worst holiday foods:

1. Prime Rib

Why it’s Bad:
Even if it’s a delicious holiday tradition at your dinner table, Prime Rib comes from the fattiest part of the cow, which translates into an unbelievable amount of calories in your body- roughly 1000 for a 10 oz slab. Not to mention the 37 grams of fat!

Alternative:
Beef can still be part of your holiday meal, but try out a Select or Choice grade beef and a lean cut, such as sirloin, instead. It may not be quite as moist or mouth-watering as prime rib, but the calorie and fat content is far less!

2. Baked Potato with Toppings

Why it’s Bad:
While including a baked potato in your diet every once in awhile isn’t bad, the delicious toppings that generally go on top makes this favorite side dish one of the worst at the table. Just one tablespoon of butter can add up to 100 calories!

Alternative:
If you choose to stick with the baked potato as a side dish, try putting salsa on top instead of additional dairy products. Or, even better, try replacing the side dish with fire roasted potatoes.

3. Egg-Nog

Why It’s Bad:
With the main ingredients consisting of just sugar, cream, and eggs, this holiday favorite contains roughly 180 calories and 9 grams of fat in just a 4 ounce serving.

Alternative:
Save a few calories and stick with hot chocolate for your holiday drink-of-choice. If made with water, 1 package of Nestle Hot Coco Mix  only contains 80 calories and 3 grams of fat!

4. Pecan Pie a la mode

Why it’s Bad:
This holiday favorite (for good reason) may not be your favorite anymore: At just one serving, you’re looking at roughly 870 calories, 65 g of fat, and 55 g of sugar, most of it coming from the
gooey sludge, corn-syrup-overload filling.

Alternative:
Try serving chocolate fondue with angel cake for dipping. Not only is it a fun, interactive dessert, it’s only 340 calories, 10 grams of fat, and 28 grams of sugar.

Armed with this knowledge and a few alternatives, you should be able to cut down on the calories for you and yours this holiday season.

For more healthy-holiday-eating information check out:
Shape.com or Oprah.com