A calorie is still a calorie!!

The holidays can wreak havoc on a diet. If it's not the temptations — the desserts and rich foods — then it's being out of your element, staying with relatives who don't exactly share your perspective on health.

There are some snacks, while good for you, still pack a punch when it comes to calories. Healthy but Calorie-Dense snacks to keep your eye on:

Dried fruit: What could be healthier than fruit? Well, not dried fruit. The problem with dried fruit is that there's no water to fill you up; you'll quickly lose track of how many pieces of fruit you're actually eating. Each handful can contain 50 to 100 calories, meaning you easily can consume a Big Mac's worth of calories.

Nuts: Even dry-roasted and unsalted nuts pack a lot of calories. While you scored on copper, magnesium and other essential minerals, you can consume nearly 900 calories from a cup of mixed nuts.

Pumpkin seeds: Again, great for getting magnesium in your diet. But seeds tend to be more calorie dense than nuts, with a cup of store-bought roasted squash or pumpkin seed kernels weighing in at nearly 1,200 calories.

Orange juice: Orange juice isn't just for breakfast anymore, especially when you don't drink the 23 varieties of Coke or Pepsi. By drinking a couple glasses of orange juice throughout the day, you can chug down about 120 calories per cup, more calories ounce for ounce than the colas.

The lesson here is that healthy foods are supposed to be a substitute in your diet, not a complement. Folks pour on the olive oil because it contains healthy fats, but they don't eliminate the unhealthy fats from red meats. Similarly, some people sprinkle ground flaxseed on just about everything because of the healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids. But fat has twice as many calories than protein or carbohydrates, so the carefree sprinkling can add up. We wonder why we are gaining weight even though we are eating healthy foods. The answer lies in the calories, which don't lie.

Empty Calories

Drink Responsibly

Too many of us keep in mind the adage “watch what you eat,” and we forget another serious threat to our health: We don’t watch what we drink. In fact, according to a research study, Americans now slurp up nearly 25 percent of their calories in liquid form—nearly double the rate we used to drink just 20 years ago. One study found that sweetened beverages constituted more than half (51 percent) of all beverages consumed by fourth- through sixth-grade students. The students who consumed the most sweetened beverages took in approximately 330 extra calories per day, and on average they ate less than half the amount of real fruit than did their peers who drank unsweetened or lightly sweetened beverages.

One important strategy is to keep cold, filtered water in a pitcher in the fridge. You might even want to keep some cut-up limes, oranges, or lemons nearby for kids to flavor their own water with.

Another important strategy: Be extra careful about the juice you purchase. Too many “juices” are little more than sugar water masquerading as the real thing. Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry, for instance, has just 15 percent real fruit juice. The other 85 percent? High-fructose corn syrup and water. Make sure the juice you buy says “100 percent Fruit Juice” on the label, and try to choose one made from a single fruit, not a mix of high-sugar fruits like white grapes, which are commonly used in fruit juice blends.