Feature Channels: Winter Holidays

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Plan out your calories like your budget to help you lose weight after the holidays.

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Holiday celebrations focused on food are difficult for persons recovering from eating disorders, and challenging for their family and friends. Theresa Fassihi, PhD, a psychologist with the Eating Disorders Program at The Menninger Clinic, offers some do's and don'ts for families and friends celebrating the holidays with persons recovering from eating disorders.

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In December's tipsheet, Indiana University psychologists and an informatics professor offer tips for managing e-mail, lightening up the holiday blues and helping adolescents understand depression and low self-esteem.

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What should a family understand if a child or relative chooses to disclose their sexual orientation during the annual holiday gathering or decides to reveal more about his/her experiences as a gay or lesbian person?

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This holiday season, "green" is all the rage. Here are some ideas from the National Wildlife Federation for exciting ways to spread holiday cheer and do something good for the planet too.

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For college students, the winter break can be a welcome time off. Classes are over, finals are finished and it it's a time to spend with family and friends. But, says a practicing psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis, the break between semesters can also be a very stressful time for students.

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The quintessential holiday scene "“ if not children eagerly unwrapping presents from under the Christmas tree "“ normally involves a family gathered around a table covered with home-cooked food. The reality is that, for the rest of the year, families don't routinely convene during mealtimes.

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Whether your holiday tradition involves a buffet brunch or a sit-down dinner with seven fishes, abundant amounts of food will be featured. And with the cost of food outpacing the rate of inflation over the past year, entertaining your crowd will be pricey.

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Whether you are headed to grandma's house, down the road or across the country, experts at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital say safety must come first when traveling this winter. To help, they offer seven tips to make sure you and your family travel safely by plane, train or automobile to your holiday destination.

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From sledding accidents to snowmobile crashes, pediatric trauma experts at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital say they see a startling number of snow-related injuries among children each year. In an effort to prevent injury among children this winter season, Mott experts offer seven tips to keep people on sleds, skates, skis and snowmobiles safe in the snow.

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Shopping for "green fashion" can challenge even an expert in textiles and clothing, as University of Maryland American studies professor Jo Paoletti is discovering this holiday season. She's accepted an unusual shopping mission for her recently-married daughter: find a stylish, environmentally-friendly, dressy outfit suitable for holiday parties.

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The holidays offer tempting challenges to your healthy-eating plan. Parties have you eating away from home more often, and sweet treats appear unbidden at your office or doorstep. It's enticing to relax your efforts over the holidays, but your health depends on your diet. Here are some tips from Karen Klatte, M.D., a cardiologist on the medical staff at Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie.

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All the way from the North Pole, Santa Claus makes a special trip to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell to distribute toys to pediatric patients. New York Masons and special guests gather to help spread joy and present the 2006 Dewitt Clinton Award, as well as a generous donation to the Hospital.

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Most people think American journalism's best-known editorial, the New York Sun's "Is There A Santa Claus?", was an immediate hit when published in 1897 and that the Sun enthusiastically reprinted it every year at Christmastime until the newspaper folded in 1950. Not true, according to W. Joseph Campbell, a professor of journalism at American University.

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If you're planning to hit the streets and sing Christmas carols around the neighborhood during the holiday season make sure to drink plenty"” of water, that is. During cold weather, the air is cold and dry, and in turn, can dry up your voice.

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The holidays are prime time for catching up with relatives -- and a good opportunity to compile a family health history.

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Cold and flu season is already well under way, but a few simple actions can greatly reduce your chances of getting sick or spreading germs to family, friends and coworkers, says an expert at Saint Louis University.

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This holiday season, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center recommends that you take time to speak with relatives about your family's history of cancer. A small percentage of cancers "“ five to 10 percent "“ are inherited. Common cancers associated with family history include breast, colorectal, ovarian and endometrial cancers.

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Busy holiday preparations, driving or flying to faraway places for family gatherings and spending time in close quarters with extended family can add up to a tension-filled holiday. Patricia Daza, PhD, a psychologist with The Menninger Clinic's Hope Program, offers tips to better enjoy the holidays with your family.

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You see them roll by in schools and malls"”kids are head over heels for them, but before you buy your kids a pair of wheeled shoes this holiday season, pediatricians have a warning. These ultra-popular shoes that seem to give supernatural abilities to kids are now creating big concerns among pediatricians.