Holiday parties, family gatherings, shopping, decorating and cooking bring many people good cheer.

These same activities can also lead to a lot of stress eating during the holidays, experts say. But simple strategies -- including paying attention to the people around you -- can help you avoid eating more than you mean to.

Lee Kern, clinical director of the Structure House, a residential weight-loss program in Durham, N.C., says there are several strategies that can help make sure that overeating does not get out of hand this time of year.

He says that the holidays should not be a time for weight loss. Instead, maintaining one's weight should be the focus.

The worst way to view the holiday season is to have a few occasions of overeating or not eating properly and use that as a reason to abandon good eating habits.

"Put last night's overeating behind you," he says. "Diet slip ups are reasonable, but do not take on an attitude of, 'What the heck.'"

Kern adds that every choice that a person makes related to food matters.

While the holidays can be full of good cheer, obligatory activities can bring about stress, particularly in a bad economy, when gift-giving has to be modified.

Kern estimates that about 80 percent of the population stress eats.

Because of the high percentage, adjustments in lifestyle are often necessary.

Add Meaning, Nurture Yourself

Kern says a person should take a look at her "daily infrastructure." For many people, nurturing activities such as inspirational reading, prayer and meditation cease during the holidays. Additionally, self-nurturing activities such as hair and nail appointments are no longer as important.

During the holidays, there is a lot of focus on others and other things, "cooking, cleaning, getting ready, trying to be a good host," he says.

Another approach to decrease stress eating is to have or add meaning to one's life.

"We are the ones that decide what is meaningful," Kern says, adding that we can determine what will stress us, and instead focus on things that relax or give energy.

"All that stuff gets dumped during the holidays, and that is a bad strategy," Kern says.

Stress levels typically increase when our important activities are no longer practiced.

"The power of these activities is we control them," he says. "It makes things that we can't control more manageable."

Plan Ahead

A third strategy to decreasing stress eating is thinking and planning.

Kern says this includes sending someone else to the hors d' oeuvres or buffet table at the parties or gatherings with instructions on what to get you.

"Then you don't have to face the terrible temptation," he says.

He adds that it is also important to focus more on communicating with people at parties and family gatherings.

Dr. Caroline Cederquist, an expert for Bistromd.com offers a few other avoidance strategies.

"When you’re faced with that big sit-down meal at Grandma’s, plan in advance to not get so full that you’re uncomfortable," she writes. "Chew slowly, savor each bite, really appreciate those special dishes. It’s a much better way to enjoy them than doing the stuff-and-suffer."

Small servings may also be the key. "Many of us were raised to clean our plates, and we feel obligated to finish whatever is served, whether or not Mom is watching. But if you’re full, stop," she says. Cederquist writes, "it takes about 30 minutes for the hormones that signal satiety to get the message from the stomach to the brain." She also suggests sitting farther away from the bowl of chips or hors d'oeuvres. While many people are happy during the holidays, some get depressed. For those people, food will play even more of a role.

Kern says people's relationship with food is deeply rooted inside of us.

"Imagine a videotape of my life or your life and all the ways in which food was used for simply more than nutrition," he says. "When we are sick we are fed to feel better, disappointed given food to cheer you up."

Because of this food offers many things to people. This includes escape, comfort, relaxation, distraction and companionship.