The holiday season will soon be upon us. As we enter into the season, keep your healthy habits in check by developing food-free zones, using aromatherapy, and visualizing success.

Here are a few more mind over matter weight-loss tips:

• Develop some food-free zones, such as no eating in the car, or in front of the television. Having food-free zones gets you to think about where you’re eating. This is another way to use your brain and not get into mindless eating.

• Use aromatherapy. We know odors affect appetite. Strong sweet smells, such as chocolate, trigger feelings of hunger. Whereas neutral sweet smells — such as bananas, green apples, vanilla, and peppermint help curb appetite. Scientists believe that scents may fool the brain into believing that you’ve eaten more than you have.

• Keep a vanilla scented candle on your desk and take a deep whiff several times a day. Or if that seems a little weird, or you’re afraid of what your co-workers will think, because you’re always sniffing a vanilla candle, drink vanilla or green apple tea.

• I’ve gotten in the habit of finishing my meals with a small peppermint candy. That little trick signals to my brain, “Eating is over Doris.”

• Use visualization. Visualize yourself sipping water from a water bottle throughout the day. See yourself jogging in the park or lifting some hand weights in your bedroom or running up a flight of stairs. See yourself with a group of your friends at a restaurant and holding up your hand and telling the server “No thank you,” when he goes to put the bread basket on the table.

Prime yourself in your mind’s eye so this holiday season you don’t overeat or eat the wrong things.

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