Super Bowl Sunday is regarded as one of the biggest occasions of the year in the United States. From the barbecues and chicken wings to the ads and much-anticipated halftime show, many people consider it a holiday in its own right, even though it has yet to achieve that status officially. I actually have a friend who always takes the Monday after Super Bowl Sunday off; it just goes to show you just how much alcohol people consume that night. As someone who studied and works in marketing, I can certainly appreciate the appeal of commercials played during the big event. From spots featuring the Budweiser Clydesdales to clever Doritos ads, these ads tend to be funny and worth tuning in for. However, I don't think I've ever watched a football game from start to finish; I've just never been a fan of the sport. (I didn't even know who was playing until the teams were mentioned in a segment on Fox News this morning.) Instead, I have always followed baseball and basketball,...

Ironic that I would create a post about this on Thanksgiving of all days, isn't it? But I find it a germane topic in light of the fact that many of us won't be happy when we step on the scale tomorrow morning. In fact, studies show that many people decide to go on diets the day after Thanksgiving as a way of mitigating the damage. Whether they keep the diet when Christmas and New Year's come rolling around is a different story. Here's my trick to losing weight: The best way to exercise self-control is to ask yourself how many calories eating that scrumptious slice of pizza would set you back. The key is to mull this over before you even put the food on your plate. If you do it the other way around, you'll feel as though you've committed to eating it ("it's on my plate already -- might as well eat it) and will feel bad putting the slice back in the box. Now, that doesn't mean you can never "cheat" once in a while. After all, experts...