Gordon Clay here. Next Monday is National Whiners day dedicated to those who like to whine, especially those who are returning or exchanging gifts. People are encouraged to be happy about what they do have, rather than unhappy about what they don't.

Welcome, also, to the first day of our last winter - some say - and not due to climate change. Of course, if the predictions for the end of the world don't hold and we do make it past that date, maybe it's time to start preparing some long-term New Year's resolutions. You might start by looking at all of those New Year's resolutions you haven't kept. Especially the ones around losing weight and exercising more.

Winter and the holidays are a time of year when many of us tend to gain weight with all of the food and parties that we can't stay away from. Well, I learned something this year that I hadn't really understood before. Losing weight has more to do with what you eat than if you actually go on a diet, starve yourself or start exercising a lot. I learned that cutting carbs is more important than cutting fat and calories. And, for me and a lot of others, that an hour of exercise a day has little to do with losing weight since most of us end up eating more after the exercise than we took off during.

A friend recently turned me on to a new audiobook called Why we get fat and what to do about it. (http://amzn.to/s2aOfF) The paperback will be out on the 27th. It doesn't follow conventional wisdom but if you really look at how conventional wisdom was formed, you might get a sense that Big Pharma has had more to do with creating it than research and facts. I've ordered a copy for my doctor.

Tune in in two weeks to hear part two of Are You Winning at Losing.