Underneath the comfy sweaters and stuffed between the sugar cookies and chocolate treats, holiday festivities all have one thing in common that many people wish they could ignore: weight gain.

The Science Daily website, sciencedaily.com, states that even slight holiday weight gain can set the stage for obesity and other health risks later on in life.

The current obesity rate in America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has risen in the past 20 years.

In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in California, 24 percent of adults are obese.

“I think obesity is becoming a bigger issue,” said Juan Gonzales, a finance student at Fresno State.­ “Being obese can have a lot of other health risks later on that we might not think about right now.”

An article published by Science Daily stated that those who gain 2 or 3 pounds over the holiday season and fail to get rid of it are only setting­ themselves up for future uncontrollable weight gain.

“People might not realize how much weight they are gaining if they just gain a few pounds every year,” Gonzales said. “It makes sense that if you gain 5 pounds during Christmas break you need to lose 5 pounds to stay healthy.”

When splurging and enjoying a chocolate dessert, the popular health information website WebMD said that dark chocolate is healthier for you because it can actually help decrease cholesterol.

“I probably don’t eat as healthy as I should during Christmas break,” said Rachel Howard, an agriculture student at Fresno State. “I go visit all of my family and all of them usually bake some kind of treat so it’s hard to be healthy.”

Aside from the fact that it may be hard to resist the holiday treats, another issue that can lead to obesity, especially during Christmas, is overeating.

“I know a lot of people that eat healthy food but they just eat way too much of it,” said Sarah Bimat, a nursing student at Fresno State. “They don’t understand that eating a lot of mashed potatoes may be better than eating a lot of chocolate cake, but it can still lead to weight gain.”

Overindulging on food that is somewhat healthy can still lead to health issues.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s website, choosemyplate.gov, said that when preparing your plate, at least half of a meal should be whole grains and a focus should be to put on lean proteins such as salmon, chicken breast and top sirloin steak.

“Eating healthy now when we are young should be more important than it actually is,” Bimat said. “If more people made better eating choices we wouldn’t have as many health issues today.”