Tips for Thanksgiving

As many of you probably already know, Thanksgiving can be one of those days that quickly adds on that winter fluff weight. Lots of great food and pressures to eat your aunt’s famous ____ or your uncles famous _____. Does Thanksgiving have to adjust your waist size though? There are a few tips and tricks that I have for you to make sure you don’t over-do it and ruin your progress to this point. I’m usually not one that worries about over-eating, but that’s been tricky for me at times when I want to gain LEAN muscle. I don’t think that should be used against me to say that I can’t figure out how to eat less and remain feeling full.

Drink Water

There are plenty of reasons to drink water other than to keep yourself alive. Being properly hydrated can help regulate a lot of bodily functions that you probably don’t think about like regulating your body temperature, carrying nutrients throughout your body, converting food into energy, and many others. A common misconception that your body hasn’t quite figured out is that often, your feeling of hunger may just be a signal that you’re dehydrated. If you keep a glass of water or even a can of seltzer around you throughout the day, you can limit your snacking and satisfy your hunger while consuming less food.

Plan on more than One Plate

What I plan on doing and what has been what I do when I’m trying to lose a few pounds is that I will use a smaller plate and just plan on eating two of them. This will also limit waste for those of you that hate seeing people dump food into the trash can that they grabbed and didn’t have room for at the end. Best case scenario, I get through my first plate of food and feel full enough to stop. I’ll have to look further into the actual reason that this can work, but the brain is incredibly powerful and you can manipulate yourself into feeling full.

Eat the Turkey First

You read that right and there are plenty of reasons for that. Protein has a highly effective satiating effect compared to carbohydrates and fats. If you’re not a big turkey person or maybe you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, eat the vegetables first before you dive into the heavier carbs. There seems to be some confusion about the macro-nutrients and I’ll repeat this until everyone knows it. Vegetables are a carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are not evil, but in this case it may be best to limit them and save them for the end of the meal. If you can satisfy your hunger more in the beginning, that signal from your stomach to your brain has a little more time to come into effect.

Breathe

Now this one you’ll do naturally I hope, but this tip could be added into the “Be Present” idea because a lot of it is similar. If you think about breathing in between bites or even take a few minutes in between your first and second plate, I think you’ll give yourself more time to feel full and I think you might enjoy the day a little more. If you just sit there are look around at the people around you and just appreciate them for being there and being in your life, you’ll come to a feeling of being present and mindful.

Don’t Sweat It

It’s one day of the year, if you overeat then you overeat. It’s not irreversible and your life is not over if you have extra calories. It’s habits that make general obesity the monster that it is. One day out of the year, if you want to grab an extra scoop of mashed potatoes, don’t sweat it. Sometimes you just need to sit back and relax to understand and see how far you've come. As long as you're not stuffing yourself like this everyday throughout the year, this day most likely will not affect your general weight for much more than two or three days. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!