Health

November 26th, 2015

4 Tips for a Healthy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is upon us, and so is all of the stuffing, turkey, cranberry sauce, candied potatoes and more.

So, you’ve been working really hard to stay on your healthy eating track, and you’ve been working out regularly to stay in shape, but now you’re feeling worried about how to navigate this holiday and still be able to fit into your skinny jeans on Friday. So, what do you do?

It’s quite simple, follow these 4 tips for a healthy thanksgiving:

  1. Eat normally for the rest of the day: Whether your thanksgiving is at 12 pm or 6 pm, you want to eat regularly throughout the day. That means NO SKIPPING MEALS to anticipate the large thanksgiving dinner or lunch. Plan to eat breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner, or if your meal is in the middle of the day, eat a breakfast, the turkey lunch and then a light dinner.
  2. Fill up on the vegetables: There will likely be many sides at your Thanksgiving table tomorrow, and while some may be better than others, the best way to navigate the many dishes is to stick mostly to the vegetables- green beans, brussels, salad- whatever is being served. Plan to have 50-75% of the meal be vegetables, and the rest to be turkey/starchy sides. This way you can certainly enjoy bites of different types of sides, but minding that most of the meal will be vegetables. This can help keep calories down, but can help you enjoy different parts of the holiday meal as well.
  3. Be mindful when making your choices: This is the other key part to making Thanksgiving be the most healthful it can possibly be. Think thoroughly about which dessert you want, how much wine you want- and before taking both (especially on round two), ask yourself “do I really want this.” Making conscious choices can really help to keep quantity down, and can really help you to choose the items that you really want to have, instead of having them simply because they’re offered (there’s a big difference there!).
  4. Let it go:So even with the best intentions and choices, we can end up making choices that we’re not thrilled about; however, what’s key is that you enjoy each moment with friends and family, and let it go the next day. Letting it go (instead of hanging on to guilt), can certainly help you get right back on track much more quickly.

Enjoy Thanksgiving, do your best to make the most healthful choices, and be grateful for what you have, who you’re with and all that your body is capable of doing.

In health and happiness.