Have a healthy Thanksgiving and beyond

Thanksgiving is this week, and with it comes the start of the holiday season! Thursday marks the beginning of the endless eating time of year.  Between feasts with family and friends, office parties, homemade cookies and treats galore; it proves to be a difficult time to stay on track with your healthy eating plan.  In fact, most people gain at least 2 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years.  However, you do not need to go through this joyous time of year depriving yourself of the goodies that are ever present.  With a few tips and strategies, you can keep in line with your diet, avoid weight gain, and enjoy a treat or two. 

Let’s start with the Thanksgiving feast.  If you are like most people, you will try to avoid eating all day, just so you can enjoy all of what your Thanksgiving dinner has to offer.  Big mistake! Eating a healthy, albeit, smaller breakfast and lunch are extremely important. Without these meals, you are sending your body into a starvation mode, which can decrease your metabolism and cause you to hang on to all those extra calories you will be eating for dinner.  Exactly the opposite of what you were planning on doing.  Not only that, but when your stomach is growling, it is hard to practice restraint at the table.  And that leads to extra large portions, which mean extra calories.

If you are going to be the one hosting the Thanksgiving feast, you can make your dinner a lot healthier without sacrificing flavor.  Turkey is usually the star of the dinner, and can be one of the lowest calorie and fat items on the table.  Cooking your turkey in the oven is a great low fat cooking method.  Instead of basting the turkey with butter, try using half of the butter you usually use, and substitute chicken or turkey broth.  Once the turkey is cooked and on the table, choose white meat and be sure to take the skin off.  When making mashed potatoes, use skim or 1% milk instead of cream or whole milk.  Try Splenda for Baking when making desserts and sweet potato casseroles.  Vegetables don’t need to be drowning in butter.  Cut the butter and salt out of your recipe and instead season with garlic and other herbs.  Place butter and salt on the table so guest can doctor up their own vegetables if they would like.  If you are making your own dressing, try using whole wheat bread instead of the usual white bread, I bet your family won’t know the difference.   Also, choose whole wheat rolls instead of white rolls, biscuits or croissants.

Thanksgiving dinner is filled with foods that we don’t usually get to enjoy all year, which is what makes the day special.  However, if there is a food on the table that is in your typical diet, try avoiding it for the day so that you can spend your calories on the foods that you don’t get to enjoy as often.  For instance, if your family regularly eats mashed potatoes, pass on them at Thanksgiving, and instead opt for grandma’s squash that she only makes once a year.

While the weather may be getting colder out, that’s no excuse not to get out and take a quick family walk after dinner and before dessert. Chances are most of the day was spent relaxing with family and friends, enjoying cocktails and sitting watching the parade and football games, all while grazing on snacks.  That’s a lot of inactivity and food.  Break up the time between dinner and dessert by taking a short 15 minute walk.  It will give your stomach time to digest.  And, since it takes 10-15 minutes for your body to register that you are full, you may return from that walk and decide not to have a piece of each of the three pies Aunt Marie made.  Or, you may decide just to have a small portion and take the rest home for tomorrow.

If you find these strategies helpful, keep them in mind throughout the whole holiday season and beyond.  Temptations will always arise and knowing how to handle them is half of the battle.  Stay tuned to MindBodySmile.com for more tips on how to control the holiday weight gain and make healthy food choices.  As always, if you would like more help on an individual level, be sure to call CNY Healing Arts Center at 315.671.5755 to set up an appointment with me, their Registered Dietitian.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Heather Neely, RD
CNY Healing Arts Center
Call me at 315.671.5755
Or e-mail me