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An active summer and flurried autumn often give way to a holiday season filled with food that starts with bags of candy at Halloween, overeating at Thanksgiving, and tons of treats at Christmas.
The holidays can feel stressful for anyone who’s worked hard to keep his or her weight at a healthy place. As a weight loss clinic, we certainly advocate the implementation of a healthy lifestyle. However, there’s no need to skip Thanksgiving just to try and avoid eating too much.
Here are a few simple ways you can have a healthy and happy Thanksgiving this year.
Try to Avoid Appetizers
The meals served at Thanksgiving dinner often feature appetizers that come out well before the bird, as well as snacks and desserts that are served for hours after the official meal. Make a point to avoid all appetizers, and try to stick to a single serving of dessert.
It’s pretty tough to turn down delicious appetizers, but if you must eat before you eat, try to stick to vegetables or fruit. Eating a few vegetables before you fill up on turkey may actually help you eat less during the big meal.
Plan Ahead: If you’re planning your own Thanksgiving dinner, make sure to buy some vegetables for appetizers before the meal. If you’re attending someone else’s party, bring your own vegetables as a gift or make a request for some healthy food.
Avoid Dessert by Cleaning Up
Too often, we eat so much during Thanksgiving dinner that we’re completely stuffed when dessert finally arrives, but a full belly doesn’t seem to matter because we invariably eat dessert on a full stomach.
A bite of dessert won’t eliminate all the progress you’ve made at your weight loss center, but you might not want to indulge quite so heavily in pumpkin pie, cake, or cookies. A healthy dessert option helps greatly, and you can also decline a dessert for yourself and snag a few bites off your significant other’s plate.
Be Nice: To get out of the line of fire for all those delicious desserts, you might think about helping with the dishes as a nice gesture, particularly if you’re a guest at someone else’s party.
Try a Health-Conscious Thanksgiving
Americans take no small amount of pride at the number of calories they can consume on Thanksgiving, and your family medicine doctor would probably cringe at the number of calories his or her patients usually eat on Turkey Day.
A health-conscious meal that features steamed vegetables instead of mashed potatoes and fresh fruit instead of cranberry sauce can make a big difference in the total number of calories you eat for the meal.
Plan the Portions: If your guests and family would stage a protest if you served a healthy meal, don’t fret! Use a small plate for your Thanksgiving meal, and try to avoid filling it up multiple times.
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Plan to Get Active
You’ve just finished a giant turkey dinner, and now the sports are on the television. Do you remain inside and on the couch, watching TV, or do you go outside and try to work off that post-meal food coma?
You don’t have to run a marathon after your meal, but walking a few miles can help you stick to your exercise regimen, as well as work off that extra slice of pumpkin pie you couldn’t resist. You may want to announce your outing before the meal to see if you can encourage others at your Thanksgiving dinner to get active.
Consider This: Have you ever participated in a turkey trot? These 5K and 10K races are held on Thanksgiving in the morning and are a great way to begin the day with healthy activity.
Another Idea: Instead of watching the Big Game inside (you can always TiVo the game and watch it later!), head out for your own game outside! Get everyone outside with the old family pigskin and burn off that big dinner.
Are you worried about holiday weight gain? Would you like to begin an effective weight loss program with Pro-Care Medical Center? Make an appointment with our weight loss center to discuss how you can make healthy choices for Thanksgiving.
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