Overeating on Thanksgiving can be something that we all struggle with, especially when you wake up to the smell of turkey roasting and potatoes cooking. If you wake up prepared to eat the entire table, then you probably will. But the problem is, you are likely to regret it the next day.
Avoid overeating on Thanksgiving for many reasons, one being your health. If you plan for the event, you can make sure you enjoy every treat of the day, without eating an entire pie by yourself.
Eat breakfast
Many wake up on Thanksgiving, flip the channel to the Macy’s day parade and continue along with their day, enjoy time with friends and family. But skipping breakfast, arguably the most important meal of the day, will leave you starving by one p.m. If instead you wake up, prepare a simple bowl of oatmeal or a few scrambled eggs; your stomach won’t be screaming for food by the time the Thanksgiving meal rolls around. Even if the meal is small, your body should start the day off with something to boost its metabolism and prepare to burn off plenty of incredible food.
Get in a small workout
Though this is similar to wanting to work out on Christmas, which is typically last on the list of everyone’s priorities, getting in a workout, even brief, will prevent you from diving into the turkey more than you intended to do. Even if your workout is a 30-minute walk with your dog, or a five-mile run, getting your body moving will keep your brain focused when it comes to the biggest meal of the year. Of course, splurging on a small piece of pie is never a bad thing, but avoiding the entire pie is best for your long-term health too.
Eat small portions
Instead of stacking your plate to the sky, take small portions of each thing offered. This guarantees that you won’t take six servings of mashed potatoes to start with, but instead you will eat enough of each item, without depriving yourself. If you eat small portions, and eat them slowly, your brain will have time to process each item that you’re eating and will signal when it’s full much earlier than if you eat large quantities very quickly.
One plate at a time
Similar to the portions, instead of taking four plates initially, start with one. If you’re still hungry after one, well-proportioned plate, then you can look to go back for a second plate to fill your stomach. But it’s likely that if you made the choices recommended above, you will be very satisfied after one plate of food. There’s no reason to feel like two plates of food is required, because leftovers will exist in your house for plenty of days after Thanksgiving for you to enjoy, in moderation of course.
Limit your desserts
Pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie, the list goes on-and-on, especially if you’re meeting for dinner at grandma’s house. The more you avoid eating an entire plate of desserts, the easier it will be to avoid overeating on Thanksgiving. Take one small piece of a dessert, and remind yourself that there will be more for future days. Thinking of avoiding dessert as depriving yourself will cause you stress, but if you think of a small piece as a small reward, you won’t see anything wrong with enjoying a small piece.
Limiting the amount of food you eat will keep you from falling off of the healthy path you have been on, and it will keep you from falling into that post-food nap that we all tend to take. Use these five tips from HC Hofstra to make your Thanksgiving a happy, healthy and warm holiday.