Believe it or not, we are finally into November and Thanksgiving Break will be here before we know it. At this point in the semester I know we all around looking forward to heading home and spending the week relaxing and spending time with family. Also, with Thanksgiving comes all the food, and it can be challenging to try and keep up your healthy habits when surrounded by so much. That being said here are a few ways to combat the Thanksgiving food coma.
1. Drink up! Make sure you are staying hydrated, and try getting in more than your recommended 8 glasses per day. Thanksgiving foods are typically higher in sodium that you may be used to so your body will thank you for the extra water, also a lot of times when you are dehydrated your body confuses this with being hungry causing you to over eat even more.
2. Make modifications. Try helping out in the kitchen and modify some of your dishes to make them a little healthier! There are tons of different swaps that can be made to give even the most classic dishes a nutritional boost. For example, try using plain Greek yogurt in your recipe instead of sour cream, or add mashed cauliflower to the mashed potatoes.
3. Eat your veggies! Among all the bread, sauces and dips guaranteed you will be able to find some veggies in the mix so load them up on your plate. Veggies bulk up your plate with lots of nutrients for fewer calories so you can eat lots of them.
4. Don’t skip meals. If you know you’re going to have a big dinner that night, skipping breakfast isn’t the right answer. Skipping meals will only cause your body to be hungrier, causing you to eat more later anyway.
5. Focus on your family. Thanksgiving is highly associated with food, however don’t forget about your family! While sitting around the table make sure to enjoy being together instead of worrying too much about what you are going to eat.
6. Stay active. While relaxation is completely okay and very necessary, don’t forget to try and move your body a little bit. It could be as little as taking your dog for a walk, of registering for a Turkey Trot 5km/10km race to get the blood flowing.
7. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Thanksgiving is a happy time to be with your family and eat the good food you’ve been missing for the last month. If you have one too many pieces of pie or loaded up a little too much on mashed potatoes don’t worry there’s only so much you can do so enjoy treating yourself.
(Photos: eat drink better, funnygifs.com, Oregon runners, imugr)