Expert Advice: Thanksgiving

We asked our LIVESTRONG.COM advisors for their best Thanksgiving advice. Here’s what they had to say.

Mark Peterson

The Anti-Tip:

I’ve never been a big fan of “Holiday Tips” meant to suggest alternative options for eating. Why can’t I have seconds at Thanksgiving? Why should I replace my apple pie with apple slices and gluten-free, sugar free cookies? Why should I gorge myself with water to feel full prior to dinner? I literally could not disagree with those tips more. They set the wrong precedent for achieving the ultimate goal: good health and high quality of life. Moreover, they set the bar way out of reach for sustainable behavior modification. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, they do NOT represent a good example for other people who are trying to make lasting improvements in their own health. Some of the healthiest and fittest people I know allow themselves to eat extremely unhealthy from time to time, and especially on holidays. So I guess in reality, this tip is actually an anti-tip. Don’t irritate the host and the rest of your family by requesting 6 oz of baked or grilled chicken and steamed broccoli, instead of the holiday meal. This applies even if you’re the host. Ultimately, no single meal represents enough departure from a healthy diet to ruin your physique or clog your arteries. I learned a long time ago that having balance in all facets of life is the best way to ensure maintenance of healthy habits over the long term. It is neither admirable nor impressive to obsess over any particular part of your lifestyle, in route to better health. Demonstrate your humility, strength, and commitment to healthy living by resolving to allow natural ebb-in-flow in the food you eat, as well as the type and amount of physical activity you perform. As with most things in life, the aggregation of healthy habits is what dictates long-term success or failure. 

Joe Dowdell 

Thanksgiving Day meals can get the best of all of us.  I have found that many people tend to overeat for various reasons, but with prior preparation, there are ways to help combat this situation.  If your family is like mine, and everything is laid out in a buffet-style manner, the temptation of repeat visits to refill your plate is far too easy.  If this is the case, make a commitment to yourself that you will only make one visit to the buffet table; you will fill up your plate once and that’s it.  In addition, make sure you have a big glass of water prior to starting your meal and make sure you take your time eating.  If you follow these three simple steps, you will be able to enjoy a nice Thanksgiving meal while not letting the wheels come completely off the wagon. 

Chew natural gum while you make Thanksgiving Dinner. Not only will you keep your mouth busy so you don't eat a full meal before your main feast, but you'll burn an additional 11 calories per hour just by chewing! 

The number one thing to remember is not to STRESS! Just because you’re watching your weight, doesn’t mean your diet rules your life. Overall, staying healthy and getting results will only last if you make it balanced and realistic. You don’t get ‘skinny’ by dieting for one day, and similarly, you will not ruin your diet by indulging for a day! 

Here are some helpful reminders for during the feast: 

-Remember, this is not your last meal.  You will get more food later.  It is not necessary to overeat just because it is THERE! Similarly - Make the meal about the people around you, rather than the food as the focus. Taking the emphases off the food means you’ll concentrate more on the conversation and less on cramming your plate!

-Remember the water! The body can confuse thirst and hunger, so ensuring adequate water helps control appetite and prevents overeating.

-Head for the turkey first! Fill up on MORE protein and make it a priority. This will help to control your appetite for later in the meal, and therefore decrease the amount you can eat

-Eat your veggies!

-Pick a FEW favourite foods to enjoy rather than ‘sampling everything’ – studies show that it is when taste buds are overwhelmed with ‘too many flavours’ we are more likely to overeat

-COOK – make yourself & everyone else some health(ier) versions of traditional meals. No, that doesn’t mean ‘rice and chicken breast’, but changing a few small things in a recipe can decrease calorie density significantly, which gives you more ‘leeway’ to use with the foods you can’t control (or don’t want to)!

-Just because it is there, doesn’t mean you have to eat it! Eat slowly and taste your food… Chances are when you do this the calorie filled treat you were eating it isn’t ‘as good as you thought it was, and you’ll put it down and do yourself less damage instead of trying to cram it all in!

Don't Forget to Train

During the holidays, you'll want to maximize your time with the family and not be stuck driving to the gym and training for an hour.  Short 10-15 minute workouts, where you link 6-8 exercises together with little to no rest between, can be done with minimal equipment - anytime and anywhere, throughout the day. Using an elastic band, a couple dumbbells or even a bookbag with books in it, performing exercises like burpees, skips, push-ups, lunges, squats, inverted rows, bear crawls and squat to press - will give you a short, intense and highly effective workout.

Sleep More

Use your time off as your time off.  De-stressing from work, the kids and everyday life can be as simple as sleeping longer or possibly fitting in a nap during the day.  Your body will recover and be re-energized, ready to face any challenge.

No one wants to go on a diet, especially during Thanksgiving.  Who can really resist grandma's famous stuffing or mom's pumpkin pie?  So instead of foregoing your favorite foods that you have once a year, make your holiday a mindful one.  Thanksgiving is full of wonderful food traditions...embrace them!    For a holiday eating strategy, this approach can ultimately be more practical than swapping out high calorie treats with (often less satisfying) low calories ones.  

Fill your Thanksgiving plate with all the foods that are appealing to you - without a regard to what is "healthy".   When you sit down, eat slowly so that you can savor the flavors.   Note the taste, texture and mouthfeel of each morsel.  While chewing, put down your fork and focus on what's in your mouth, not on the next bite.  Check in with your hunger level often throughout the meal...at least after each plateful.  In fact, don't automatically assume that you have to get seconds, or thirds.   If your hunger is gone and the food is starting to taste not AS good as the first few bites, chances are you have had enough.

If you slow it down and enjoy the day mindfully,  you will avoid the 1-5 pounds of additional weight most Americans gain on average over Thanksgiving!

The average American eats over 3500 calories on Thanksgiving day, and 500 of those calories can come from one large piece of dessert!  Don't skip dessert, just opt for 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin mixxed with one tablespoon of sugar. Mix with 1/4 cup low fat whipped topping and chill for a 100 calories dessert.

The most common mistake I see people make is checking out and go into black and white, on or off thinking. "It's Thanksgiving. I'm off my diet!" Be aware of your mindset as you head into the holiday week. Do not check out and start to go into this black and white, "on" your diet or "off your diet mindset. Instead eat healthy nutritious foods the week leading up to Thanksgiving, have a healthy breakfast with some protein and some fruit or veggies and maybe some oatmeal to get your blood sugar stable first thing that day. Then have a healthy snack of some almonds or something easy to munch on other than potato chips and dip while watching football. And strategize that you will have a splurge for Thanksgiving dinner and completely enjoy yourself but that doesn't mean that you have to blow all of the meals leading up to it. Thanksgiving is ONE MEAL. Enjoy your one splurge guilt free but don't blow the whole day or even the whole week! 

"Saving up" is the other big mistake I see people make. Thinking that I won't eat all day because tonight I'm going to have a splurge. You'll do much less damage if you start your day off with a healthy breakfast and have a strategy of fueling your body with small, nutritious meals throughout the day keeping your blood sugar stable so that when you do sit down for Thanksgiving dinner you won't over indulge but instead have just enough to enjoy the holiday. 

Get your workout done. You can take advantage of having a higher calorie day by getting a good workout done on Thanksgiving before you indulge. Post workout is the best time to have a splurge because it is more likely for those carbohydrates to go straight to your muscles to replenish your glycogen rather than to your fat stores. Also before you hit the shops for the black Friday sales put a workout on your schedule first thing the day after Thanksgiving to burn off some of that extra energy, taking advantage of the boost in calories from the night before.