Wednesday, November 22, 2006

How NOT to Overeat on Thanksgiving


We're all too familiar with the situation-- it's Thanksgiving Day. You haven't eaten much all day in anticipation fo the day's feast. You go to pile up your plate and, of course, want to try EVERYTHING. So you pile it on and, afterwards, end up feeling more stuffed than the turkey itself. Now you're left with not only indigestion, but the guilt of having consumed one too many servings of mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.

So what do you do?

Well, here's a bit of advice. I know with me, often in situations like these the food will be so good that I just want to keep eating it-- even once I'm already full and am not enjoying the taste as much anymore. And that's the key to focus on-- the first few bites of your food are the ones that taste best, anyway. So go ahead and try a little bit of everything-- just make it only small portions. You only need a few bites of each of the various dishes available. This way you get to try and enjoy everything, but you keep your overall food intake to a reasonable level.

And, of course, you might actually have some room left to enjoy a slice of pumpkin pie, as well. ; )

By the way, I also suggest not worrying too much about fat content, or trying to use low-fat versions of your favorite Thanksgiving comfort foods. I'm a firm believer in allowing yourself to indulge in the good stuff (meaning things like REAL sugar) and simply limiting portion size to make up for it. Remember, Thanksgiving only comes around once a year anyway. If you induklge a bit more than usual, it's not the end of the world. You can always go for a run tomorrow.

Happy Turkey Day!

2 comments:

Sales Rack Raider said...

I'm a big fan of the little bit of everything approach. If I do get seconds, I'd go for the special dishes as opposed to common things like bread or mashed potatoes.

Happy Turkey Day!

la flaquita said...

yes! i am ALL ABOUT the "small plate diet" (tm); the real stuff is much better than chemical imitations!