Thanksgiving–Do you fear the feast?
The holiday season starts in two weeks! Are you ready? Are you excited? Are you dreading it? Are you terrified that you won’t be able to maintain your weight loss or that you’ll gain even more weight? Thanksgiving is about celebrating a bountiful harvest, recognizing the wonderful life we have, being grateful for loved ones, good health and eating as much as we can possibly fit on one giant Chinet plate. And then having pie. With ice cream. And whipped cream. And then sitting on the couch watching a football game.
There’s all kinds of information about what works to keep weight in check from the middle of November until the first of January. Here are some tips and why they might work for you and why they may not work for you. You’ll have to figure out what is best for you.
Tip #1: Bring your own healthy, “diet friendly” dish to dinner
It can work if you’re going to dinner where you can and will replace something else on the menu. If you’re going to your sister’s for dinner and you know she’s going to make a fat drenched bean casserole and you’d rather eat steamed green beans with slivered almonds, then it will work great. But if you take one look at her delicious bean casserole and know you’re going to eat it and leave your steamed veggies sitting by the dish drainer, then don’t bother. If you’re not replacing something with your diet-friendly dish, you’re just bringing more food to eat. Have a smaller than usual portion of what you WANT to eat and skip what you SHOULD eat.
Tip #2: Have a healthy meal/snack before going to a dinner or buffet
This one can work too, if it means that by curbing your appetite you’re going to eat less at that dinner or buffet. For many people at this time of year, they’re not eating out of hunger, they’re eating because the food is there, it is comforting, it is social and it is delicious. If having a snack before you go have a big meal isn’t going to reduce the amount you’ll eat at the meal, don’t eat beforehand, you’ll just be eating more.
Tip #3: Make healthier versions of the food you love
This will work, but only if the food still tastes good. You use sugar free jello in your famous green jello salad and no one notices? Fantastic! No one can tell the difference between low fat ice cream and regular ice cream on the apple pie? Go for it! But if your family is used to buttery mashed potatoes and you decide to use only skim milk, you’ll all notice it. Your family is used to candied yams and you make plain baked yams? Maybe they’ll enjoy them, but maybe you’ll have a yam riot on your hands.
Tip #4: Eat slowly
I know it’s Thanksgiving, but you don’t have to gobble, gobble, gobble! Slow down, talk to people you haven’t seen in months. I repeat, slow down, take breaths between scoops (I mean bites). Stop and take the time to be thankful.
Tip #5: Have smaller portions
There is usually so much food on the table during Thanksgiving that I can’t fit everything I want to taste on my plate. Try this: take even smaller portions than you think you would like to eat. At this meal there is always plenty left so you can have seconds if you want. But for now, try taking half of what you think you would like to eat. Besides, if you only take half a serving and realize that it’s the worst stuffing you’ve ever tasted, it won’t be as obvious if you don’t finish it.
Tip #6: Move
Chances are you won’t lose weight during the holiday season, but if you can manage to get some physical activity, you’ll probably be able to maintain your current weight. Go for a walk with your sister you haven’t seen in ages, take your grandchildren to the park, play tag football with your cousins, park far, far away from the mall entrance when you go shopping. Not only will exercise help keep the weight off, it can be a wonderful stress reliever during the holiday madness.
Tip #7: Make less food
This one only works if you’re the cook. But why are you making six pecan pies when you know you’ll have four leftover? Make two pies, enjoy them and don’t worry about being tempted for the next week and a half. Yes, leftovers are part of Thanksgiving, but the sooner the food is gone, the sooner you can go back to your regular lifestyle.
Tip #8: Don’t drink your calories
This is one for all times of the year, but now is a good time to pay special attention. Is punch or sparkling cider or wine being served with dinner? Ask for a glass of water. Is there a cooler full of sodas or beer handy? Pick a diet soda instead. Remember, water, coffee, tea, diet soda and Crystal Light are all calorie free. Egg nog, rum punch, Pepsi and smoothies…not so much.
Tip #9: Don’t make anything off limits
If you want a piece of pumpkin pie, have a piece of pumpkin pie. If we say that something is forbidden, we want it even more, so let yourself eat the things that you like. You can ask for half a piece (yes, you can).
Tip #10: It’s OK to say, “No, thank you.”
That’s how polite people turn something down. Too often we believe that we have to take everything that’s offered to us. Here’s a practice script:
Grandma: “Bob, I made your favorite cornbread stuffing.”
Bob: (thinking to himself, Jim likes your cornbread stuffing, I just always eat it to be polite.) “No thank you, Grandma.”
Yes, all you have to say is, “No, thank you.” You don’t need a big explanation or apology, a simple, “No, thank you,” will suffice.
Tip #11: Enjoy the food that that you do eat and eat only delicious foods
This is the time of year to savor the delicious foods. It’s also the time of year when there are plates of cardboard-like sugar cookies and “what-in-the-world-is-this” bread. If something isn’t delicious, don’t eat it. If you can’t yet throw food away, be careful to take teeny-tiny portions to taste first so you don’t have to eat a lot of something you don’t enjoy. You can always go back for more.
May you be happy, healthy and thankful,
Regan
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