Thanksgiving Day doesn’t have to be all about eating — does it?  Would you like to avoid feeling like a beached whale every Thanksgiving?  Or avoid gaining 5-10 pounds, simply because of one eating-focused holiday?  Here’s how:

1)  Think about other things that day besides the Thanksgiving Day meal.  Concentrate on connecting with your family and friends through conversation, or, look at fun websites, get on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn or YouTube.

2)  Take a walk, a hike, ride your bike,or do the treadmill — anything for 20-30 minutes.  You’ll feel great, look good and digest your food better.

3)  Go to a Thanksgiving Day Buffet instead of making dinner at home.  It’s less stressful (no shopping, no cooking, no clean-up), and then you don’t have days and days of leftovers.  I ate at Mimi’s Cafe one Thanksgiving when we moved to another state in the middle of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and became a believer; I realized it was much less expensive than buying food at the grocery store,  plus, their food was delicious — and, we even had enough leftovers for another meal.

4)  Wait to have seconds — make that your next meal instead.

5)  Concentrate on the vegetables that are being served and munch on those instead of the creamy casseroles laden with fat and calories, and the rich desserts.  Your body will thank you.

6)  Bake the turkey.  Don’t fry the turkey in hot oil.  I have had deep-fried turkey (at buffets and potlucks); it was always dry and chewy, not moist, lean, low-fat and delicious like baked.  Why are people doing this to Thanksgiving turkeys?  Deep-frying turkey adds fat and calories; and, if you really want to cut down on fat, pull off the skin (and choose white meat over dark).

7)  Remember, this is not your last meal.  You will get more food later.  It is not necessary to overeat.

8)  Don’t keep eating an item if you don’t really like it.  This sounds obvious, but sometimes people will eat food just because it’s on their plate — and they don’t even really like it!  Your stomach has finite space – be picky! Only eat it if it’s really, really, tasty to you.  Remember, when you have reached full, food doesn’t taste as good anymore anyway.

9)  Take small portions.  There is no reason to stack your plate full of food, just because it’s Thanksgiving Day.  If that is what you’ve always done in the past, remember that you are now “Living the Thin Lifestyle,” and those days are over — thank goodness!

10)  Go to a movie, or shopping, or something to get out of the house. These days, zoos, museums, many other places, are open so you can take advantage of staying active and taking the focus off food.

The best part?

You will wake up after Thanksgiving, still be able to wear all your clothes, and all the food will be a distant memory, and you will remember: “Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin Feels”

Good luck!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 at 6:48 am and is filed under Health. Tags for this post: Bathroom scale, BMI, buffet restaurants, Burning Calories, Calorie Calculator, Calorie Counting, calorie myths, Calories, Counting Calories, Diet, Diet Ideas, fat calories, fat grams, hcg, Health, Healthy Eating, Healthy Lifestyle, Healthy Living, Keeping Weight Off, Lap-Band, Living Well, Losing Pounds, maui, nutrition, oahu, overeaters anonymous, real age, Restaurant Eating, Scales, thermic vegetables, trans-fat, Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance, weight management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.