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Tara's Friday Bite – What to Eat on Thanksgiving
Let’s face it, mashed potatoes are good, stuffing is good and some people even feel Tofurky is good – well, good for you that is. The point is that Thanksgiving is full of
decadent indulgences and an excess of calories. A common practice is to offset this giant meal by not eating anything until the feast begins. I’m here to tell you that is absolutely wrong, so don’t do it!
From a science standpoint, when you don’t eat your blood sugar drops and your body goes into starvation mode. Then when you finally introduce food to your system your blood sugar is going to shoot through the roof, turning your body into a fat-storing machine. So not only are you eating an extraordinary number of calories, you have just ensured that virtually all of it will be stored as fat.
From a physical standpoint, if you don’t eat you will be freaking hungry. Often hunger leads to crankiness, which is then combined with the stress of the holiday and ultimately could lead to an emotional explosion. When you actually do eat, you are going to literally shovel the food into your mouth. It will bypass your taste buds and leave you feeling uncomfortably full. Now you are on the couch feeling nauseous and you didn’t even really taste all of your favorite foods.
So what do you do? Eat breakfast, and if you are an evening Thanksgiving kind of family, I would eat a light lunch, too. Your breakfast should be protein based because that will keep you full much longer with fewer calories. An example of this would be egg whites with some veggies and/or salsa. If you are anti-egg, go for a soy protein based breakfast. If you’d like more protein breakfast ideas, please e-mail me. Also, consider starting your Thanksgiving morning with some exercise to jump start your metabolism. You’ll feel refreshed, healthy and possibly less prone to over-eating later.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday full of family, fun and food. Start your day off right so you can enjoy every bite!
Tara Coleman www.taracoleman.com
Tara Coleman is a Clinical Nutritionist living in San Diego, CA. She blogs for Total Gym Inside twice a month with “Tara’s Friday Bite.” Leave us your comments with ideas for future topics or email Tara directly at tara@taracoleman.com.
