Thanksgiving the beginning of the “Holiday Season” where people make excuses to eat, eat, eat. If you have more than one side of family, it requires you to go to multiple houses and eat several meals. Sometimes, all in one day!

My husbands family lives in Arizona (we are in Oklahoma) so we only GET one Thanksgiving dinner. Bummer right?! We typically stay in Oklahoma and go to my parents house for Thanksgiving. We have the typical feast (to me anyway); turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, 7 layer salad, giblet gravy (🤤), rolls, and cranberry sauce. We eat around 2:00 and tend to eat so much we skip dinner or graze on leftovers.

It’s easy to overeat and gain weight during the holidays. Multiple meals along with more than one dessert = fat pants. So here are a few tips to help you watch your girlish figure.

Don’t Overfill Your Plate

Rule One: Drink a glass of water before heading over to your “feast”. This will not only jump start your metabolism it will help you save on calories. The part of your brain that determines hunger also determines thirst. So drinking a glass of water before eating can actually curb your appetite.

Rule Two: If you want something, get a small helping to start off with. It’s easy to overfill your plate and feel obligated to eat everything. The saying “Your eyes are bigger than you stomach” comes to mind!

Rule Three: Start with salad. Salad “can” be the healthy option. Unless you put a ton of croutons, cheese and dressing on top. Stick to less is more. A little bit of dressing goes a long way!

Rule Four: After you finish eating (your much smaller plate than usual) wait for 10-15 minutes before determining if you are still hungry. It takes your hypothalamus (control center in your brain for appetite and satiety) time to determine how full you are. We tend to eat faster than our brains can compute.

Food Alternatives

1. Instead of sweet potatoes with marshmallow and sugar topping, try sweet potatoes with salt and REAL butter. Sweet potatoes are plenty sweet on their own! But, if you HAVE to have some sweetener added try a couple of drops of organic honey.
2. For a great side dish try sliced sweet carrots that have been sautéed in butter or extra virgin olive oil and some fresh dill.
3. Instead of green bean casserole or corn casserole, try fresh green beans roasted with almond slices in extra virgin olive oil.
4. For stuffing, switch regular bread for gluten free bread or another alternative. This can be tricky, you have to find a bread that you enjoy the taste of. (I have a wheat sensitivity, so I eat Spelt bread. It does have gluten, but it is the best bread I have found that my kids will also eat!)
5. Try using less sugar or find an alternative to make your dish healthier.
6. When it comes to dessert, it can get tricky! Here is an awesome website I found for alternative “healthier” dessert options. Key to dessert is also smaller portions! Take half of what you normally would.
7. Also, skip the sugary drinks or alcohol and opt for only WATER!

Chiropractic

Small decisions can add up to major wins. You don’t have to deprive yourself of everything you love. Making small, better decisions are key to success in being healthy. New Years resolutions are right around the corner, but there isn’t any reason why you can’t jumpstart living healthier today!

For help with living a healthier lifestyle, give us or a chiropractor near you a call. Chiropractors can help you not only feel better, but live healthier! Chiropractic adds years to your life and life to your years!

~Dr. Lacey~
Carder Chiropractic Clinic, INC.
El Reno, OK 73036