How to Not Eat Too Much at Thanksgiving

So, you've dug out your stretchiest, most loose-fitting clothes from your closet and simply accepted the fact that you will eat too much. Experts estimate that Americans typically consume ~3000 calories on Thanksgiving in the main meal alone. (That's enough for two of me on one day.) But it doesn't need to end this way.

I've been using this technique to "survive" Thanksgiving without the excess bloat and discomfort since I was 20 and had just lost my teen "baby" fat. It works. It's sensible. I have zero regrets after the big day.

Plan What You'll Eat in Advance

• if you're in charge of the menu, you already know what will be served. If you are guesting at someone else's table, inquire in advance what everyone else will be bringing.
• if you have no way of knowing what will be on the buffet or table in advance, take a few minutes before filling your plate to assess all that is there. Size it all up. Don't wait until you come to each section of the buffet or each dish is passed to decide if you will have some. 
• decide in advance what matters the most to you in the meal to come. 
• decide in advance whether or not you will have dessert. If you will, then you may need to eat less of some of the main plate foods, such as carby foods or high-fat foods.
• use the 1/4, 1/4, 1/2 rule for filling your plate. 1/4 filled with protein, 1/4 filled with carbs, and 1/2 filled with fruits and vegetables. Within that 1/2 of F/V, consider if the offered selection has a lot of high-fat options, like vegetable dishes in sauces, and limit the serving size of those dishes to just part of the 1/2 and fill the rest of that 1/2 plate with lower fat veggies/fruits.
• remember, when you dine in a restaurant, you don't order some of everything. You read over the menu and make your selection, knowing you won't be tasting everything offered. And this is key -- you know that you'll still be satisfied.

Let me give you an example of how I'm planning my plate to look: 1/4 smoked pork and sliced roasted chicken, almost 1/4 bread/herb stuffing with a single roasted baby potato and 1 tablespoon of sweet potato casserole, a small portion of green bean casserole and a larger portion of kale/prune salad plus a couple of carrot, celery sticks, and olives. There will be 2 tablespoons of gravy divided between the chicken and the stuffing.

Portion Size

• visualize how much you would normally eat for an everyday dinner
• try not to pile the plate high. If your everyday meal lays low on your dinner plate, then try to make your Thanksgiving plate look this way, too.
• dinner plates are big. Don't put any food along the outer 1 to 1.5 inches of the plate. Only use the center and a little bit of the rim of the dinner plate.
• remind yourself that dessert is still to come.

How to Deal With FOMO

• if you know you will have FOMO, make a plan to focus your plate on those specific foods. If you know you often eat mashed potatoes at normal dinners, put just a taste of potatoes on your plate at Thanksgiving. But you may also know that Auntie Peg always brings your favorite green bean casserole. Make sure you incorporate some of this deliciousness on your plate.
• set aside (in another copntainer) a small portion of the foods you really like but don't have room for to eat the next day. If you're guesting and your hostess provides a disposable plate for you to fill to take home, plan on adding those foods that trigger FOMO for you.

How I'll deal with FOMO: I'll have some pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, but save a slice of apple pie for Friday. I don't want to forgo that apple pie altogether.

Skip Seconds

• this one is hard, I know. When everyone gets up to get second helpings or passes the dish around the table another time, fill your glass with sparkling water, maybe grab a couple of carrot and celery sticks, and wait for dessert. The important thing is to make this decision in advance of sitting down to the meal. And remember, you can set aside some of your favs or ask your hostess if you can take a plate of your favs home to have the next day for your lunch.

This plan works for the entire holiday season. There will be so many opportunities to indulge over the next 5 weeks. Next week you'll have a new selection of holiday treats and goodies. Every time you gather with family and friends or open a gifted tin of holiday cookies or show up to a work buffet lunch, you can take charge of what you choose and still not feel deprived. 

If you are underweight and need to gain a pound or two, disregard this entire post. Eat away, my friend!

One of the great things about preparing for Thanksgiving dinner . . .

. . . is all of the tasting I get to do the days before the holiday.

Today I made the apple pie filling and cranberry sauce (yes, I decided to buy cranberries). Both are so delicious that I can hardly wait for Thursday. For the pie filling I used frozen apple chunks from our tree apples. When apples would fall or get knocked off in summer, I would cut off the bad parts and chop and freeze the rest. Well, those chunks are what I used for the apple filling. I also used some of the crabapple juice made this fall to flavor the syrup/sauce for the apple pie filling. The combination of tasty apples and the crabapple juice really made the filling out-of-this-world delicious!

In addition to the sweet stuff, I made the cream of mushroom soup for green bean casserole. Oh my, I know I was hungry for lunch while I was cooking, but homemade cream of mushroom soup is some seriously awesome stuff. I used a lot of mushrooms in this soup. If you've never made cream of mushroom soup, and you'd like to try it (either for dietary restrictions of simply because you want to try something yummy), it's basically a white sauce started with minced onions and sliced mushrooms in the melting butter/olive oil, cooked until most of the liquid has evaporated from the mushrooms, then stir in the flour and add milk or cream. I used plain, unsweetened soy milk as my milk. Once thickened, I season with onion powder, dried thyme, salt, black pepper, and a dash of nutmeg.

I also chopped celery and onions for bread stuffing, and I cut carrot sticks and submerged them in a jar of leftover dill pickle juice to make refrigerator pickled carrots.

It's been a busy day, but productive.

How are your prep activities coming?

Invite reminder -- I will begin Advent readings, various Old and New Testament passages and verses on Sunday, Nov. 30 on my other blog His love resets my heart. I would like to invite you to join me in these daily readings leading up to Christmas. I usually have the day's readings posted by 7 AM PST, if you're interested.