I’d meant to have solved all of your dieting dilemas by now but due to unforeseen events I’ve been kept away from my blogs for quite some time. I hope everyone survived Halloween and if not, I hope you are ready to jump on board and get ready to tackle Thanksgiving head on!

I have three very simple rules for you to follow this Thanksgiving to ensure that you don’t feel like one of the Macy’s Day Parade balloons after the feast is done… and the next day.. and the next.. and then your favorite pants don’t fit.. UGH!!!

So here are my three easy rules:

Don’t eat everything!

Make/order something healthy to contribute to wherever you eat.

Don’t let your food touch.

Sounds funny huh? Let’s start with the last rule. Remember when you were a kid and it was just sooooo gross when you got gravy on your jello? Ugh. I still think that is gross. But as an adult I’ve found myself at buffets and the TG table trying to cram as much food as I can on my plate. A couple of years ago I actually ate jello salad that had gravy on it. I know.. sick. But I was in a feeding frenzy! I’d slipped into that mind set that it’s TG! I get to pig out and no one can stop me! I get to eat until I want to barf and then lay on the couch and watch football until it’s time to go back for more pie. This is just a dumb mind set to have. How many of us get like that then feel like we want to die later? Like we’re in the movie Alien and there’s some baby monster trying to get out of our gut? And how far does this one extended weekend of splurging set us back in our weight management goals? Miles. It’s just not worth it. So pretend you are a kid and take smaller scoops this TG. Try to make it so your food on your plate doesn’t touch. This will ensure that you are taking smaller scoops. What’s that you say? There won’t be room for everything if you do this? Well.. that brings us to one of my other rules.

You don’t have to eat everything!! There is no rule that says every single dish must be consumed on Thanksgiving day or you are not grateful for your blessings! There is a rule, however, for those of you who are Bible readers, that says gluttony is a sin. Oh yah, remember that one? It keeps sneaking up in the back of my mind and bothering me late at night as I shove Pringles in my mouth like there is no tomorrow. But setting the Bible aside for a moment, it’s just not smart. If you figure each scoop you take has at least 100 calories in it, most of them pushing 200, some even 3-400, you’re looking at a 1000 calorie plate pretty darn fast. And yes, that is ok to do once in a while, but do we really only have one plate of food on TG weekend? No. I, personally have downed at least four on each of the four days for several years in a row. Who doesn’ t love TG leftovers? Hello?! But recently I realized that I do live in America, I do have access to these foods every day of the year. If I don’t feel like cooking them myself I can head to Boston Market and pick it up to go. And really, Aunt Mabel’s jello salad is just gross. Marsh mellows and jello and fruit cocktail .. ugh.. save it for the kids who hate turkey. Also, skip anything that is smothered in sauce if you can. Or the rolls. Those little fluffy agents of fat. Have one but not ten. Have one each day if you want. Grab five and hide them for  yourself to savor one each day. (I’ve had to do this before to ensure I actually got my fair share without eating them all in one sitting). Basically go through the food line and pick out the healthiest things you can to put on  your plate. The good news is that Turkey is really good for you. Load up on the turkey and go easy on the gravy and cranberries. Go easy on everything else actually unless you know for a fact that it’s giving more to your body than it’s taking away. Sorry, green bean casserole is just not in this category, although it’s not as bad as marsh mellow laden sweet potatoes. Do you hate me yet? Don’t. I have one more point to cover.

If you are cooking the meal or contributing to it in some way, bring one healthy dish. Even if you are afraid people will laugh at you. Instead of green bean casserole, how about just some blanched fresh green beans? Have you seen what a gorgeous color they are when cooked just right? Or a green salad. Now there’s one that I haven’t seen at a TG table in years. A big bowl of fresh veggies and lettuce chopped up with a light dressing. Yumola! Or what about roasted new potatoes? Steamed asparagus? If you’re like me and never have time for anything fancy, open a bag of forzen peas and warm them up! Anything green that’s not covered in butter and sauce or salt is going to do the trick.

And how about those yams and sweet potatoes? They are a super food! Why do we have to drench them in corn syrup and marsh mellows? Why not just bake or boil them and mash them with a little bit of cinnamon and sprinkle pecans on top? It still tastes awesome! Granted it doesn’t taste like a super tuber dessert, but hey. You’re trying to do things better right? And if your sweet potatoes on their own just aren’t sweet enough for Aunt Mabel and you don’t want to endure her nasty comments all through the day then throw in a little Stevia. It’s chemical free an calorie free – truly a miracle of our modern age. Good stuff. Also, buy a little tub of Smart Balance to use instead of butter.. the olive oil flavor is great. In fact, all of their flavors are great and just as good as butter in my humble opinion, without all the extra calories and saturated fats. Uncle Joe’s pacemaker will thank you silently from across the room.

Alright. Now here’s the plan. If you can follow these little rules without feeling like you’re totally depriving yourself. If you can follow these rules and know that you’re doing it because you LOVE yourself more than food then when dinner is over, if you’ve made it through on one modest plate of food (oh.. you’re going to have to eat slowly too. Otherwise you’ll be sitting around watching everyone else enjoy thirds on the mashed potatoes while you feel like you’re missing out. I find talking a lot can help stretch out your meal “So Uncle Eddy, how’s your gout?” ) Where was I? Oh yes, if you can make it through the big meal without pigging out entirely, then when the desserts are served you won’t feel like  you’ve got to go to the bathroom before you can pack in those three pieces of pie. (Who really only has one piece of pie when there are ten different kinds to sample?!) And my dessert strategies, while separate are similar.

Skip dessert (WHAT??? I know.. settle down)

Pretend you’re that annoying skinny relative who asks for “just a sliver please”

See.. not so bad, only two. The first one is hard and only for those very advanced in their quest to control their eating. Just don’t have dessert. Count your jello salad as dessert. Or the extra roll you really wanted or even the extra helping of whatever else was there for dinner. If you’re full after all that, which you probably will be, then just say No Thanks! Your gut will reward you later, I promise. If you just can’t do that, then I hope you went easy on dinner and now here’s the fun part..

You all know her. You’ve all rolled your eyes at her and wondered what planet she came from. She’s the woman (or man I guess.. although they are very few and far between) who always says.. “oh just a tad!” or “Just a sliver please… don’t want to over do it!” with a huge stickly sweet grin on her face. I used to hate her. I mean REALLY hate her. What right did she have to treat my delicious dessert like it was radioactive? I slaved over those perfect pies and cakes. How dare she! But then as the years went by I noticed that no matter who she was, she was in a lot better shape than I was. I started really watching these people.

The majority of them were either skinny or getting skinny and they all seemed to have this sort of inner quiet about them when it came to food. Hmm.. being at peace with food instead of being on a wild out of control quest to get as much of the good stuff as I can in one sitting sounded pretty nice. I started trying to put into practice all those Sunday School lessons I’d sat through as a kid about loving thy neighbor even when they are obnoxious. The more I thought about it the more I thought maybe I should try it.

So one day, I don’t even remember where I was, I was at a party and they had chocolate cake. I’d already had a pretty modestly sized meal of fairly healthy foods and I had plenty of room to pack away a nice big slice of my best friend when I thought, hmm.. I wonder if I can eat “just a sliver” and still feel satisfied. I took the chance and while I didn’t obnoxiously announce to the whole room that I wasn’t gorging myself like the rest of them, I quietly waited to go last and took my own smaller piece of cake. You know what? I was right. While I could have probably eaten the whole dang thing, I didn’t need to. The smaller amount I took was plenty to fill me up and make me feel that good food satisfaction feeling I love, but I didn’t feel like my gut was going to explode or my pants have to be sent off to goodwill the next day because they would never fit again.

This also works with multiple desserts. Treat it like your dinner. Don’t let them touch, get really small portions, just a taste of each thing. You’re probably getting at least 100 calories per “sliver” so add it up that way and don’t eat the ones that aren’t creating cosmic magic for your taste buds. Go ahead and throw away the ones you don’t like and have another SMALL piece of the one that really does it for you, your dessert soul mate. Ahhh… for me it’s my husband’s pumpkin cake or chocolate cream pie if I’m so lucky as to have time to make it or buy it. Mmm. Pie. I’m sorry, I digress.

So there you go! Take it or leave it. I’d like to hear how all of your holidays go. What foods were you able to skip and not feel bad about? What was the grossest thing on the table? Who fell asleep in the cheese plate? (this actually happened once at a family dinner.. hahah priceless)

Happy SMART Eating!

Jenny

p.s. for those hard core crazy maniacs who want a real challenge, wear the tightest pants you own to dinner instead of your jammie bottoms that are three sizes too big. Or if you’re at a party where the bubbly and brew is flowing freely, offer to be a designated driver. Booze is nothing but empty calories and there are too many drunks on the road during the holidays anyway. Cheers!

Here’s a little trick I picked up a few years ago. Don’t buy your Hallween candy for trick-or-treaters until the day before Halloween.  Better yet, buy it  a couple of hours before the little monkeys start showing up at your doorstep. Sure you’re going to end up arm wrestling Grandma Betty for the last bag of Sugar Daddies at Super Walmart, but you can count that as extra exercise!

And while you’re at it, pick out candy that you hate. For reals. Kids love candy, and while some are connoisseurs of the finer things in life (snickers bars, 100 grand and reeses.. ooooh reeses how I love you!!!) Most kids really don’t care. As long as it has some kind of dye and a LOT of sugar and you give it to them in big handfuls, they are going to be thrilled with you and the spoils of their hike. So do yourself  a favor tomorrow and buy the big bag of laffy taffy. Actually that wouldn’t work for me. I love the tangy pink ones.. whatever flavor that is. How about the mixed batch of weird tootsie rolls? or just a giant bag of dum dum suckers. That would do the trick for me. Although I have been known to fib a little at the bank when they’ve asked how many children are in my van (the windows are super tinted) just to get an extra tiny sugar fix for the day. We all have our moments of weakness no? Anyway. Do yourself a favor. Hold off on the holiday sugar rush until the actual holiday and don’t tempt yourself like I did this year by  buying the Costco size mini reeses pack. *sigh* So so so good. But I have a hard time only eating the allotted 5 per serving. Boy those calories really add up when you’re popping tiny bits of heaven in your mouth.

But never fear.. as a good friend of mine always says. Just because you blow it on Sunday doesn’t mean you can’t wake up fresh and focused on Monday ready to try again. Keep trying, but enjoy yourself and be happy while you do. BOO!!