Tips for a Trimmer Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time for family gathering, expressing gratitude for all the good things in life, and eating lots of delicious food. But if you are trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, then it can be quite difficult during Thanksgiving. According to statistics, the average Canadian consumes over 4,000 calories that day, which is not surprising considering how good stuffing, cranberry sauce and all of the other goodies e cook for Thanksgiving are.

If you’re thinking of ways to cut that calorie intake on Thanksgiving and still enjoy that Turkey, here are some tips:

1. Start your day with a walk, jog or exercise:

Since you’ll likely add calories to your diet on Thanksgiving anyway, why start the day by burning a lot of it. Go for a long walk or jog early in the morning. Walking fast for an hour can help burn up to 500 calories. If you need to burn more calories, then exercise vigorously for an hour. Go to the gym if necessary. You may become hungry by lunch time, but whatever you eat will only replenishing the energy you have lost.

2. Have a regular breakfast in the morning:

Many people have a much reduced breakfast or miss it completely on Thanksgiving Day because they will have to eat a big lunch or dinner. This is a mistake, since you will likely eat much more food than you normally would, intaking more calories. Not only that, it will be very easy to eat everything that is offered to you. Therefore, try having a filling breakfast that is also healthy.

3. Eat appetizers in small portions: 

Appetizers do not just stimulate your appetite; they also add calories to your body. Since appetizers are served at the beginning of lunch or dinner, you may end up stuffing yourself with them by the time the main course is served.(I am so guilty of this) Unfortunately eating more appetizers, does’t necessarily mean you’ll necessarily eat less of the main course. So try eating appetizers in small portions only.

4. Give the Turkey's skin and fat a miss:

No Thanksgiving can be complete without a few mouth-watering bites of turkey. The skin and the fat of the turkey are of course the most fattening part, so you could remove the skin before eating it. If you are cooking the turkey, you can remove the skin and fat before cooking it. If you are topping the turkey with gravy, skim the fat off before serving it. If you are topping it with cranberry sauce, make your own so that you can control the amount of sugar.

5. Drink water instead of juice and alcohol:

Alcohol, juice and soda can easily add another unwanted 500 calories to your meal on Thanksgiving Day. If you can, avoid these all together and drink water instead, which would definitely help your calorie intake on Thanksgiving.

Picture by: Tim Sackton

By Shondell Varcianna

October 03, 2014