With Thanksgiving just around the corner, many people can’t help but begin looking forward to the amazing array of food that will be available to partake of on that glorious day. However, for those who are more health conscious, Thanksgiving, and the holidays in general, present a challenge to enjoy the seasons with all their traditional foods while still maintaining a healthy body and lifestyle. Luckily, this is a total possibility. To make your holidays a little healthier when it comes to food, especially Thanksgiving, here are three tips to help you enjoy without ending up in the ER for a heart attack.
Change Up Your Traditional Sides
While everyone loves the taste of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, you may think that you’ll have to sacrifice that if you choose to have healthier options. But according to Ysolt Usigan of Shape.com, that simply isn’t the case.
In fact, you can make simple adjustments to your traditional Thanksgiving side dishes that will create dishes just as delicious but with much more health benefits. For example, Usigan suggests to make glazed sweet potatoes instead of candied yams, whole grain flaxseed rolls rather than white rolls, mushroom gravy as opposed to turkey gravy and many other options. By choosing a healthier alternative, you can still eat all your Thanksgiving food without feeling guilty.
Think About Portion Control
Even if you’re willing to make some substitutions to your traditional Thanksgiving food to make it easier on your waistline, SparkPE.org shares that the real problem is with portion control. Many think of Thanksgiving as a time to completely indulge with no thought as to how it will affect your body. But if you’re trying to lose weight or have other health concerns like blood sugar or cholesterol, you can’t afford to simply eat whatever amount of whatever you’d like. Even foods that aren’t inherently bad for you, like turkey, can he harmful if you eat too much of it. So to make sure you’re keeping your body in prime shape, try to control the amount you eat from your Thanksgiving table this year.
Be Charitable With Leftovers
If you can manage to do well with the first two tips, you may find this last tip even more helpful. Because of the large amount of food typically made for Thanksgiving dinner, there is usually leftovers, especially if you’ve controlled your portions. When this is the case, Kristin Donnelly of Food and Wine suggests getting the leftovers out of your house as soon as possible. Some great options for where to give this food include donating it to a food pantry or even giving it directly to the homeless in your area. Not only will you be freeing yourself from those extra calories, but you’ll also be helping those in your community to have a more enjoyable holiday as well.
Thanksgiving is an amazing time to spend with friends and family and remember what you’re truly thankful for in your life. If you’ve been blessed with a healthy body, take care of it. And if you have to work a little harder to keep your health in check, use the tips mentioned above to keep you on the right track this holiday season.
