With turkey day drawing nearer, do you feel a frenzy in the air? As you busily finalize travel arrangements, pick up last minute groceries, prepare for the festivities, navigate traffic and check errands off the list, is there any time to even think about all you have to be grateful for?
Perhaps your gratitude list is superseded by your growing concerns about whether this Thanksgiving will cause a glitch in your weight loss efforts.
The good news is you can enjoy the festivities completely, without ever gaining a pound.
My number one tip to help you maintain your weight or even lose weight this turkey day has six parts:
1. Don’t let yourself get too hungry
Typically, you may think it’s a good idea to starve yourself in preparation for the big holiday feast. This is never a good idea as doing so will mess with your blood sugar and cause you to overeat or binge later. It’s much better to have a small breakfast, and even a small lunch and/or snack if your holiday meal won’t begin until late afternoon. Keep your blood sugar steady so you can think straight and make excellent choices.
2. Enjoy every bite you eat, but stay away from triggers
Eating trigger foods and drinking beverages that are triggers for you is a no-no any day of the year. It’s not because foods are “good” or “bad” or because you are “right” or “wrong,” but, rather, it’s because trigger foods and drinks will cause you to lose control.
This is only true if you are a sugar and carb addict. It doesn’t apply to the entire population. If you are struggling with your weight, then there’s a very high percentage possibility, that you, like me, are a sugar, carb addict. Enjoy every bite of the delicious foods that are here for you on this festive day, but avoid triggers the way an alcoholic must avoid alcohol (which is, by the way, just another form of sugar).
3. Eat your protein first.
One of the often unnoticed blessings of this day of gratitude is that the meal is focused around an excellent source of protein. Eat your turkey, and do your best to forego rich, sugary sauces. Enjoy the fresh veggies and salad, and savor your sweet potato sans the extra sugar. Nature is sweet enough; you don’t have to add any fake sweeteners, if this is in your control. If not, just have a little, so long as it’s not a trigger.
4. Chew your food slowly
Savor your food. Relish every delicious bite. Chew your food slowly and appreciate every bite. You can get more pleasure out of 3 bites of something tasty than you would by consuming two pounds of the same food. Food only tastes good when you are physically hungry. Don’t rush your meal or distract yourself with others when you are chewing and tasting your delicious food.
5. Only eat foods that uplift you.
Every food has a vibration. Only eat the foods that nourish and sustain you. Imagine how heavy and gross you’ll feel after you eat too much heavy, rich, toxic food covered with disgusted sauces and various forms of sugar. Eat only the foods that uplift you. Imagine how good it will feel to move your body after the meal and how you want to feel light enough to be able enjoy this physical movement.
6. Use your imagination to your benefit.
Practice self-hypnosis by visualizing in advance exactly what foods you want to eat and the foods you want to avoid. Imagine yourself being assertive and telling the host, “Everything was delicious, but I’ve had enough. The smallest portion for me.”
Imagine feeling empowered and free from compulsion around food. See yourself in a sexy bathing suit, in your mind’s eye, and imagine how good you’ll feel wearing the clothes that you want to wear and having the body that you can feel proud of.
Fast forward in time, in your mind, by creating a mental movie of you successfully leaving food on your plate, fitting into your clothes comfortably, moving easily and feeling strong and in control.
You can do this!
Let me know how these tips helped you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Blessings,
Rena