Thanksgiving: It's NOT a Challenge!

A marathon – that’s a challenge. Triathlon – challenge. My recently accomplished one-day 26-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, aptly named Ultimate Hike Challenge – that’s a challenge. Sitting down to consume the estimated 3,000-4,500 calories the average American consumes on Thanksgiving is not, in fact, a challenge. Like we don’t get an opportunity to eat the rest of the year? Mind you, the first Thanksgiving, as the story goes, truly was a feast among the Pilgrims and Native Americans for a myriad of reasons, including that they had to grow and hunt their own food. Who wouldn’t be proud of that? And to share it with a community – another great reason to feast. But have we taken the tradition too far?

Many of us forgot what Thanksgiving is about. Most would say it’s a four-day weekend. No work. No school. Football. Parade. Eating turkey and stuffing and pie for days on end. And my favorite, trying not to gain the same 3 pounds as the year prior and the year before that. Whatever it means to you is your business. But if you want a challenge, how about a small plate challenge? Smaller plate = less food. Or how about a challenge to go for a walk, hike, turkey trot or get outside to play? A challenge to not make this one meal last for four days. A challenge to see Thanksgiving as something other than gluttony day. Yes, it’s a special occasion. Treat it that way.

At my job in corporate wellness, I teach a class that deals directly with dining out and eating at parties, including buffets. One of the strategies I ask my students to employ: survey the buffet before diving in. It’s all too easy to start with the appetizer plate, go back for the entrée and side dish plate, return for the remainder of entrees and side dishes that wouldn’t fit on the previous plate, and then go back for the dessert plate. By the end of it all you’ve actually had four meals. Don’t believe me? Do the math. Four plates = four meals.

Be mindful of portion sizes. How many foods are offered on your holiday table? How can you follow a balanced plate model to make your plate half fruits and vegetables, a quarter lean protein and a quarter complex carbohydrate, if you’ve got four plates with a possible 20 items to plow through? Add a full serving size of each food and ta-da! 3,000-4,500 calories. For one meal. Add having a second round several hours later and you can double those calories, thank you very much. And that’s just Thursday. What are you eating Friday, Saturday and Sunday? I thought so.

Challenge: Fit everything on one plate. Read that again. I did not say STUFF or PILE everything onto one plate. It should fit. Imagine a deviled egg tray. Each indentation is the size of, well, an egg. Compare that to a full serving of any food and the size of an egg is a just taste. Challenge – take just a taste. Eat whatever you want. Go ahead, you have permission. But just a taste. And enjoy every bite of it. I know it sounds hard, but I bet you can do it. I can pretty much guarantee that by just taking a taste of everything you will still enjoy the foods just as much but with the added benefit of not having to unbutton your pants. I know, sounds crazy, right?

Challenge: Take only the foods you get once a year. Go for the more exotic fare. Do you really need chips and dip? (By the way, I’m pretty sure that is not what the Pilgrims and Native Americans feasted on).  Rolls – not sure what bread tastes like? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that one winds up on the plate just because it was there on the table. Skip it. I will even be so bold as to suggest you skip the salad. Wait, what? Yes, the dietitian is saying to skip the salad. Skip the store bought chocolate chip cookies, the ice cream, skip the filler foods. Ask yourself what you are looking forward to eating on this holiday, and focus on that. And enjoy it. Be thankful for it and the person who made it (or at least stopped by the store to pick it up). Just because it sits on the table it doesn’t necessitate that it wind up on your plate. And since I’ve got your attention let’s take this a step further…just because it sits on your plate it doesn’t have to wind up in your mouth!!! I know, crazy, right? While I realize that there are starving children in many countries around the world, their condition will not be improved by your clearing your plate. I promise you that. Harsh words, I know, but true. I have never been wrong about that one.

Enjoy the social aspects of dining out, or in. How long does it take to eat a Thanksgiving dinner? Make it last longer. Engage in conversation with the cousins you don’t get to see very often. Thank the various chefs for the delicious dishes they prepared and provided. Put your fork down between bites. Soak the day in. Slow down and take your time.

Challenge: Plan ahead. Decide your plan of attack and stick to your plan. And here’s a bonus challenge I’ll throw in for good measure. We all have those special foods we are nostalgic for, many of which appear on the Thanksgiving table. Sometimes the memory is better than the reality. If something isn’t as good as you remember, don’t force yourself to finish it! Move on. There are times when we take a bite of something, expecting it to be something it is not. Unconvinced by the first bite we go back for a second. Nope, still not what it should have been. Trying to wrap your head around the expectation and the reality you go back for yet another bite and lo and behold, the whole darn thing is gone in seconds and ya didn’t really enjoy it in the first place. What a huge disappointment. Here’s a tip from me to you – the first bite is ALWAYS the best. This is actually how your brain is designed. We continue to eat a particular food hoping to elicit the same response as the first bite, as if we’re chasing something we can’t catch. If your first bite is less than, just put it down and leave it alone, because you will never get what you want out of the rest of it.

I am lucky enough to host Thanksgiving at my house. And because of this I know exactly what is being brought to my table, including some of my favorite things. I will make sure to enjoy my aunt’s mashed potatoes because though loaded with butter and sour cream and who knows what else (she actually said to me, “you don’t want to know what is in here”), I really look forward to them once a year. I will also enjoy my grandmother’s cornbread stuffing. Am I going to load them on my plate? Nope, just a taste. Because I’m going to start with my sister-in-law’s deliciously fatty hot artichoke cheese dip, and I plan to drink good wine all night long. I will sample any new foods that appear on my table, and I will put my fork down when I have had enough. I may not have dessert. Or I might have just a forkful of each one. I will talk with my 93 year old grandmother, probably about what scarves she is currently knitting, discuss the finer points of wine with my dad and husband, and chat with my aunt and uncle about their world travels. And then I’m going outside to jump in the bouncy house with my kids and little cousins, and other adults who act like children. Because that’s what my Thanksgiving is.