For those of you who don’t already have a countdown going, Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. This welcome break from school means family, friends, sleep, and most importantly, awesome food. However, for those trying to lead a healthy lifestyle, Thanksgiving presents a number of delicious pitfalls – especially because it’s not the typical DC fare that you’re trying to resist. Luckily, there are plenty of ways for you to enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner without worrying about over-eating. For some healthy tips for this holiday, we sat down with Dr. Winifred Constable MD, director of Balance Medical Weight Loss, a practice located right across from the Bryn Mawr Hospital.
1. Maintain Your Routine
When the holidays roll around and one grand meal becomes the focus, many people fall into the trap of skipping meals to “save” calories for later. However, this is a poor strategy that sets you up to fail.
“It’s important to maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially during the holidays, rather than falling into a diet of binging and starving,” Dr. Constable explained. “Skipping breakfast or lunch in anticipation of a big dinner or party stops your metabolism in its tracks, and makes it harder to resist temptation later on. When you skip meals, powerful hormones called grehlins are released, which peak in your body in late afternoon and evening. These can cause you to feel ravenously hungry and have cravings.”
Instead, make sure that you eat as you would any other day and have a normal breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Exercise portion control, and you’ll be good to go!
2. Hydrate!
Make sure that you’re drinking enough water this Thanksgiving break. Without your signature Haverford Nalgene constantly in tow, it’s easy to forget to hydrate throughout the day. Water will help curb appetite cravings, maintain your balance of body fluids, and help with digestion.
In addition, substituting high calorie beverages with water is a clever way to avoid over-indulging at your family Thanksgiving dinner. If just plain water is too boring for you, explore the world of flavored seltzer. This popular soda substitute tastes great, and its fizzy bubbles will make you feel full and satisfied.
3. Use Your Resources
Once you make the trip back home and walk through the door, it’s easy to get lazy and stay glued to the couch for the next three days – only to regret it once you get back to Haverford on Sunday night. Commit to staying healthy this holiday before making the trip home, and use the resources around you to do so.
“Believe or not, there are plenty of ways for the average college student to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” Dr. Constable weighed in. “The school gym, getting creative at the DC, consulting outside resources such as Balance – these are all things that will set you up for a routine that is easy to maintain and a lot of fun into and through the holiday season.”
4. Help Out Around the House
Not only will this help you stay on Mom’s good side, but staying busy and helping to set the table, clean up, or wash dishes will help prevent you from over-indulging. Without the immediate pressure of classes or school work, it’s easy to become bored and stay mindlessly eating all the goodies lying around. Avoid this by helping out around the house! In addition to being helpful, this is also a good opportunity to catch up with family members who you haven’t seen for a few months.
5. Focus on the Good
Instead of bemoaning the fact that those mashed potatoes probably have more fat than you know is healthy or that the cranberry jelly most likely has more sugar than actual cranberries, focus on all the opportunities Thanksgiving dinner holds for healthy eating. Turkey is incredibly high in protein, and is much leaner than beef. Vegetables such as green beans and corn are often in abundance, so make sure to pile those on your plate as well.
Dr. Constable’s final thoughts for you are that you should keep in mind that everything is okay in moderation. Don’t feel as if you have to give up mashed potatoes, stuffing, or cranberry jelly – just exercise portion control, and make sure that healthier options are the focal point of your plate.
Dr. Constable is the owner and director of Balance Medical Weight Loss, located at 735 Old Lancaster Rd in Bryn Mawr, PA. Haverford students will receive 10% off when visiting Balance.