How to Have a Guilt-Free Thanksgiving

Every family has their Thanksgiving traditions from the usual wishbone in the turkey to the less conventional pie eating contest. My family leans more to the less conventional side with our Thanksgiving traditions.  While we can eat as much (if not more) than the average family, we have our fair share of traditions that involve keeping us active throughout the marathon of great food and company. As I come from a fairly male dominated family we usually end up playing some competitive sport. Year after year, some really unregulated version of two hand touch football goes down in the park close to my aunt’s house. More often than not, it turns into an ongoing competition (most of the guys in my family don’t accept defeat well).

On Thanksgiving Day itself a few of us have continuously participated in the annual SOME (So Others Might Eat) Turkey Trot through Washington D.C. While that is a local run, there are Turkey Trot 5ks all over the place on Thanksgiving Thursday. It feels a lot better to sit down and eat a few hours after when you know you fed someone else with the charity, and  you just ran 3 miles.

Black Friday is a marathon in itself for most of us, but it’s also a great way to add some more exercise into the shopping day. While it isn’t easy to do making simple choices throughout the mall day really make an impact. Some suggestions:

• Don’t park your car close to an entrance. Yes, it will be a pain to carry all those bags the extra hike, but your arms will get a better workout ( therefore more turkey leftovers can be your reward)
• This is a simple tip, but use the stairs every chance you get
• Avoid the food court, pack a healthy snack in the morning and a water bottle to carry with you
• At the end of the day, do a victory lap or two around the mall. Not only did you survive Black Friday, but you may see some extra deals you missed in the mad rush of the morning

Lastly, my favorite tradition for staying active is after Thanksgiving dinner we all go on a walk of the entire neighborhood and see the Christmas light displays. My younger cousins look forward to this every year because it’s the official start of acknowledging the Christmas season.  Not only is this fun, but it minimizes the inevitable food coma that is usually followed by Thanksgiving dinner and gears us up for the final round of dessert.