5 Tips to Keep Yourself From Overeating This Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is great for so many reasons: spending time with family and being grateful for the things we have, but everyone’s favorite thing to do on Thanksgiving is eating. The only problem with this is the inevitable food coma that sets in about an hour after you’re done.
Now, if you’re one of the few people who enjoy the bliss of lounging around after a day filled with eating, just keep doing you. But for the people who hate this feeling, I’m going to be sharing 5 tips to help you keep from overeating this Thanksgiving.
1. Pace Yourself
This tip is extremely important and effective. Start off by filling your plate with small portions of the things you’ll actually eat. If you decide to get seconds make sure to wait at least 30 minutes before doing so, just to give your stomach some time to digest the previously eaten food. Additionally, limit yourself to only filling up half of the second plate you get to prevent making yourself sick.
2. Eat Slowly
This tip is difficult to follow, especially after filling up a plate of delicious looking food. Make sure to not immediately stuff your face the moment you put the last piece of turkey on your plate. Eating quickly makes it harder for your body to realize that it’s full, resulting in feeling sick minutes after you’ve eaten a feast. By eating slowly you give your digestive system time to fully digest food and will become fuller faster. A good way to make sure you’re eating slowly enough is to chat with friends and family in between bites.
3. Don’t Skip Meals Prior to Thanksgiving Dinner
Skipping out on meals during the day will only make you hungrier when dinnertime rolls around, resulting in overeating during that one meal. If you’re planning on eating Thanksgiving dinner, make sure to eat breakfast and lunch as well. However, these meals shouldn’t be huge; you don’t want to make yourself sick before the big meal even begins.
4. Prepare Smaller Portions
Typically on Thanksgiving, people end up cooking lots of food with the intention of saving some of it for another day, but then eventually give in and eat more in one sitting than originally planned. If you’re only cooking for yourself or a few people, try preparing smaller portions. Limit yourself to only making a single serving for each person and this way, you won’t have the option to overeat.
5. Count Calories
Use this tip to make sure you don’t eat more on Thanksgiving than you would on any typical day. By counting calories, you become conscious of exactly what you’re putting in your body and how it stands in comparison to what you’d normally eat on any regular Thursday.
Okay, now its time to gobble…gobble… 😉
