Fitness on the Wire: Thanksgiving Doesn't Have to Mean Another Pie and Another Pound
Submitted by Jerry Vance on Mon, 11/22/2010 - 4:10pm
No one counts calories at Thanksgiving. However, if you do plan on diet control, you might also consider adding a little exercise to your holiday menu.
Start that turkey and while everyone is still asleep go outside for a long walk. Exercise during the holiday will lower your stress level, slow you down, and maybe even keep you away from the refrigerator.
— I can’t tell you not to eat too much. You wouldn’t listen anyway. However, eating light, getting plenty of rest, and putting in a little exercise time, will help you through the holiday.
— Holidays are spent either in the kitchen cooking or in the grocery store. You buy too much and over eat because it’s available. Instead of an overeating habit that’s hard to cure, eat slow. It takes 30 minutes for your stomach to register full. If you eat quickly, and too much, you're still filling that stomach when it has reached, and exceeded the full mark.
— The more stress you’re under, the more you'll eat. Keep in mind that if you lose control now, it will take you three weeks to recover and by that time it's Christmas and you get to go through it all again!
— Laugh a lot. You'll need humor to go along with the 5,000 calories you'll consume on Thanksgiving. That’s the average count for a Thanksgiving dinner. Don't tell me you won't find a place to put all those calories, it happens. Finally, keep these points in mind. Turkey meat is great protein, low in fat and low in calories. Pie isn’t! Enjoy your day, your family, and forget you read this.
— Carson City fitness writer and advocate Jerry Vance is a regular contributor to Carson Now
