Go Past the Stuffing: How to Have a Guilt-Free Thanksgiving Dinner

When thinking about Thanksgiving, one thing usually comes to mind – the food! From juicy, stuffed roast turkey and mashed potatoes, to an assortment of cakes, pies, and other desserts, this holiday is easily one of the most sumptuous ones in an entire year. For this reason, it's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying the festivities. Well, if you’re one of the many of health-conscious Americans trying to keep the pounds away, you might beg to differ.

Thanksgiving can be torture if you're on a very strict diet. With everyone having a feast over so much food on the table, it's hard not to get jealous as you keep to your grilled veggies and lean meat.

But whoever said you had to skip on the delicious holiday spread, anyway? Here are some tips on how you can indulge in your favorite Thanksgiving meals without totally abandoning your fitness goals:

Boost your metabolic rate. One way of preparing for the holiday feast is by creating a special exercise routine and meal plan that will increase your metabolism before Thursday. Having a high metabolic rate means you'll burn more calories at a higher rate, even when your body is at rest.

In terms of exercise, there are two routines that stimulate calorie-burning: One is through interval training, a proven way of training your body to burn more calories through alternate sets of high and low intensity exercises; and the other through strength training, which increases muscle mass, allowing you to burn an extra 50 calories for each extra pound of muscle.

Your metabolic rate also depends highly on your eating habits, and the best way to increase your calorie-burning rate is through eating right. Plan your meals and avoid depriving your body of the fuel it needs to keep going. Before you know it, you'll be a calorie-burning machine, ready to take on Thursday's Thanksgiving turkey without hesitation!

Pace yourself. Remember to eat slowly; this way, you can enjoy all the dishes you love while consuming lesser calories. This is because, according to a growing number of studies, it takes about 20 minutes for our brains to realize that we're full, and that it's time to stop. On the other hand, if you hulk down mountains of stuffing in record time, you may already be eating past full tank, resulting in two things: a food coma and the nagging feeling that you've had too much to eat.

If you happen to have been working hard on your fitness for a while, indulging in your favorite Thanksgiving dishes won't be a problem. Make it your reward for doing your best! Even better, you may be burning most of what you'll eat, thanks to your high metabolic rate.

Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to schedule a post-Thanksgiving workout either. This way, you can make sure that all the holiday calories are burned away.

What did you do to enjoy last year's Thanksgiving? Got more tips on staying healthy and avoiding holiday weight gain? Leave a comment – we'd be happy to hear from you!

Tagged as: diet, exercise, healthy food, thanksgiving, workout tips 2 Comments