A Cambridge personal trainer post by Callie Durbrow
Healthy Thanksgiving Nutrition Tips from Your Cambridge Personal Trainer
I love Thanksgiving. I think that I love it more than Christmas. I love the food, family, football and I love how it’s not all about the gifts and crazy crowds at the malls. That’s why I stay home on Black Friday too 🙂
I was talking with a few of our members at the training studio and they were a bit nervous about Thanksgiving and how it would play into their newly clean nutrition plan. I told them the most important thing is to eat in moderation and simply make that one day their “cheat” and then get back on track. Get rid of the leftovers and just get right back on the wagon after that Thursday. Enjoy your food but don’t totally gorge yourself.
Here are some simple tricks for a moderately healthy Thanksgiving and this is what we’re using for a strategy with our personal training members.
1. Drink lots of water. This will help curb your appetite
2. Eat slowly. With all of the food in front of you and distractions of family and friends, it’s easy to stuff your face like a maniac. Slow down and enjoy your food. Your stomach will thank you.
3. Start your day off right. Eat a healthy breakfast and get in a fat blasting workout. You’ll be less likely to destroy your progress if you start off with a healthy mindset.
Here are some fat loss and workout ideas for your Thanksgiving morning…..
Cambridge personal training body weight workouts (not for wimps!)
Cambridge training members new favorite workout
Cambridge personal training 4 minute workout
Here are some great breakfast ideas…..Cambridge training studio favorite protein smoothies
4. Pick your favorites. Don’t just fill your plate with everything and anything just because it’s there. Pick 2-3 things that are special holiday treats and let yourself have those.
5. Skip the appetizers. Let yourself enjoy dinner but avoid the 500-1,000 extra calories that you can easily consume on finger foods and appetizers.
6. No seconds. Plan this in your brain beforehand. Let yourself have one plate of enjoyable food and then stop.
7. Make healthy choices….stock your plate with white meat turkey (no gravy), sweet potatoes and veggies. These are great subs for the typical starchy items found at the Thanksgiving buffet
8. Keep alcohol in moderation. The booze is going to lower your inhibitions and you’ll eat more. No way around that. Stick to 1-2 drinks with lots of water in between.
I’m not telling you not to enjoy Thanksgiving, don’t get me wrong, I’m making this my cheat day for sure. I love apple pie and stuffing so I’m going to enjoy the hell out of that. But I am going to rock a morning workout on Thursday, eat a healthy smoothie to fill me up before T-Day dinner and then I’m going to hit up another fat blasting workout on Friday.
Here are a few simple tips to making Thanksgiving feasts a bit healthier:
1. Turkey is your friend. White meat all the way, with no gravy
2. Lots of veggies- be sure to steam or sautey these veggies in simple olive oil, no drenching them in butter or sauces
3. Sweet potatoes- bake these with cinnamon, avoid marshmallows, brown sugar and whipped cream
4. Small portions of stuffing- there’s no way around this stuff, it’s bad for you. You just have to limit yourself to a small spoonful
5. Sub your mashed potatoes for whipped cauliflower. I use this recipe but I just eliminate the bacon….
Enjoy your holiday season!
Leave me a quick comment about how you’re going to make Thanksgiving a little healthier this year.