5 Good Choices for Thanksgiving Day

It’s that time of year again. Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. What do these holidays have in common? They can be absolute nightmares for dieters, particularly dieters like me who have struggled for years with learning how to cope with the copious amount of food usually present at fall and winter shindigs. What should be joyous occasions filled with friends, family and fond remembrances often u-turn into funk-filled reminders that willpower was lacking for yet another year.

I would like for both of us that this year is different.

In this article I will be focusing my attention on the truly American holiday known as Thanksgiving, by offering 5 Good Choices for Thanksgiving Day:

#1 – Eat and drink before you go
Have you heard how beneficial it is to fill your belly before going grocery shopping? Supposedly it helps you avoid poor impulsive food decisions while strolling amid aisles of tempting food. You should utilize the same strategy when attending a Thanksgiving Day feast. Before leaving for dinner have a healthy salad or fresh vegetables and wash it down with a few glasses of cool, refreshing water. This will leave you with less room for all of the tempting food you will be facing.

#2 – Bring your own food
Concerned you may not have healthy choices available during Thanksgiving Dinner? Then bring your own healthy food choices. This is very easy to do if you are attending a potluck dinner, and could be potentially tricky if you are not. In that case you may want to keep a little cooler in the trunk of your car and make the occasional visit for a healthy snack. Hopefully your host will understand your desire to ensure a selection of healthy food but only you can know where the limits would be.

#3 – Eat a little bit of everything
Many families are like mine and have potluck dinners for Thanksgiving. This means there will most likely be new and varied tastes to choose from. Sure, Aunt Mabel will bring those same old nasty deviled eggs you know through experience to avoid, but you can bet there will be a huge selection of potentially delicious food to sample. The key to your sampling is to keep the portions small. It wouldn’t be unusual to have 15-20 different food items at a Thanksgiving Dinner and if you tried to have each in any semblance of a normal portion size you would quickly find yourself engorged. Rather, purposely try everything in very small portions, keeping in mind the other choices presented here. With luck you’ll know which items to have again next year and which will join Aunt Mabel’s on the “no eat” list.

#4 – Take your time
One of the worst things you can do while attempting to moderate your caloric intake (a fancy word for eating) is to eat fast. Not fast food, although that is really bad too, bad literally eating too fast. When you consume your food at too fast a pace it is less likely that you will feel full and you will tend to overeat. This is compounded at a social gathering like a Thanksgiving Day feast. With my family we tend to stay at the table until everyone has finished their meal. Fast eaters will have an empty plate in front of them with nothing else to do but fill it up again, and again, and heaven help us, again. By severely moderating the pace at which you eat you can still enjoy the wide variety of delectable morsels you chose to put on your plate, while not feeling as though you need to keep yourself occupied while waiting for others to finish.

#5 – Reward yourself
In the end it is important to remember that this is but one day out of 365 in a year of hopefully good dieting. While you shouldn’t take that as license to absolutely blow your diet out of the water, it is important to remember that one day cannot completely undo you either. Find something you wouldn’t normally eat on your diet (pecan pie ala mode perhaps?), and reward yourself for following these good choices by indulging just a little bit.

I sometimes doubt my own qualifications for giving advice on dieting, what with years of failure under my growing belt, but the fact is my failures at the holidays are caused not by my lack of knowledge but my lack of willpower. If you can muster up the strength to follow through then these tips will no doubt help you.

Thanksgiving can be a dieter’s nightmare if you let it. Make these good choices to help ensure you keep in control this year.

John writes about his journey from fat to fit on his weight loss blog, and is starting to open up about his sleep apnea as well. Follow him on Twitter.

Now Accepting Guest Posts!

I’ve been super busy lately with setting up my new business, and this blog has been on the backburner. I know, I’m a terrible blogger. Why have a fitness/health blog if you’re too busy to maintain it? I still enjoy the subject, but sometimes you have to do what you need to do to make a living. So, I’m inviting all bloggers to send me guest posts. The thing is that I will only accept guest posts that have to do with fitness, inspiration, and eating mindfully. I will not accept posts that promote your product, because I believe in promoting things that I’ve personally used. So the posts can be general with your link.

You can email me at sue at workinonmyfitness.com or, you can use the contact form with your guest post all ready to go and feel free to include an image too. I will review the post and if it follows the criteria above, you will be featured. Of course, I will let you know once your guest post is up too.

I hope to learn from others with these guest posts and connect with you all more. Can’t wait to read them!

Good Days, Bad Days…

We all have our good days, sometimes even awesome.  And then, we have our bad days, which absolutely sucks.  Even the most positive thinkers have bad days.  As someone who used to think negatively about herself, I have learned a lot in a short amount of time through reading other blogs and going through the online program I mentioned in a past post. 

Every time I find myself about to complain about the dishes in the sink, or the toilet paper not on the roll at home, I think about what I’d gain from complaining.  Things like that aren’t really a big deal at all.  But how about when you’re at work, and you feel like you’re just doing everything wrong, and constantly getting negative feedback?  When it comes down to it, these are things that affect you mentally and emotionally.  You think about if you’re worth anything useful. The thing is, everyone is here for a purpose and being in a negative environment is an indication to get yourself out of it. I know this first hand. The end result is a happier, meaningful you who doesn’t settle for less and can do anything they want to!

How do you brush off any negativity you encounter? Do you let it bother you?? You shouldn’t!

Strength Training Basics – Why Is It Important?

I realize that in the past I was all about doing a lot of running. But how about strength training? Running is nothing too difficult, but strength training is tricky for me because I want to do something that is effective. So I decided to do some research and share my findings of why it is important.

In addition to cardio exercise, you also need to work with weights. You may be thinking, weights? But I don’t want to be a body builder! Strength training, or weight training as it is also known as is an important asset to being in shape. For me, I think having toned arms shows that you’re fit and not only that you’re active and health wise, but good for you! Diet, cardio and strength training are important to lose fat, thus seeing results in fat loss. Strength (also known as weight) training builds muscle which burns fat, and the more muscle you have the more fat you lose. Also keep in mind that you cannot just lift weights to lose fat, which is also known as spot reducing (working out one part of your body and expect results).

There are three areas to strength train for your body – lower body (glutes, legs, calves), upper body (arms, shoulders, chest), mid section (abs, hips)

The Importance of Strength Training (for people who want to be shape)

• Tones and shapes the body for weight loss and personal appearance
• Improves and builds strength to our body as a whole, functionality and balance as we get older
• Assists in physical therapy during recovery from an accident or hospitalization
• Prevents diseases such as obesity, osteoporosis and diabetes
• Improves performance in sports, increasing strength, power and endurance

Equipment to strength train
If you’re at the gym most of your equipment is already there. You should also have which I refer to “the essentials” – water bottle, towel, and proper shoes and clothing for strength training.

If you’re at home, in addition to having the essentials, you can simply use dumbbells. Other things that you should consider having is a yoga mat for floor exercises or a towel and a fitness ball, otherwise known as a swiss ball. There are many variations of exercises you can do even with your own body weight, so keep that in mind that you don’t even need special equipment to strength train but to improve toning and provide a challenge, dumbbells are definitely recommended. You can find many deals here on Amazon if you’re on a budget. Walmart is another place to buy dumbbells which are very inexpensive.

Strength training, just like cardio exercise is important in your everyday weekly workouts. They balance your exercise routine and variety is good to keep your body guessing. Believe it or not, if you do the same thing all the time, your body gets used to it and doesn’t work as hard, thus results being minimal. So challenging yourself is not only essential, but its good for your wellness of being able to do something you never thought you could.

Also keep in mind that you should do warm up stretches before strength training and cool down as well to prevent soreness.

Favorite Fall Food: Anything Pumpkin!

The best thing about fall is the food that associates with the season. My absolute favorite is Pumpkin. It’s not just a decorative item for Halloween! There are a bunch of pumpkinesque treats to enjoy. I love toasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie and always look forward to making these two things. There’s also the Pumpkin Spiced Latte at Starbucks and the Pumpkin Smash smoothie at Jamba Juice that a lot of people rave about!

What are the health benefits of Pumpkin anyway? It is rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. It is also an excellent source of fiber, and pumpkin seeds are a good source of vitamin E, iron, magnesium, potassium, and plant based source of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Basically, they’re better than a bag of potato chips or snickers bars!

I love how pumpkin is so versatile, as the pumpkin puree can be used to make soups, breads, smoothies, and pies. Not to mention, it can be quite therapeutic to carve out the pumpkin seeds from the inside of a pumpkin. I found this out today when I was scooping out our pumpkin for the seeds.

Besides pumpkin, what are your favorite fall foods?

The Dangers of Extreme Dieting and Exercise

While some of use struggle to get out of bed, others don’t know when to back off. Here Dr Penny Adams, Kerri-Anne Kennerly and I discuss the dangers of extreme dieting and what signs to look out for.

Ask Raphael: Exercises for Flat Abs

Our fitness pro shares his favorite exercises to tighten and tone your stomach.

You may enjoy these related article:

1. Banish Ugly Back Flab: 3 Exercises!
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3. Ask Raphael: Knee-Friendly Exercises

Basic Rules for a Healthy Diet

Here are the basic principles of eating healthy and losing weight.

You may enjoy these related article:

1. More Diet Foods That Will Make You Fat
2. Ask Pam: What Makes a Food Healthy?
3. 14 Quick Heart-Healthy Diet Tips

Top 3 Ways to Prevent Diabetes

You can take control of your health with these tips for diabetes prevention.

You may enjoy these related article:

1. 5 Things You Can Do Now to Prevent Diabetes
2. Manage Diabetes During the Holidays: Page 1
3. Manage Diabetes During the Holidays: Page 3

Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

This seasonal soup is a fall classic that’s packed with protein and flavor but low in fat!

You may enjoy these related article:

1. Zesty Herb Chicken with Pinto Bean Salad
2. Black Bean Turkey Burger
3. Mexican Turkey Bean Chili

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