Leftovers

Thanksgiving is coming!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Not just because I love to eat and like to cook, but Thanksgiving is the least commercial of the major holidays.  No gifts to buy, no tree to put up, no eggs to hide, no baskets to fill.  Hallmark hasn't gotten to Thanksgiving yet!  All you do is fix a meal.  Heck, you have to do that anyway.  It's like a regular day, except with Turkey.  Just you and your loved ones...eating and giving thanks!  Awesome.

Everyone thinks it's so hard to be diet conscious on Thanksgiving.  Not so.  Turkey and veggies.  You're covered.  The hard part is VOLUME.  There is always such a great selection of great foods on thanksgiving.  Turkey, ham, salad, green beans...OK, there is also plenty of not so great foods too.  Like mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.  But stuffing yourself is as American as Thanksgiving itself.  If we Americans new how to do things in moderation we'd all be skinny.  But we like to do things BIG.  Unfortunately, our stomachs aren't as big as our eyes...or our appetites. 

Our stomach is about the size of a fist. Come on, ball up your hand and take a look.  Compare that to the standard 12 inch plate.  Amazing, huh?  We can really pack it in!  Our stomach can expand to hold about 8 cups of food but it only takes 1 cup to fill it.  After time, we grow accustomed to that overfull feeling and come to expect it.  Sadly, we don't feel satisfied without it.  But what we learn, we can unlearn!  Is that a word...unlearn?  Anyway, little by little, reduce portion sizes until you can eat 1 cup of food and be satisfied.  It won't happen over night, but hey, no one puts on 50 lbs over night either.

Another thing to consider, our liver can process only so much food at one sitting.  About 1 or 2 cups.  When we eat 4, 6, or 8 cups of food, what is the liver to do?  It can't handle the volume.  Guess where that extra food goes?  Straight to FAT STORAGE.  Like we need any more fat storage!  So give your liver a break.  Small frequent meals allows for digetive efficiency.  You body can immediately use up what you take in, leaving nothing left for storage.  Isn't that what we want?  Less fat storage? 

This Thanksgiving, use a salad plate.  Chew slowly.  Eat slowly.  See if you can limit your intake to about 2 cups.  Then sit back and watch the football game.  Let your stomach and liver do their jobs.  They will be ready for more in a few hours.  Then you can have some more.  Thats one of the best parts of Thanksgiving after all.  Leftovers :)