Wellfie Wednesday Tip #72: Don't Get Overstuffed (Thanksgiving is Upon Us)
/Happy Wellfie Wednesday! Welcome back! This week is brought to you by Diana @DianaKlatt.
Thanksgiving is coming up and if you’re like me, you’re probably excited to eat an entire pecan pie by yourself… but this year, I will refrain and attempt to eat just half a pie.
The average American consumed 3,000 calories during their holiday dinner. To put that into perspective, the average person eats 1,500-2,500 calories a day, give or take based on body type and level of activity. And that’s in a DAY. Thanksgiving dinner is a whole different situation, that 3,000 calorie count is a single meal. Now, before you get on me for spouting diet propaganda and saying that we should all be crazy calorie counters hear me out. I don’t believe in cheat days. I don’t believe in meticulously counting calories. And I believe that if you want to eat something, you should just eat it – but in moderation. MODERATION is what we should be focusing on.
Many of us look forward to this day as a day for indulgence. Maybe we don’t think about the quality of our ingredients. Maybe we ignore the fact that our potatoes have 3 sticks of butter. Maybe we pretend it’s okay to just eat equal ratios of marshmallows and sweet potatoes in a single bite. I’m not saying we should give all those things up, but we can be much more aware of WHAT and HOW MUCH we are putting into our bodies.
OVEREATING AND PORTION CONTROL
There is no need to just forgo the meal all together. All I’m saying is maybe you don’t need that third and fourth serving… The tradition we have of sitting down and overeating is quite unique to our nation. We all tell ourselves that this amount of overeating isn’t something we typically do and therefore it is okay… well, that is incorrect. Your body reacts to anything you put into it so when you overeat, your digestive system automatically takes action and starts to work on that massive amount of food you just ate; your insulin production increases to work with the excessive sugar you’ve consumed, your liver starts working to break down the extra fats, and the blood flow in your body is redistributed so there is more going towards your intestines and therefore less blood flow going anywhere else (like your brain)! Which is explanatory of why we get the feeling of being bloated, being gassy, sleepy, etc. You body is trying to accommodate for all those nutrients! So rather than making malaise the target of your meal, eat until you are comfortably full. It’s okay if you didn’t get to try everything, no one will get offended if you are too full and leftovers are just as good (if not better)!
Don’t over eat on Thanksgiving just because you can. Thanks again for all of the #WellfieWednesday support, be sure to post your pictures this week and tag the WW crew members in your post (@TheFuelPhysio, @Eric_in_AmERICa, @AaronPerezPT, @DianaKlatt, @kuhnalyssa_spt) and keep the wave of healthy change going!
- WW Crew