*** Food hack: How to eat MORE at Thanksgiving ***

Have a huge meal the day before. Supposedly this stretches out your stomach or something so you can eat more the next day. I don't know where I heard it from but my brother and I swore by it when we were kids!

And seriously-- what's the big deal with pigging out one day of the year? Especially when you eat healthy the rest of the year. Me, I want seconds and thirds of everything tomorrow! Thanksgiving food is my favorite.

I'll go running extra long next week to make up for it.

geekgrrl77

You know what helps me? Having it be freaking seventy degrees out on Thanksgiving. :(

Honestly, it's not that hard not to overeat on Thanksgiving. When you feel full, stop. Take smaller portions. I don't do it for health reasons: I do it because I hate feeling like I'm going to die if I have to so much as look at a crouton.

MrsIrB

Middlegeek is correct. Provided you usually eat in a healthy matter, there's no problem indulging once in a while.

Sheesh. Europeans and Asians celebrate holidays of various types and there is far less obesity there because those people have sane relationships with food; curiously Americans have the lowest life expectancy of any industrialized nation.

Maybe people here should be a little more mature about their relationship with food.

cv

Isn't it also true that if you are used to consuming less calories, then your body can't process the calories as effectively when you over consume, so you end up wasting a lot of those calories anyway, meaning that you don't end up retaining the calories.

I suppose that theory is convenient, but not backed up by evidence, none that I know of.

jeffeb3

I third that sentiment. I realize that the majority of Americans may still be unhealthy messes, but things are trending against it, and I feel certain that a large number of Lifehacker readers are more health concious (sp? Damn IE6 at work...). That being said, even if we turn into a the healthiest society in the history of the world, I'll mourn the day when Thanksgiving stops being about going a little nuts with food.

cyricpl

I wish the press would stop publishing speculation as fact.

Ackerman says, "While experts agree that plenty of fruits and vegetables and some whole grains and lean protein are good for you..." No, they _don't_ agree at all...nutrition _reporters_ repeat this as safe boilerplate, but this has actually been disproven.

___
"Eat a healthful whole-grain breakfast for a year, thereby decreasing your overall intake, speculates Dr. John de Castro [of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Tex.], and you could lose up to 11 pounds of fat."
____
No evidence. No citations. Just the speculations of the Humanities dean at Sam Houston State in Huntsville. But tons of people will read this article in the NY Times and think it's fact.

That Bastid

Exactly. One meal isn't going to make or break your health. I watch what I eat all the time. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to go a little nuts and sit around watching football. My gym is even open for a few hours Thanksgiving morning, so I plan on working off some pumpkin pie preemptively.

kenlin

What's the big deal? I saw a news story last night about how terrible it is that your Thanksgiving meal could be as much as 5,000 calories. I eat salads, lots of fruit and other healthy items all week so that on the occasion I want to eat something less than healthy, it is the exception, not the rule.

If you are watching what you eat, cheat big time on Thanksgiving and go back to your healthy ways afterward.

MiddleGeek

I personally want to be smothered in gravy on Thanksgiving. I only eat like that a couple times a year. I want to be able to enjoy it .. and I will.

radleyas

My favorite way of not eating a lot is not liking any of the foods that my aunt serves :D.
All I really eat at Thanksgiving is like one slice of Turkey, a few rolls, some mashed potatoes, some pie, and some chicken noodle soup.
Ok, so it's still a lot, but it's not the 10 turkey legs, 5 slices of ham, 2 lbs of stuffing, etc that most people have on t-day.
And yes, I realize I'm exaggerating, don't bother pointing that out to me :D.

dkong1026

@geekgrrl77: LOL I was thinking the same thing. I just wrote a blog post about my tips on how to eat more on Thanksgiving.

I am a pretty healthy guy and watch what I eat carefully, but you gotta let loose on the high holy eating day of the year 'cause otherwise, the terrorists win! Or something like that.

@That Bastid: I would take issue with the idea that eating a lot of fruits and veggies and lean proteins as being good for you has been disproven. Please show me where you get an idea like that... you know, especially after criticizing others for not citing studies. ;)

Kuz

Well today is the day and I plan on eating several Thanksgiving dinners. The key to satisfying both ends of this argument (eating a lot and controlling your weight) of course is to eat frequent meals (about every 3 hours) of similar size and macronutrient profiles.

This will ensure that your body gets into a rhythm of accepting a regular dose of the nutrients it needs. It is also harmonious with the way our bodies were designed - frequent feedings, evenly spaced, similar sizes to operate at peak performance.

It also capitalizes on TEF the Thermic Effect of Feeding which can be accountable for as much as 15% of your daily caloric expenditure.

Of course that also means no pie, but like @MRSIRB says feeling like crap especially after a good meal is not my idea of celebrating anything.

And in line with @JEFFEB3 that is all about portion control, our bodies can only utilize so much per feeding, after that it is the storage bin.

But most important I think is to satisfy your self on the holiday whether that means a mild form of self abuse or a hippie level harmony with your body you get to choose... so have fun!

Jasoncscs

I like eating a lot on Thanksgiving it makes me few good, and my tummy likes it also.

Ninehand