Thanksgiving Day Game Plan – It’s Feast Time!

Hello Beautiful!

How are you?! Are you in a different city for the holiday? Still traveling or about to? I hope it has been easy, low-stress, and maybe even fun!

Tomorrow is the big day! I imagine that if you’re not traveling you may already be cooking, prepping and spending extra time with family and friends, or burrowing in for a relaxing long weekend, so I will keep this week’s post simple and sweet.

I want to talk about heading into the Big Day with a game plan for wellness – and not just body wellness, but heart and soul wellness too! I also want to talk about the idea of really feasting.

Let’s start with seven quick strategies for setting yourself up for a marvelously life-giving day:

1. Get even just a few minutes to yourself.

Some time alone for a walk outside or some quietness in your room can make all the difference to facing a full day of heavy socializing with excitement and a ‘full cup’ of calmness, joy, and gratitude.

2. Look up and smile.

There really is so much to be grateful for and excited about, but the fast pace of a big day can lead us to easily forget and feel grumpy and overwhelmed!Whenever you start to feel down or frantic for any reason: Pause. Breathe. Look up. Smile. (It may sound goofy, but really do it! You’ll be amazed by how much it shifts your mood.)

3. Move the way your body wants to – but do move!

Even a gentle walk will help keep your body balanced on a heavy eating day. If you have plenty of energy, feel free to do a higher intensity circuit of jump squats, mountain climbers, burpees and planks. Higher-octane movement like this can also help to lower stress levels. But if you are tired and truly worn down, a refreshing walk and gentle stretch will be just fine to move your circulation and keep your cells happily active.

4. Eat a breakfast with protein and fat to maintain stable hunger throughout the day.

An egg with a little sausage and some veggies like frozen spinach thrown into the pan will keep your calories for the morning low, but set you up for a controllable appetite for the big meal and the evening that follows it.

5. Rest sufficiently.

This is a day to sleep in if your body is asking to! First because it is a vacation day, and second because being sleep-deprived is going to lead to more cravings, and this is not a good day to have out of control cravings!

For these same reasons, take a nap if you need or want to. When our bodies are asking for energy, comfort, and something to do, the answer is not always food. Let yourself take a cat nap if you crave one, and don’t try to ‘power through’ what can be an exhausting day.

6. Count your blessings.

Take 3 minutes and a scrap piece of paper or your journal and speed-write 10 things you’re grateful for – or 20, 30, or 50 if you can! Many people recommend this as a daily practice and I love the idea, but if that’s a ‘something I should do’ that you just haven’t been able to get around to, do it today. Maybe while you’re in the bathroom getting ready for the party, just keep the pad with you and jot down thoughts in between swipes of mascara.

7. Plan a non-food way to nourish yourself after the big day.

If you’re a Black Friday lover, I don’t even need to tell you what to do! But if fighting through the crowds is not your cup of tea, plan a different way to indulge yourself: book a massage or a pedicure, or plan to meet a friend for coffee.

Having something exciting and refreshing to look forward to will keep you from doing the ‘bummed out binging’ I personally used to fall victim to at the end of many holidays and parties. The fun was over, and with nothing else to look forward to, I comforted myself with food. Bad idea! Plan a weekend of fun activities and go to sleep as excited on Thursday night as you did on Wednesday!

Now that you’re set up for having a healthy and lovely day, let’s talk about how to really feast during the celebration!

How to Fully Feast:

– Spend time talking to those you don’t usually get to

Find the people in the room who look lonely or like they are feeling a bit awkward, or who you may not have too many more chances to speak with. Talk to them like you really want to get to know them – they may be more fascinating than you assumed, and they will be grateful and feel very loved!

– Savor sensory experiences that don’t have calories.

Look around you and take it all in. Notice and love on or at least greet every person in the room. Soak in the room decor and holiday decorations. Listen to the music, light a candle if you can, sip tea and coffee without sugar or fake sweetener, and chat and laugh with the ones you love.

– Savor sensory experiences that do have calories!

I’m not telling you not to eat! 😉 But when you do put food in your mouth, be sure you are really hungry and enjoy it. There is no guilt in feeding yourself well!

Here’s one more tip that I have often found pertains to holidays: if you are still hungry, just get more food! Don’t hide out in the kitchen shoveling food down and hoping no one walks in and catches you. (Not that I ever used to do this – haha! 😉 ) This will so deeply lead to associating eating with feelings of shame, and we sure know better than that!

Eat when you’re hungry and don’t when you’re not. You have already had a great breakfast with protein and fats to keep your hunger hormones stable. So now, follow your body’s natural promptings and give it clean versions of what it wants, and don’t worry about what other people are thinking!

– Don’t eat past when your body is no longer hungry.

Thanksgiving is famous for leftovers! So remind yourself that the food will still be there later. You don’t have to shove everything down now!

There are few lovelier experiences than sitting by a fire or in a comfy chair after just the amount of delicious food your body wanted with a cup of warm herbal tea and not a stomachache in sight.

Believe me, there will be turkey, sides, and desserts to eat for days! If you have a big family with an ‘everyone for themselves!’ eating mentality, put aside what you may want to have over the coming days and stash it in a storage dish with a post-it note and your name on it 😉

Alright, gorgeous! There’s your game plan! Now, BREAK! 🙂

To Love and Freedom, with great gratitude for each of you,

Jackie 

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2 Comments

    1. Awesome, Brittany! Haha, yep that’s a whole different game! 🙂 That does sound fun though!!

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