Anxious about staying on track with your Thanksgiving meal?
Here are a few tips that you can add to your game plan to stay on track with your Christian weight loss goals.
Above all, stay focused on the holiday’s purpose. It’s not about eating, but reflecting on what you have and being grateful for it. Plus, it is a wonderful time to share the love of Christ with friends and family.
Here we go with the tips!
1. Eat a high fiber or high protein breakfast Thanksgiving morning, whichever fills you up best.
Fiber choices can include Oatmeal, Kashi, Raisin Brain, Fiber One, or All Bran. Whatever cereal you choose should have at least 5 grams of fiber and less than 10 grams of sugar per serving. You can Round out your breakfast with a high fiber fruit, like an apple, orange or pear and a serving of protein like turkey bacon or Canadian bacon.
Alternatively, a high protein choices like eggs (personally, I do 1 whole egg with 2 egg whites), Quinoa, or Greek 100 yogurt with 1/2 cup berries works too.
These choices will keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day and help prevent food cravings.
2. Drink a cup of water every hour or keep a water jug with you.
If you choose to use a water jug, fill it up with 64 ounces of water to sip on throughout the day. This will help ensure that you are eating from hunger, not misguided thirst.
3. Don’t pile your plate high with food.
Since you may be trained to clean your plate, piling your plate high with food is an invitation to overeat.
When you fix your plate, be sure to leave spaces between each type of food so that you can still see the bottom of the plate.
I used to joke with myself, “Leave some room for the Holy Ghost!”
4. Use your hand to judge portion sizes.
Each serving of food should be no bigger than your fist (or your cupped hand for starches).
5. Fill half of your plate with vegetables, preferably green ones like green beans, turnip greens, collards, cabbage, and other fibrous vegetables.
Many people might think of macaroni and cheese or potato salad as vegetables but they aren’t. Those foods are considered starches.
Remember, each serving of starches should be no bigger than your cupped hand.
- Eat your vegetables first
- Next your protein choice (white meat turkey is a great choice)
- Save your starches and dessert for last. You are less likely to have the blood sugar spikes that lead to food cravings later.
6. Make yourself wait 10 minutes before going back for seconds.
You always want to be sure that you are eating from hunger, not from habit. So give your food time to settle and let your body tell you if you need more or not.
You can always fix yourself a plate and put it in the refrigerator for later if you are concerned that your favorite goody will be gone if you don’t eat it right away.
7. Pick your favorite dessert only, at a modest serving of it and enjoy it thoroughly.
Why waste calories on a dessert that you can take or leave? If you can take it or leave it, that’s your cue that you can leave it.
8. Keep yourself moving.
Get some exercise Thanksgiving morning. Play games with your younger family members – Tag, hide and seek, throwing a ball or Frisbee, Twister, dance, or any activity that gets you off the couch is great.
Catch up with those friends and family you haven’t seen for a while.
Stay focused on the purpose of the holiday. It’s not about eating, but reflecting on what you have and being grateful for it.
Be sure to share what the Lord is doing in your life as a testimony for those who don’t know Him.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Be blessed with health, healing, and wholeness,
Kimberly Taylor
Author/Christian Life Coach of the Take Back Your Temple program
P.S. When it comes to weight loss, do you often know what you should do but have a hard time doing it?
You are not alone!
I struggled with this issue on my own weight loss journey, but I discovered that “Nothing is different until you think differently.”
The value of the Take Back Your Temple program is that you will learn how to think differently through using Biblical keys to overcome obstacles. You’ll discover how to win the Spiritual and mental battle that often causes us to become inconsistent and get off-track on our weight loss journey.
This is “can’t-miss” information if you are ready to succeed permanently and join a community of others doing the same.
Click here to learn more about the Take Back Your Temple program