Don’t press the freakout button!!! I hear you Thanksgiving is not the same without sweet potatoes with gooey marshmallows, pumpkin pie and
all the other goodies that are brought out on that day’  Let’s be honest with each Thanksgiving is all the food that feeds the stomach and soothes the soul. It is the culinary equivalent of being tucked into a warm bed on a cold night.

How do you honor your healthy lifestyle while wanting to dive head first into those sugar filled treats of the day washed down with a little
Sauvignon Blanc’ Plus your guests may not be expecting brown rice, steamed broccoli, and boiled turkey breasts.

Your hungry guests who are expecting — nay, demanding — all the Thanksgiving classics’

Ready to dig deep

Set the Mood

Let’s face it eating is emotional. Raise your hand if you’ve ever eaten when you’re stressed. Seriously when things are going well, we never think about eating.

Wanna eat less”” Dim the lights and play some soft music, you’ll eat 175 fewer calories and still feel satisfied.

I have two go to’s for stress management is one is Ionix Supreme it’s a blend of plant-based adaptogens and helps protect me against the negative effects of stress. The other is sleep spray, this helps me get to sleep and stay asleep without a food coma.

Create Food-Free Zones

I know I’m so guilty of this, if there is food in front of me I’ll eat it. Do yourself and your guests a favor and create a food-free zone where the socializing can happen without food being within sight. If everyone will be eating at the dining room table, set up a buffet line in the kitchen,
away from where people will be eating.

Ideally your guests are having so much fun socializing that they  forget about going back for seconds, or at the very least, think twice about it because you’ve created a physical distance between them and the food.

Manipulate Supply and Demand

Serve higher calorie foods like pasta salad, stuffing, or mashed potatoes in smaller bowls, while serving healthier foods like vegetables in larger ones. It’s subtle, but what you’re doing is creating less demand for the unhealthier food and more demand for the good stuff.

Use Smaller Plates

I know you’ve heard this before, but research suggests that when we use smaller plates, we overestimate the amount of food we’re consuming
and end up eating less, while using larger plates causes us to underestimate our consumption and eat more.

So go ahead and swap out those plates — even if it means using paper plates (if someone wants to get all judgy about having to eat on paper
plates, you can kindly offer to let them do the dishes!).

Don’t Let Leftovers Hijack Your Health Kick

Here’s the thing — Thanksgiving is just ONE day. We certainly don’t want you to miss out on all the seasonal favorites, and it’s absolutely all right
to enjoy yourself for one day. But, with the usual abundance of leftovers, it can be astonishingly easy to let one day turn into one week.

When you come to my house EVERYONE gets a doggie bag!!! I want no more than 48 hours of food in my house!!

What are some of your healthy holiday tips”’ Leave me a comment below.  I’m always looking for things to add to my bag of tricks.

If you are over 40 and looking to live a healthy life, be sure to grab my FREE guide!!!

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Not many times we eat while doing something else (I’m so guilty of that) it’s rare I’m not multitasking or even sitting when I eat!

Mindless and emotional eating lead to weight gain. While MINDFUL eats, find themselves weighing less. Do you think you can incorporate it into your lifestyle’

Mindful eating is based on two premises: eat slower and in silence.

Eat Slower

Taking time to chew food well is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself. You get to savor each bite, and it helps with your digestion, plus you’ll end up eating less and feeling better than you would if you wolfed down your food.

The first time I discovered this was I attended a meditation class on mindfulness and the instructor had us take 10 minutes to eat a Hershey kiss. Seriously 10 freaking minutes, right those are meant to be eaten in like 2.2 seconds. In those 10 minutes I had the chance to appreciate and ACTUALLY TASTE the chocolate versus just shoveling it into my mouth.

Mindful eating helps you find a deeper appreciation for your food. What it takes to grow veggies, what it takes to create different foods like how grain is milled and turned into flour and baked into bread.

During the summer I go to the farmer’s market and it this brings this point home, the quality of food and the hard work of farmers.

Silence!

While this is a big part of mindful eating, it won’t work in its entirety for all families. Now I’ve become more mindful eating in silence when I’m not by myself not so much!! Dinner is my husband and I’s time to connect. However, we do have an electronics-free zone – no smartphones, no TV; just us chatting about your day. My quality silent time happens at night when I’m writing my gratitude’s and drink a nice hot cup of tea.

Do your best to make to mindful eating a part of your healthy lifestyle and because it is based on awareness, it makes a great weight management tool. Try it – you most likely won‘t go back to the grab-and-go lifestyle.

If you like what you read so much of things these the are simple strategies I share in my 21 Ways To Crush Your Holidays Without Counting Calories. – grab your free PDF download.

The post 2 Key Mindful Eating Tips (To Help Prevent Weight Gain) appeared first on Kim Barnes Jefferson.