Dear Red Hot Mamas- November 2021

By: Red Hot Mamas

Published: November 10, 2021

“Be present in all things and thankful for all.”

—Maya Angelou

 

Dear Red Hot Mamas,

Can you really believe it that Thanksgiving is almost here? It’s hard for me to grasp the idea because I am still munching on the leftover Halloween candy for the trick or treaters that never showed up at my door.

So, we are now off and running with the holiday season. And, many of us overeat for weeks on end. It seems as if having holiday spirit gives us permission to overindulge on food. I mean, after all, we are celebrating. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do?

In my family celebrating the holidays always begins with Thanksgiving dinner. A symbolism of our togetherness starts with eating lots of turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, dressing, pumpkin pie and lots of other carbs. And, that is not the end of it, because there is at least a week’s worth of high calorie and delicious leftovers.

This all makes it incredibly easy to overindulge with food and gain weight.

I thought about what I could do to help myself. I will share some of the rules I’ve set upon myself.

• First, when preparing the Thanksgiving meal I will not oversize the amount of ingredients for three reasons:
• To encourage everyone to limit their serving portions
  • To minimize leftovers
  • Also, this will save money , as well as extra weight gain
  • Also, there are more people not eating meat, so I will take that in consideration too.
• I won’t wear my typical stretchy comfortable pants. I’ll wear tighter waist pants. Perhaps this may make me less likely to overeat because it will be uncomfortable.
• I won’t overload my fork. That should be easy to maneuver and it may help me to become more cognizant as to what I am eating.
• Since, I enjoy eating so much, I will try not to get too overexcited with my food by eating it too quickly. So, I will make sure that I take my time chewing it, not inhaling my food. Perhaps, I will eat less my doing this.
• I will also explain to my family that it is not compulsory to eat as much as I can and then go for second helping. This may prevent me to fall into a food coma because I have eaten too much.
• I will distance myself from the desert table and only eat one sliver of desert, not several pieces of each desert served.
• I will make time for exercise, especially on Thanksgiving Day. By increasing my physical activity it may help to compensate for all the excesses of the season.

In closing, I hope that you might consider some of the things I will do this Thanksgiving. Let’s not let Thanksgiving sabotage our weight.

So let’s all be thankful this November. It is a time to remember and embrace those who enrich our lives. I am thankful for many things, but I am most thankful to have you in my life!

Happy Thanksgiving to You All!

Karen Giblin