Greetings on this fine day after Thanksgiving! I trust that you each had delightful days with family and friends and celebrated not only in the scrumptious meal you devoured but in the blessing of togetherness as well. My food for thought (pun intended) this post Thanksgiving morning is in regard to how you feel. Physically that is. Most Americans will have consumed well over their daily caloric intake in the one large Thanksgiving meal alone and often times that is followed by extreme guilt and despair in regards to your holiday eating. I want to encourage you not to despair! Regardless of how you ate yesterday let’s take a step back and look at the big picture before you drown your sorrows in leftover pumpkin pie.
- It was just one meal. Often times we make the mistake of thinking that how we eat during Thanksgiving dinner sets us up for success or failure for the upcoming onslaught of parties and large meals in the month of December. We over-exaggerate how much we ate at Thanksgiving and use it to determine our own personal success in healthy (or unhealthy) eating as a whole. Lot’s of times women will be so overwhelmed with how they “messed up” during Thanksgiving dinner that they will fall to one of two extremes. They will either be so discouraged that they will give up all control and overeat for the rest of the season or they will be equally discouraged but instead restrict to the point of missing the joy of fellowshipping around a meal together. Neither is the correct response, but it comes from a place of control and we have to fight the need to control all of our circumstances regarding how we eat. In the big picture, this was just one meal. Don’t give it more credit than it deserves.
- One meal doesn’t set you up for success or failure. If this were the month of May and you had one big meal you wouldn’t normally think that it determined your overall success or failure in regards to your eating, but because this meal happens to have a title-Thanksgiving dinner- we give it more value than it deserves in the meal department. If you did overeat, it doesn’t mean you have shot your diet and the flipside is true too. If you didn’t overeat, please fight the temptation to think that you are better somehow. What you eat does not determine your worth.
- The Holiday is so much more than the meal. I think you know this, but it is worth repeating that the Holiday’s are so much more than the meals. We place a lot of emphasis on mealtime togetherness but it’s not about the food we consume, it’s about the fellowship we enjoy. I hope you can remember this as you enter into the month of December.
I really hope that this article finds you well and that you had a wonderful day yesterday. The art of Thanksgiving doesn’t just have to take place in the month of November, it can happen all year long. Maybe today is a day that you can start recognizing thankfulness day in and day out. Among the many things that I am thankful for this season, one of them is you, our readers. I trust that you embrace that spirit as you move forward into a very busy season-both in meal time and out.
