If you are someone who tries to watch what they eat, holidays can be difficult. Especially Thanksgiving. Being surrounded by so much delicious food that often emerges in our lives only once a year sure is hard to say no to. Not to mention the stress that often accompanies a busy holiday gathering..
If you fear you might overeat, use a smaller plate. Turns out, perception can be a big factor in losing the brakes. A study by Cornell University claimed that halving plate size leads to a 30% reduction in the amount of food consumed on average.
The Food and Brand Lab of Cornell University suggest you eat healthy foods on larger plates to encourage consumption, while eating less healthy foods on smaller plates to trick yourself into feeling satisfied with less.
However, it's worth noting that another study suggests that these numbers might not be true and further research on the relationship between plate size and consumption is needed.
Also, consider drinking a full glass of water before a meal. It helps to provide a sense of fullness, which lessens the likelihood of overeating. Just don't substitute it with soda, alcohol or other calorie-dense drinks.
Another mistake we often do is we skip breakfast, anticipating a bigger dinner, thinking we will more than make up for the calories as the day goes by. According to Rush University Medical Center, disadvantages of skipping breakfast include: higher chance of being overweight, higher chance of consuming unhealthy snacks, and lesser chance of meeting consumption recommendations for fruits and vegetables.
But even if all of this fails and you still lose it at the table, try to get rid of any guilt when leaving it. Nothing bad will happen if you've allowed yourself a second serving of turkey or a bigger slice of pumpkin pie. Dietician and upwave review board member Shoshana Pritzker, RD, CDN, reminded people that, "One meal isn't going to make you fat, or get diabetes or high blood pressure or any of those other illnesses or ailments that come from overeating all the time." It takes many months to put on the pounds and many months to drop them, so one afternoon of indulgence isn't going to cause you to buy bigger clothes tomorrow.
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