Thanksgiving

From the South Beach Newsletter: No Fasting Before Thanksgiving Dinner!

Employing a plan to avoid overeating on Thanksgiving is a good idea, but there's one strategy that's actually a recipe for failure: fasting before the big meal. Total deprivation actually leads to extreme hunger, cravings, and inevitably, overeating at mealtime. Fortunately, there are alternative tactics you can use to avoid overeating on Thanksgiving and throughout the year.

Eat healthfully throughout the day. As always, don't forget to include your snacks. The trick is to keep your eating as routine as possible so that you arrive at dinner no hungrier than usual. With hunger pangs at bay, you'll be better able to pass up highly processed carbs and bad fats and choose South Beach Diet™-approved foods — like lean turkey breast and roasted broccoli — instead. Engage in physical activity. This tip does double duty: It gives you an activity to focus on instead of food, and it gives your metabolism the boost it needs to burn off extra calories just in case you do overindulge.

Allow yourself a few indulgences. Go ahead and have a small slice of traditional pumpkin pie. Because it's a lifestyle program, The South Beach Diet™ allows — believes in — occasional treats. Just be sure to enjoy a small portion, savor every bite, and get back to your healthy lifestyle first thing in the morning.


Breakfast
Two Eggs (but I made three)
Three Strips of Turkey Bacon (but I made four)
1 oz of Cheese (but I prepared two)

Pre-travel Snack
1.5-2 cups Crispy Wheats (a Whole Foods-Wheat Chex)
1 cup soymilk

In the car
Chicken Snacks
Almonds/Cashews

Thanksgiving Dinner
1 Glass Red Wine
2 Slices Turkey
Salad
String Beans
1 Spoonful Sweet Potato
1 Spoonful Cranberry Sauce

Dessert
1 Sliver Pecan Pie
1 Tablespoon Haagen-Dazs Vanilla

Post Dinner
30 Pistachios
1 Morsel Turkey
1 Brussel Sprout

Still not 100% in the old muggin, I got up today and for the first time since I started the South Beach Diet, I made a breakfast for myself that I could not finish. Then Emily and I had an unbelievably poor car trip, where we were actually STOPPED on the Mass. Pike. After being in bumper-to-bumper traffic for about two hours (can anyone explain that phenomenon?) and finally hitting open highway, Magnolia needed us to pull over. Arggh. We hit the Connecticut rest station for about a half hour. We started at 12:00pm on the dot and arrived just 4 and half hours later (the same distance during the rest of the year takes about 2 and half hours). We were stressed out, but it was nice to see everyone (this was my family); Ruby found her cousins newly alluring and exciting; Magnolia felt the same way about their port-a-crib. Fortunately, Emily and I missed all the appetizers, so we only had to deal with the actual dinner. Things went really well, except that I helped clear Ruby's dessert plate which featured all four kinds of desserts (pumpkin pie, pecan pie, angel-cake and ice cream). As a Pecan Pie fanatic, I helped myself to the microscopic crumb Ruby left over. It was so good, I decided to have myself a sliver. And I thought, "Egads, I am just like dieters all across America on this day, succumbing to this very same thing."

Then, hours (and another terrible car ride) later we got home, and naturally Ruby was hungry. We examined what Emily's family's leftovers looked like, but Ruby wasn't interested. She had a yogurt, and she wanted to try some pistachios, which she liked. Then we had a pistachio party. She was fascinated in the 'breaking them open' part, and that necessitated doing it ALOT. Half a bag later, we were ready to go to bed.