Overeating is a problem in America, and the holidays, especially Thanksgiving weekend, only amplify that. The reality is that there are so many articles offering tips about how to stay relatively healthy over the holiday weekend. More often than not, people abandon their diets and decide that it’s perfectly acceptable to go off the rails. That’s why Americans eat an average of 4,500 calories during a typical Thanksgiving meal.
It’s not feasible to think that you will eat perfectly on Thanksgiving. The temptation is too high, people! Of course, everyone should enjoy the day, but just remember that what you do or what you eat on Thanksgiving determines how quickly you recover the day after. If you find yourself in loose sweats and sunken into the couch the day after Thanksgiving, then you need the tips in this article. Below, we cover how to recover faster from your Thanksgiving binge.
Don’t Make It A Multi-Day Food Fest
A classic Thanksgiving weekend move is to just keep eating leftovers until they are gone. That means that you eat pies, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and more for lunch and dinner. Although you should allow yourself to indulge in some of the treats, having more than that is when things go south. Break the mold and try to hand out leftovers to your Thanksgiving attendees, so that you don’t end up eating yourself into a carb-induced coma. The more salt and carbs you eat, the more you weigh yourself down and slow your recovery from the big feast.
Try Yoga
A small study examined the effectiveness of yoga as a treatment for binge eating disorder and found that it helped improve recovery and reduce binge eating. Yoga also has a positive effect on your mood, which may help prevent emotional eating. That can help you stay motivated to avoid the food the next day. Yoga reduces cortisol levels in the body, which may help reduce anxiety and depression. That ultimately influences the uptake of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that people refer to as the feel good hormone. Finally, certain yoga poses can improve digestive health, helping your body handle the heavy load from Thanksgiving.
Fill Up On Vegetables
This is a Thanksgiving public service announcement: avoid the leftovers the day after the big feast. Dietitians encourage people to load up on vegetables post-binge because that strategy can help prevent overeating the following day. Plus, vegetables contain high amounts of fiber, which moves slowly through the digestive tract, promoting feelings of fullness. Several studies found that people who ate more vegetables lost more weight and felt less hungry compared to controlled groups. Increasing your fiber intake can help regulate body weight by influencing you to eat less food.
Don’t Skip Meals
It may seem counterintuitive to most people, but you should plan your meals the next day after a big binge eating session. One study observed 14 healthy women who ate three meals per day instead of two. The findings indicated that eating three meals per day helped the women sustain fullness over the course of a day, and it even increased fat burning. Another small study compared the effects of eating one meal per day or spreading the same number of calories out over three meals. Eating one meal per day increased the production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and it had other adverse effects on overall health. Adhering to a regular eating pattern after binge eating can help you prevent weight gain and get you back on track.
Don’t Let The Food Court Trap You On Black Friday
On the biggest shopping day of the year, stores entice people with deals and mall food courts trap people. Don’t be a shopping rookie! Take some fresh fruit or vegetables to fuel you during your big shopping day. Apples, pears, clementines, celery sticks, baby carrots, and sliced watermelons are great snacks that satisfy your sweet tooth and keep you actively chewing to promote feelings of fullness.
Go For A Walk
Besides starting your morning with a light breakfast, going for a walk the day after you overate can make your body feel better. Several studies found that walking can accelerate stomach emptying, which may relieve uncomfortable feelings of fullness or bloating. A small study observed obese women who walked 50-70 minutes three times per week for 12 weeks. The results indicated that they lost 1.5% of their body fat, a lot of which was belly fat. When you engage in physical activity, you stimulate the release of neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine, both of which protect against depression and anxiety. By improving your mood, exercise can reduce feelings of stress, helping prevent future episodes of binge eating.
