A Fitness First Approach to Thanksgiving
For most Americans our Thanksgiving feast is a time of celebration, warmth and abundance. It’s a great time to think of and send love to the less fortunate, like those hit by big storms this year. Many of us can also easily overindulge and slide way off the fitness path.
Our senses feel delighted by the smells, colors and textures of childhood treats. Family members encourage us to go for it in the all day eating extravaganza. Everywhere we look, we see a conveyor belt of food. We all know the feeling of going overboard and paying for it with a tummy ache. It’s possible though to gracefully flow through the holiday while having a great time with loved ones. Here are a few tricks for surviving the feast and coming out relatively unscathed.
It’s a day by day game-plan for the whole week that involves some foresight and planning.
Practice Time Restricted Eating for the Entire Thanksgiving Week
Time restricted eating is the practice of consuming all of your calories in a specific window of time. Eating within an eight to ten hour stretch of time is a great place to start. I usually eat all of my food for the day from 12pm to around 6pm. This boils down to two meals per day instead of three. Let one of the meals to be larger than the other. You don’t need such a narrow a time-frame, it’s just a psychologically fruitful approach that I’ve refined to suit my needs, and current stage of life (I’m 42.) This shorter eating window is optimal for helping me to reach my personal fitness markers while providing the mental clarity I need to complete creative projects.
I enjoy skipping breakfast, and eating my calories from the middle of the day to the early evening. However, If you prefer eating on the front side of the day, which might suit your job better, and passing on a late dinner, go for it. When we eat in a specific window of time, we give the digestive and assimilation systems rest, and we allow the body to literally “clear the pipes,” and burn off all the food we have consumed. Most Westerners are over-eating and end up clogging their system. The period of daily fasting can provide quick, measurable results with regard to lean body mass, improved cardiovascular function, improved cognitive function, and reduction of inflammation. Time restricted eating frees up the digestive-assimilation energy and uses it for repair and healing. Research shows that eating less is connected to longevity. TRE has also been show to naturally elevate the body’s level of human growth hormone (hgh) especially if we exercise and don’t eat right afterwards.
Make a Ketogenic Beverage in the Morning
I start most mornings at 4:15am with a strong black tea (coffee or green tea also work well) drenched in coconut oil. It’s debatable whether you’re breaking your fasting window or not with this beverage, but you are most certainly avoiding an onslaught of calories and metabolic activity. The caffeine gives you an energetic lift and the fat will keep your blood sugar levels stable, while providing ketones (an alternate energy source instead of carbohydrates) for the brain if energy is required for cognitive function. MCT oil is a supplement that can be used for fats if you are not a fan of coconut oil. This drink will stave off your hunger till that first big meal of the day swoops in to nourish the cells of your body.
Perform Strength Training and Interval Cardiovascular Training on Wednesday and Friday
These workouts will boost your metabolic rate through the roof for 48 hours. By doing them on Wednesday and Friday you will give yourself more room just in case some bingeing goes down on Thursday. Calisthenics and some stairs running are good exercises if you can’t get to a weight room. Do full body, compound, multi-joint, and movement related moves first. Squat thrusts, deadlifts, lunges, planks and push-ups are also great choices. Finish your exercises with small isolated movements if you wish (bicep curls and tricep extension) but they’re not necessary. For cardio you can find a hill or a flight of stairs and do repeats. Go out hard, walk back to the starting point, and then repeat. Eight to twelve intervals is more than enough. Make sure you are warmed up before you begin moving quickly. You’ll generate a ton of heat during these workout sessions and keep the metabolic burn going for days.
On Thursday Feast for a 10 Hour Window
On the big day, do your best to pace yourself, eat as little sugar as possible and be moderate with alcohol if you use any. Make sure you shut it down after a certain point. Stop eating 3 hours before your bed time and you’ll get great rest while having a lighter stomach the next day. The one big meal of the day is where ya can let it rip, but early in the day and in the evening go light. Sugar, not fat is our real enemy. Sugar will cause inflammation all throughout the body and even in the brain, altering mood, energy levels, and insulin sensitivity in a negative way. Treat yourself at the table, while exercising a touch of restraint.
To Avoid Over-Indulging do a Mindfulness Practice Centered Around Gratitude
Early in your day, set the timer on your phone for 5 minutes. Sit in a comfortable seat, in a quiet area, and commit to the seat by remaining still. Close your eyes and focus on all the good in your life, image by image, moment by moment, breath by breath. Know that a lot of Puerto Rico still does not have power and realize all that you have in comparison to the less fortunate. Send love to the sick, homeless, and those toiling away as laborers in the third world. Enjoy the perspective!
