Eats of Thanksgiving Past (How I Ate Healthy During the Holidays)

Thanksgiving was just last week. It feels like it was just a blurry memory as Christmas is looming around the corner. I want to post my Thanksgiving moments so I can start posting about the magical Christmas season here in the Bay Area. Stay tune!

Ho! Ho! Ho! How is your holiday season so far? I am not Santa but I might as well change my name to Mrs Claus with the amount of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, ham, prime rib and pumpkin pie that I ate this Thanksgiving weekend. 

Just kidding. (Not about the pumpkin pie. That one was true.) I actually did pretty good this Thanksgiving. I cooked half of a turkey with stuffing on Thursday which was Thanksgiving Day. I also cooked a 9 lb prime rib on Friday after Thanksgiving. And I am adding this  to my list of this year's gratitude -- both turkey and prime rib came perfectly out of the oven!  

Back to about me doing pretty good, I was referring to how much I ate. Thanksgiving is for stuffing ourselves -- says almost every American on this day. It is almost un-American to not eat well on this day. I am proud to say that in San Francisco, many organizations host Thanksgiving feasts for those who are experiencing homelessness. I am happy to know that even the less fortunate are  able to enjoy a hot meal  and will not be alone on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Even my vegan and vegetarians friends stuff themselves. I think because Thanksgiving also symbolizes harvest, plenty and abundance.  

I purposely avoided eating too much on this year's Thanksgiving. It was not out of vanity but because of good sense health goals. This year I just decided to really change my lifestyle and eating habits to live a healthier life. I am inspired because few days before Thanksgiving, my annual health report came out with good grades -- I am no longer pre-diabetic. My blood sugar is back to normal. All because of living and eating conscientiously which amounted to making healthy choices when eating out and adhering to reasonable portions. 

So as soon as we got home to our house in Oakland (we spent two fabulously lazy days at our other house in the suburbs), I weighed myself and sure enough, I did not even gain a pound after two days of eating. I know -- the scale is not a fool-proof indicator of weight gain or loss but still... It shows that my efforts were somehow were not in vain. Yay!

So what did I do right this time? 

1) I already ate a small meal before I went to the party

I ate a little slice of turkey and some stuffing before we went to Mr Sweetie's family's Thanksgiving dinner. Knowing that I will be eating again when we get there, I purposely did not eat a big meal at home. 

2) I allowed my tummy and brain to communicate

When we got to the party, I was surprised to realize that I was still full. My body had time to communicate to my brain that I was no longer hungry during the 30 minute  commute. 

3) I was a food snob

At the party, I had a couple of glasses of wine the entire evening. When I finally got a little hungry few hours later, I had a small slice of ham and a small plate of sweet potatoes with brown sugar. I purposely ignored everything else on the table and just went for what I wanted. I ignored the fried oreos as intriguing as they sounded, the cheesy nachos (because Mr Sweetie's family is Mexican-American and there will always be nachos at every gathering), mashed potatoes, etc. I tried a little bit of the deep-fried turkey, though, because well-- it was deep-fried!

4) I restrained myself and went for the better choices

When we got back home from the party, we did a movie marathon. I was hungry again because we stayed up until 1 am. Halfway into our second movie, I got hungry. A big bag of salt and lime tortilla chips or brie and crackers? I chose brie and crackers with water. Brie and crackers should go with a chilled chardonnay but I restrained myself. The next day, I cooked prime rib. I ate a small slice but I stuffed myself with caesar salad washed down with water! I did not open that bottle of red wine that would have gone well with the prime rib but since I already had 2 glasses of wine last night. I decided to save the wine for next time.

Now, that pumpkin pie. Or those pumpkin pie slices. I had them with coffee and without coffee. But you know what, I really enjoyed them. Knowing that I can only eat pumpkin pie only during the holidays, I allowed myself to indulge. (We can get pumpkin pies year round but I consider  it  a crime to eat pumpkin pie in the spring or summer!)

So, I am proud of myself this Thanksgiving. I will deal with Christmas and New Year when they get here. Let us live one (holi)day at a time but let us live deliciously everyday! 

What do you like to eat during Thanksgiving?