Okay I don't hate the holidays, I just wanted to see if that statement would get you to my page. I may be a huge fan of The Grinch but I do love the holidays.  Sure I've got my complaints like Christmas seems to come before Thanksgiving but whatever greedy people.  One holiday at a time please.  

So here we are again Mr. Thanksgiving.  Is it just me or do these holidays seem to come faster and faster the older I get?   Let's not stay on that topic too long...  :)

Thanksgiving... time to over indulge in delicious treats, large portions and hopefully a perfectly cooked turkey right?  WRONG!  Look, if you fear the holiday season it's probably because you've over indulged the rest of the damn year.  Instead this year I want you to indulge in portion control.  

I'm not talking about more water and veggies here, although you should do that.  I'm talking about remembering what Thanksgiving is truly about; giving thanks for what you have.  Life, love, happiness or whatever you want to give thanks for.  I challenge you to concentrate on those things this Thanksgiving instead of mindlessly hammering back food.  Take a little food off your plate, avoid the turkey comma and instead use that time to play with your grand kids, nieces or nephews.  Or stay awake and re-connect with a family member that maybe you've lost touch with.

Let's be honest you can eat turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy all year long.  Hell for about ten years I was addicted to a frozen dinner that was just that.  It was like Thanksgiving everyday for me.  I doubt if you practice a little self control this Thanksgiving you're going to walk away saying, "I wish I would have ate more so I can feel like crap now instead of being happy and comfortable."  If I'm wrong and you do, pick up that frozen dinner I was talking about  :)

If you want to know about me...

I'll be spending this Thanksgiving with some dear friends of mine who 'took me in' 3 years ago since my family is a little far away to fly out to for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Thank you to the Jacobs' for allowing me to share this day with you and your family for the past 3 years.    

I thought I'd do something different at the end of this blog.  My writing methodology is typically to jot down a ton of notes, and see if I can make it into something that flows and is relatively coherent later.  What if I shared my 'bloopers' with you and you could see some of the notes and unedited rants that didn't make it into the final blog.  I've never seen anyone do this before so here it is.  Normally this part below would have just been deleted.

How bout this, use thanksgiving, your one day of the year not to do this, over indulge.  What a crazy idea.

You're just going to stuff your face with delicious crap, pass out and miss that time with family anyway.  

Stop allowing these holidays to be an excuse and take control.  

Look here's how it goes.  You fill up on Thanksgiving then you have about a week until Christmas parties and family gathering start.  Oh wait, you don't have that week yout hought you didn because look at all those delcious left overs, can't let those got ot watse!.  Still you figure you have time but let's be serious you don't have or can't find the time to lose the Thanksgiving weight.

Then Christmas hits which is like a 2 - 3 week event and you're gaining even more.  Well why stop there? I already messed up my routine might as well keep eating.  We stil have left overs and New Years is right around the corner so I'll just start my weight loss journey then.

January hits and you're fired up and ready.  The problem is you have to use all of January to get rid of what you started at the end of November.  Crap.  So now you've been working your ass off all of January like the rest of the country and you're tired and less committed now.  January was hard!  Why was it so hard.  Because you let yourself fall out of routine for an entire month last year! 

Fb and the web are filled with recipes, some good some bad but treat the day for what it was meant for!    Thanksgiving is the ultimate social [word] of other people making others eat.  Break the streak of eating way to much and feeling like crap the next day.  I don't want to drink to much becasue I don't want a hangover, well the day/ hours after thanksgiving are the equivalent to a alcoholic hangover. 

Ok fine there's a bunch of delicious food at the table and you want some of it.  Change portions.  Cram a bunch of veggies in your system filling you up so there's not as much room for bad stuff.

Don't eat as much because you'll have more leftovers. 

Here's a secret... you can have turkey, stuffing, gravy and everything else every single day of the year.