Can you believe the holidays have fallen upon us again? All those gyms you see everywhere, their business is built on us stuffing our faces full of food over the next month only to say to ourselves:

“I’ll join the gym for my New Year’s Resolution and lose all this weight!”

Some of us have to juggle 2-4 Thanksgiving dinners through the weekend from different sides of the family. Now lets not get too hasty and blame everything on everyone else. I know how delicious all of the food is and no body is forcing anyone to get that second platter! With 39 dishes in front of you, you have to have a whole serving of each one right? You don’t want to be rude!

Well, lets talk about some ways to help-

Obviously you can just not eat the food, but that’s probably what Glamour Magazine told you to do, so we will skip the obvious!
I posted last year some tips here:
Holiday Weight Management
So lets expand on what is already there…

Slow Down and Spread Out. This technique allows you to digest the food properly that you are taking in and give your body ample time to compute how much you have taken in and tell you are FULL! Eat slow, spread your eating out. Put only a little bit on your plate and a time and take more trips. This will allow much more time between the food intake for you know when to quit!

Don’t Skip Meals. This is probably the most damaging part of holiday meals especially Thanksgiving. You know you are going to eat a big meal so you don’t eat at all until then and you eat so much you don’t eat until the next day! So, if your dinner is scheduled at 1:00pm then make sure you have breakfast and only eat enough to make sure you eat dinner. If Thanksgiving is a dinner, then eat breakfast AND lunch. In order to prepare you body for an onslaught of food, try eating warm and easily digestible foods like soups and steamed vegetables.

Use Herbs! I am offering 3 great herb tips to use for Thanksgiving and Holiday Dinners this year.

• Shan Zha / Hawthorn Berry. This herb is in a category we call ‘Relieve Food Stagnation’. Does that sound like a good one or what? After you go full siege with the food and feel like you need to sleep for a week, this is when this herb comes in handy. There are 2 main points that make this herb great here. This herb ALSO lowers high blood pressure AND high cholesterol. This herb is readily available at health food stores in powdered drink form and already made drinks (Chinese Food Stores too).
• Chen Pi / Citrus Peel. Chen Pi promotes movement in the stomach area and prevents stagnation from happening. I believe fluid movement is a great way to help with keeping fit. If you keep movement happening you can continue to keep up your metabolism to burn in your food intake. I would suggest getting some at the herb store and taking in capsules or something before, during and after these heavy meals
• Chickweed. Chickweed does what some people imagine raw rice does when you eat it and then drink water. Eating a bunch of chickweed prior to meals will really plump up in your stomach and as soon as a little more food is added, your body is telling you that you are full! This herb is pretty easy to find and should be available at any health food store.

Let us also not forget our previous tip about eating a good source of fiber 30 minutes to an hour prior to meals. 2 pieces of extra fiber bread plain or as toast with some water before a meal will really fill you up quickly.

Keep the flow going. I mentioned some laxatives and ways to keep your bowels moving last year. This year I encourage a more natural way. Lets try flax seed for the natural oils and fiber content this year! If you would rather leave it up to some products I am recommending Dimmak Herb’s Bowel Regulator. This herbal supplement works to natural regulate the bowels and not simply just purge them!

My #1 tip this year – Daikon! Daikon is also known as Japanese Radish, East Asian Radish, Chinese Radish, and others. The flavor is more mild that regular radishes and makes a great soup. This herb is one of the greatest of all for our famous ‘Thanksgiving Carb comatose’! Simply make a soup or some other dish with a bunch of Daikon in it and eat it after these crazy meals. Feel the pain and bloating go away with each bite! There are many recipes online to try, so get what you need now! The Daikon will relieve the food stagnation and also stop any hiccup or burping you got from the large meal you ate!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!