All the Turkey, None of the Guilt

Let’s say it together people:

One. Day. Does. Not. Ruin. Your. Progress.

Myth: I blew it... I ruined my diet yesterday. "I just looked at the pecan pie and gained five pounds!"

Fact: You cannot gain five pounds of fat overnight. The body does not work that way. The way you ate at Thanksgiving does not undo months, weeks, or even days of your health journey. Thanksgiving is one day out of 365. That’s about 0.3% of your days of eating in a year. You still have plenty of time to eat lots of veggies and yummy fruits and lean meats.

You do not have to be angry at yourself today. You do not have to punish yourself today. And you do not have to cut yourself off from your loved ones because you feel like you failed. Listen, you did not fail. You only fail when you stop trying.

However, if you’re feeling like you lost control or you feel at a loss of what to do next, there are some things you can do to help you work through your feelings.

• Write down your thoughts. Journal about how you're feeling and ask yourself why you’re feeling that way. Write until you’ve got everything down on paper or on your computer. Writing everything out can help you organize your feelings, and pinpoint the source of your guilt or shame. Journaling can also help you feel as if you can move on because you’ve got your feelings organized somewhere that you can always come back to.

• Call a trusted friend or family member. Talk to someone who will hear your worries and understand that you’re feeling guilt, worry, or shame. If you’re not ready to hear their advice, you can always preface your phone call with “I don’t need advice right this moment, but I do need a trusted friend. can I vent to you?”

• Take some time to forgive yourself, if you feel like you need to. Look at yourself in the mirror and say “I forgive myself.” Or write it down in your journal. But don’t just say it. You really have to be ready to forgive yourself so that you can move on with freedom. How do you know if you’ve really forgiven yourself? Some good signs are that you’re not punishing yourself with exercise, you feel like you can eat a normal meal, or you’re not emotionally withdrawing from the people around you.

Okay. Now that we know that we are not failures because we may have eaten more than we feel we should have at Thanksgiving, now what do we do? There’s still weeks until Christmas, and we still want to feel our best with the food we eat and things we do.

One question you may be asking is what you should do with all those leftovers? There are tons of recipes that include plenty of vegetables, protein, and fiber to help you use up your leftovers without having a full Thanksgiving meal every day for the next week!

Here’s an example salad recipe that you can throw in leftover turkey meat to:

Leftover Turkey Salad

Serves: 4

1 bag or container of leafy greens of your choice (spring mix works great!)

1 cup of diced or cubed apples

½ cup feta cheese

½ cup diced pecans

½ cup diced celery

16 ounces or 2 cups leftover turkey meat

Dressing:

½ cup olive oil

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp honey

¼ tsp salt

Throw all your salad ingredients in a bowl and mix together. For the salad dressing you can mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl using a whisk, or throw them in a mason jar, put the lid on, and shake it up!

A few other quick tips on using leftovers:

• Use leftover cranberry sauce to make whole wheat or oatmeal breakfast muffins

• Leftover stuffing can be used to make turkey meatballs! Pair your meatballs with spaghetti squash or zoodles!

• Balance out your leftover mashed potatoes with a side salad and a veggie protein source like tofu, chickpeas, beans, or lentils for a vegetarian leftover night!

• Toss your leftover green beans into a stir fry chalk full of fresh broccoli, bell peppers, onion, garlic, and bok choy!

If you’d like more ideas on how to use your Thanksgiving leftovers, check out my Pinterest board for fun leftover recipes!

Let me know what some of your favorite post-thanksgiving traditions are below!

If you're ready to improve your habits, jump start your weight loss or need some accountability, reach out via email at miranda@lifeinbalancenutrition.net

You've got this! <3