Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for clients who come to our offices throughout the year. I am also thankful for this blog and especially the dialog that we often have in the comments section. As you know, I welcome a good debate and so for those of you who disagree or offer a divergent view, thankful for you all too.
Yesterday, I did a quick segment on Thanksgiving. It was specifically about gluten free Thanksgiving options but the producer opened with “What do you tell clients when it comes to Thanksgiving, is it a day to enjoy everything and put your diet on hold or should they (and we) make an effort to keep it healthy?”
As I see it, there are two camps on Thanksgiving. On her show Kelly Ripa lightheartedly said, “I’m going to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner and eat like it’s any other day because when you don’t you get into trouble.” On the other hand, after the CBS segment ran with me and other chefs and experts explain how to tame Thanksgiving the anchor concluded with the flipside “I don’t know, it’s one day, I plan on enjoying myself.” And Clinton Kelly, of The Chew, on a funny segment on table etiquette said whatever you do “don’t say the D-word at the table.” D here refers to diet.
I don’t think these camps or viewpoints are as polarizing as it may seem. The “it’s one day” folks really don’t want to end an evening seeking antacids and elastic clothing. And the “Ripa’s” probably will not be in a corner eating white meat turkey, crudité, peeling marshmallows from their sweet potatoes. And I concur with Clinton whether you are gluten-free, paleo or just run of the mill neurotic, nobody (except the host well beforehand in the case of an allergy) needs to know your eating rules.
“It’s one day” sounds innocuous if it were really one day. One of the things that work against Thanksgiving is its occurrence on a Thursday. Many could recover from having two days (3500-5000 whopping calories) of food at one pop if it was sandwiched by regular consumption on other days. What typically happens is that Thanksgiving acts as the starting gun for “it’s one day” folks that ends up being 35 days and Thanksgiving is early this year, make that 40 until the new year.
Some advice?
Thursday, stick to the One Plate Rule- you wouldn’t ask for seconds at a restaurant and this food beats restaurant food in butter and sugar content.
And Focus on Friday. If you have stuffing or pie or candied (apt description) yams today, leave them today. Tomorrow turkey in a salad, turkey soup…you get the idea.
Most importantly, relax and enjoy all you have to be thankful for.
Which camp are you in? Ripas or IJODS (it’s just one day-ers)? Are you a leftover person? Do you think it’s possible to keep treats to just one day?
