Some people call this season “cold and flu” season…others, like me, merely think of this time period, from October to January as the season where we lose our minds about what is a healthy way to eat and live. It’s the sugar, fat and salt season!
Think about it…We start gearing up for Halloween: that special holiday where we celebrate our children eating as much sugar as possible. Heck, we even have a whole game and ritual around making that happen: “Trick or Treat”!
Next up, Thanksgiving, otherwise known as the holiday famous for taking a 3-day feast and packing it into an afternoon…seriously.
After that, it’s holiday parties, snacks and treats and every kind of indulgence you can imagine until the BIG holiday unfolds whether it’s Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, etc.…all of these winter holidays center around consuming copious amounts of food and beverages and the revelry doesn’t really stop until after the New Year…
Sheesh! And we wonder why we get sick!
It didn’t start out this way.
The first documented celebration of Thanksgiving appears to have happened in 1621 and was a much more modest affair than what we currently experience.
True, it seems it was celebrated over a 3-day period, but I imagine that might have been due to hunting, gathering and preparation issues. Accounts I’ve read say there were only 4-5 females present at this event…can you even imagine (ha, ha)?
Supposedly, the 90-person native American clan (The WAMPANOAG) who showed up, brought 5 deer with them to supplement the mostly plant-based offerings that the Pilgrims were celebrating. Reports detail that they did go out “fowling” and possibly brought home wild turkeys, geese, ducks and even swans.
Modern day staples of this feast: sweetened cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and stuffing probably didn’t exist as the ingredients (sugar, bread, flour, butter and potatoes) just simply didn’t exist in this New World. Huh! Health by virtue of non-presence…I gotta remember this one.
Today, Thanksgiving is considered the biggest eating day of all National Holidays…heck, it’s considered the biggest eating DAY of the year! Yikes!
How can we even face the holiday season and hope to come out NOT the worse for wear?
It’s going to take some planning.
1st, what are some fun activities you can plan that will provide exercise and a distraction from food and beverages? Think about exercise that can engage your whole group: walks, outside games like tennis, pickleball and volleyball. Think about board & card games that aren’t centered on food and drink. Especially, interactive games like charades. Our family institutes hikes, games and walks before and after the meal.
2nd, how can you convert not just the holiday meal but ALL the meals leading up to the holiday to be more healthful? Getting your family and guests involved in this activity would be fantastic! We have lots of great ideas in our free cookbook that you can download RIGHT HERE. There are also lots of great resources out there. We talk about lots of them.
Our 2 favorite parts of our gluten free, vegan feast include our famous Mushroom Gravy and Kale, Butternut Squash, Leek and Faux Sausage Stuffing. If you send us a message or email, we will send you the recipes! The rest of the meal we make comes from Ann Gentry’s Real Food Daily Cookbook.
3rd, what kind of plan do you have for after the big day? Jake and I will start a 10 day “body clean up” on the Monday after Thanksgiving. It will center on getting rid of some things not serving us (come on…you can do anything for 10 days, right?), adding things like sleep, movement, water and plant concentrates to support us and giving everyone involved tons of support. Every time we do it, we tone up and feel a million times better…we even look better!
Want to join us? Drop us a note and we will send you everything you need to do it with us! We hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving and we’d love you to share how you decide to spend it…and recover from it!
