Yesterday we talked about a few things that you can do to keep the holiday weight off, so today I thought we’d look at ways you can make Thanksgiving dinner just a bit healthier and easier on your figure. Given the average Thanksgiving dinner has over 2,000 calories, eating healthy is key!

• Don’t show up to Thanksgiving dinner starving! You’ll eat a lot more.  Be sure to eat a great breakfast and if time allows, lunch. This will prevent you from overeating once all of that food is before your eyes.
• Fill your plate with veggies! If there are multiple vegetables, take some of each. Once your plate is half filled with veggies, choose a starch and leave room for that turkey.
• Limit high fat items — like gravy! Other items like green bean casserole and mashed potatoes are usually loaded with fat. If you’d like to indulge a little, be sure to do so in moderation.
• Portion-size – Keep an eye out for portion sizes! It’s easy to load up a big mound of potatoes and stuffing, so be conscious of what you’re putting on your plate.
• Choose a skinless piece of turkey – The skin of the turkey just provides you with fat and cholesterol which we all could do without.  Choose an appropriate portion of turkey… but leave the skin.

There are all kinds of mental things that you can do to help you lose weight like dealing with your emotional eating, preventing yourself from impulse eating, and getting rid of negative thoughts that bring you down. But there are also physical tools that can help you along the way as well.  Today I’m going to share with you three of the tools I use to help me lose weight and keep it off!

1. Scale – If you don’t have a scale, get one! It’s one of the most important things to have around the house no matter if you’re trying to lose weight or not. Sure, getting on it initially might be a challenge, but you need to do it.  Weighing yourself regularly will get you thinking about healthy behaviors.  I choose to weigh myself each morning after I wake up, and because I know that I do this every morning, I make better eating decisions throughout the day.
2. Measuring cups – There was an article posted over at the Diet Blog not that long ago that pointed out that those 100 calorie packs that you can buy at the store are double the price! You’re paying a premium price to have everything portioned out for you. Get yourself some measuring cups and do the portioning yourself, and you’ll save yourself some calories and money.
3. Table – Eat your meals sitting down and away from distractions! Right now I don’t have a table to eat at due to living in a small one bedroom apartment with no room for a table, and boy, do I miss it! Take the time to enjoy your meal sitting down at a table, and it’ll be much easier to practice mindful eating like we talked about yesterday.

Lately I’ve been trying to soak up and learn as much as possible about Mindfulness. For those of you who aren’t too familiar with Mindfulness, I like to think of it as a way of living where you’re intentionally aware of your thoughts and actions in each and every moment. Practicing mindfulness can improve so many different aspects of your life. Often times mindfulness is associated with meditation, but it can also be applied to eating. When it is applied to eating, I think you’ll find that your attitude towards food will change, and with that change in attitude will come a healthier life and perhaps even weight loss too.

Here are a few suggestions on how you can be mindful while you’re eating:

• Be Thankful – Start each meal by being thankful.  Think about where it is that your food comes from, and the nourishment that it offers you, and be thankful for that.
• Create the environment – Choose to free yourself of rules and unrealistic expectations and be flexible – allow yourself to eat new foods.
• Five Senses – Eat with the five senses. Look at your food, taste it, touch it and feel for texture, smell the aroma, and listen – is there are crunch when you eat it?
• Have control - You have the power to take control over your eating by being mindful about the portion and choices of food that you eat.
• Look beyond a craving – Be mindful of your cravings and whether they mean that you’re really hungry, or that you’re just bored or stressed.

I absolutely love the practice of mindfulness, especially when it comes to eating. It’s so easy to eat while on the go, or eat in front of the TV and not pay attention to what it is and how much food is going into our mouths. These types of unhealthy habits could lead to problems of being overweight and eventually obesity. Another important part of eating mindfully is to slow down so that you’ll have the opportunity to realize when you’re full and stop eating before you overeat.

By practicing mindful eating, I think you’ll find that you form a healthy relationship with food which is key to losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

One of the biggest changes I have made in my life ever since I chose to live a healthy life style is the portion of food that I eat. Until I actually started to pay attention to how much food was going in my mouth, I really didn’t think twice about how big my portion actually was. I love the saying “everything in moderation” because it’s true.  The key word though is moderation, and actually defining moderation.

What exactly is moderation? It’s so hard to determine what the proper portion is, when you don’t have a visualization of what a portion of something actually is.  For example, one serving (three ounces) of meat, poultry or fish is about the size of a deck of playing cards. Go on, go get a deck of playing cards. Take a look, the steak you eat is probably twice the size, if not more, of the deck of cards!

Now, make a fist, and take a good look at it. Your serving of rice or pasta shouldn’t be any larger than that.Think about your latest trip to Olive Garden or the last pot of spaghetti you made. The portion you get at the restaurant, or what you dish up on your plate is actually several portions!

When you take the time to keep track of portion control, and choose your foods wisely, it makes a huge difference in the progress of your weight loss. When I go out to restaurants to eat, I select a meal that I’d like, but I cut everything in half and take the rest home. This is something that I do every single time, it has become a habit. A healthy habit, and one I plan on keeping for life.

Once I made this change, the weight started coming off like it never had before.  45 pounds, and several dress sizes later, I’ve learned to take charge of portion control. Every single restaurant that you go to is sure to give you more than one portion of food. Remember, you can enjoy everything in life, but everything in moderation.