One of the biggest questions I field with new nutrition clients is how to manage a day like Thanksgiving where food is a central tenet (and quite calorie dense). The answer is simple… it depends.
The vast majority of voices in the fitness sphere love to take a hard stance on this. The general consensus is that you should just eat away and not worry about it. After all, it’s just one meal. For most people I would agree. It’s not going to make a big deal in the grand scheme of their fitness goals. But I don’t work with most people. I work with individuals.
For some, there might be an upcoming competition or event that we are readying ourselves for. For my elite athletes, every meal counts. There’s a big difference between first and second place. For others, holidays might play a difficult part of their journey due to family dynamics or trauma. We can’t paint everyone with the same brush.
The way I want people to approach holiday nutrition is to just apply the same pros and cons thinking we do on a daily basis. How will you feel about your decision 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 months from now. In all likelihood there will be no difference in 5 months from an epic dose of Thanksgiving stuffing, but there will be in 5 minutes or days. If that is something that you will struggle with, then set some boundaries. If not, just enjoy.
At the crux is really the fact that holidays are about gathering and family and celebration, and those things might not be in the cards this year. Food will always be a part of celebrations. It is a bedrock of tradition. It is the cornerstone of culture. To ignore that as professional in the fitness sphere is ignorant. But to ignore the impact emotionally that these times can place on some of us is unethical. Each of us must decide what works best for us and act accordingly.
