Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes: Holiday Recipe Ideas to Help Avoid The Fitness Train-wreck

Recently I was watching Biggest Loser and was very intrigued by one of the guests they had on “The Ranch”. They had a scientist who has done brain research on why obese people over eat and why thin people, generally, do not. 

What he said he discovered in his research was a difference in the brain’s “pleasure center”. For obese folks, the pleasure center is actually much smaller in comparison to their thin counterpart. This suggests that while both obese and thin folks have cravings, it takes much MORE for the obese person to satisfy the craving. 

The good news is that this pleasure program can be re-written in the brain. It takes 4-5 weeks of healthy and moderation eating to train your brain. The bad news is, it can be overwritten with the old habit with just 4-5 days of over-indulgence. That means 1 week of unhealthy eating can completely undo all the hard work you have done to enjoy eating healthy. 

So, what is a health-conscious person to do during the holidays! We are bombarded by all types of unhealthy foods and sedentary living for an extended period.  

My solution is to deck your halls with boughs of healthy this Thanksgiving and find healthy recipes to keep your Holiday Train from getting de-railed.  

While I am no recipe expert, I love to eat and I know where to look. I found a site with a full menu of healthy Thanksgiving recipes that will provide good options for just about any traditional Thanksgiving craving. These include: 

Healthy Thanksgiving Menu

Cornbread Stuffing

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Hearty Mashed Potatoes (without butter and milk!)

Sweet Peas with Braised Lettuce

Carmelized Onion Gravy

A Healthy Turkey

And Pumpkin Pie in a Glass 

Using your brain to train your brain is the key to long term weight loss. Find these recipes and more healthy options at www.coxhealth.webhealthyrecipes.com

Please do me a favor and  post your own healthy recipe ideas and websites below in the comments section to help other readers!
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How to Enjoy Halloween Without Being Frightened By Your Scale

October 31^st has come around again. It is really the beginning of a two month season of indulgence, right? I have people ask for advice because they are in fear of the approaching coldness of the weather and fatness of the winter comfort food. However, the extra candy around the house doesn’t have to be a poltergeist to your wellness plan. Here are some tips on how to get through it.

1. With extra candy around the house, keep some extra healthy options around as well. Sometimes, I just need a snack. The candy is so easy to grab, and is ok once in a while. However, make a bowl of trail mix with healthy ingredients. Personally, I like a mixture of Kashi “Heart to Heart” Honey roasted oat cereal, raisins, and plain almonds. It is just the right combination of sweet and crunchy and fills that “candy craving” quite nicely.

2. If you can’t resist the candy temptation, go for a handful of gummy bears or sour candy instead of a chocolate bar. One snack size snickers has about 3 times the calories of a snack size package of Sour Gummies. It may not be the healthiest option, but definitely the lesser of two Freddy’s to keep you from having a November waistline nightmare.

3. Play “Hide the Pumpkin”. Studies show that people eat more cookies if they have a see-through glass cookie jar verses an opaque one. The point is, put the Halloween candy in the pantry. Limit the kids to just  2-3 pieces per day and that only after a healthy meal. Then make yourself live by the same rule. 

4. Walk with the kids around the neighborhood. I know, the “trick or treating” has passed until next year. But remember, while it may be tempting next year to send your spouse out with the kids to walk the neighborhood while you stay at home to hand out the candy: volunteer to be the chaperone next time around. After all, who do you think consumes the fewer number of calories?

Just because it is Halloween, you don’t have to turn into your own self-destructive Chuckie. With a little discipline and forethought, it is possible to enjoy the holidays without waking with regret the next day……if the spirits let you wake up at all!!!! (insert evil laugh here!)