You’re about to learn 10 healthy Thanksgiving tips to keep insulin low. Be sure to stay till the end where I’ll share an extra bonus tip.


Insulin is your fat creation and storage hormone. If you're trying to lower your blood sugar, lower your blood pressure, or lose weight, it's helpful to keep insulin low. I'll be sharing some mindset and strategy tips because both are important when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off.


1. Use allowing Language.


When you tell yourself you can't have certain foods it just makes you want them more. Instead of saying I can't have this or I can't have that or this isn't on my diet tell yourself, “I can have anything I choose to have. I'm going to choose foods that I want and that make my body feel good.” When you use this type of allowing language, you have removed the scarcity and are less likely to overeat.


2. Choose Foods That Keep Glucose Low


The second tip is to bias your food intake towards those that keep blood sugar and Insulin low. Choose larger portions of the meat, non-starchy vegetables, green bean casserole, low-hypoglycemic fruits and smaller portions of the starchy stuff like white potatoes, stuffing and corn casseroles. While nuts and cheese will also have a lower blood glucose and insulin response, they are still dense in calories so if you have a weight loss goal you’ll still want to watch those portion sizes.

 

3. Watch your Portion Sizes

 

The third tip is to remind yourself of portion sizes and prioritize protein and non-starchy vegetables. Often when we go to fill our Thanksgiving plate we pack it full and pile it high. Obviously this leads to an over consumption of calories, often from foods that spike blood glucose and insulin, and it's counterproductive for weight loss goals. Plus it makes us feel sluggish and inflamed afterwards. We recommend getting at least 30 grams of protein at each meal.

 

This equates to about 5 to 6 oz, or about one cup of meat. That’s about the size of a tennis ball. A standard serving size for nuts is ¼ of a cup, and for cheese is one ounce, or about the size of your thumb.


A standard serving size for starchy foods is about ½ of a cup. If you want to try a little bit of everything, take smaller portion sizes. If you want more of a starchy food, just reduce the other portion sizes or skip them.

 

If you're going to have a large serving of mashed potatoes but you don't really want the stuffing or the roll then don't have the stuffing with a roll just because they're there. On holidays, I don’t worry about serving sizes as much for non-starchy vegetables, green salads, or low-hypoglycemic fruits like blackberries, raspberries, or strawberries.


I know I tend to overestimate portion sizes so it might be helpful for you to review what a cup, half cup, and quarter cup looks like before you go.

 

4. Leave Space Around Your Food

 

The fourth tip is to leave space around each of your potions. I've heard the tip before to leave white on your plate, but that wasn't good enough for me because I would leave the smallest amount of white possible.


What I find works better is actually leaving space around each of my helpings for example spacing on the turkey, spacing on the corn casserole, spacing on the vegetables. Then I know I'm less likely to be overdoing it on portion sizes. Often, I’ll get two plates of food. 1 plate just for my salad and fresh vegetables, the other food for my protein and other stuff.

 

5. Eat Your Starches Last

 

The fifth tip is to eat your starches last. To lower the overall blood glucose impact of the mule, have your salad and non-starchy vegetables first, then your protein and fat, then finish the meal with the starches.

 

6. Raw, Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar

 

The sixth tip is to have 1 Tablespoon of raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar about 30 minutes before you eat. This will help predigest some of the starches you eat to lower the blood glucose response after the meal. This is easy to pack when you’re going to a friend or relatives house and just add it to your water before you eat.

 

7. Go for a Walk After the Meal

 

The seventh tip is to go for a short walk after your meal. Even walking 10 to 15 minutes after you eat a meal can significantly reduce the blood sugar response. 

 

8. Drink Plenty of Water

 

The Eighth tip is to drink mostly water, tea, coffee, or sparkling water. Alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages like apple cider or hot chocolate are not just empty calories. Alcohol will lower your inhibition and lead to more overeating. Both will hurt your liver and contribute to significantly more liver fat than other types of calories. Drink plenty of water before, during, and after the meal to help with the higher than normal salt intake.

 

9. Create Boundaries Around Sweets

 

The Ninth tip is to proactively set boundaries around sweets. This will look different for everyone. I remind myself that I can have anything that I want but I'm choosing to just have one today.


It can be tempting to want to try all of them, but this is usually a recipe for overeating. If there are multiple desserts that you want to try you could try spacing that out over multiple days. We're having very small portion sizes of each desert in one day if that doesn't activate you to overeat.

 

One time I recommended to a client who had 3 kinds of pie that she wanted, that she could have one small slice for three days in a row instead of all of them in one day. Play around with your boundaries until you find something that feels good to you.


Another tip that I used recently at a friends giving at our pastor’s house was to take dessert to go. Often if I start on the sugar at the party, it tempts me the rest of the night and I’m more likely to go back for more. But if I wait and take a little in the car, when it’s gone, it’s gone and I’m not tempted to get more. 

 

10. No Problems, Just Opportunities

 

The last tip is to remind yourself that there are no problems, just opportunities. In office hours last week, one of our Zivli members said that exercise on Thanksgiving was going to be a problem. I reminded her that there are no problems, just opportunities. So is this an opportunity to practice grace when you don't work out that day, or is this an opportunity to practice flexibility when you move your workout from your normal time of 5 a.m. to a little bit later during the day so you can sleep in on the holiday? Keep things into perspective.

 

Your Thanksgiving meal is only 1 meal out of over 1,000 meals you eat in a year. The choices you make before and after this one meal are what will matter more. We like to say, make getting off track part of staying on track.


We believe unhealthy foods can belong in a healthy lifestyle. It just takes practice, and unfortunately you don’t get to practice holiday eating very often throughout the year. Give yourself grace and patience. I used to be so stuffed and uncomfortable after every holiday meal, but over the years my self-discipline and delayed gratification muscles have strengthened, and I’ve employed simple tips like the ones you’ve learned today to prevent overeating and feeling like garbage the next day. 

 

11. Use Intermittent Fasting - Bonus Tip

 

The bonus tip is to use intermittent fasting strategically. I usually don't do 1 meal a day on holidays. For me, psychologically, I just tend to overeat if I do that. We usually have our big meal around midday so I will usually have one or two smaller meals on the same day as the big meal.


Like eggs or a smoothie for breakfast, or smaller portions of the same food we had for the main meal for dinner. Typically, the day following the holiday I will intermittently fast and have one or two meals that day. 


Intermittent fasting is a really great way to just get back on track quickly with your nutrition and serves as a reset for your gut and mentality to get back to your baseline nutrition plan.