Healthy Aging- Enjoy that Thanksgiving Dinner

Two more days until Thanksgiving

As we approach Thanksgiving, it is hard to think about healthy eating. It is a Thanksgiving ritual to overeat and the traditional dishes are not diet fare. I believe in a healthy lifestyle and that includes the quantity and quality of food I eat. My take on a healthy diet is unconventional and I am generally suspicious of popular wisdom. I am distrust the medical profession’s tendency to confuse association with causation. As a result I pay more attention to calories than whether they are attached to fat, protein or carbohydrates and I don’t believe that there is anything that you should never eat. I have some food prejudices that I believe are reasoned such as avoiding simple carbs whenever possible and preferring saturated fats to unsaturated fats but otherwise I am open to enjoying anything.

Use common sense

I am no medical expert and I don’t recommend that anybody take my advice, What I do suggest is that people be open to information about health but not a slave to the pronouncements of ‘experts. Listen to the health chatter but make your own decisions. Try things our and pick what make sense to you and your body.

As far as Thanksgiving goes, I say don’t fight the tradition. Thanksgiving is a time for indulging your tastes for rich foods you might not eat normally and if you want, stuffing yourself senseless. I remember stuffing myself big time back when I was in college and still a skinny twink. My cousin and I used to compete to see who could eat more. I don’t eat like that these days and nobody calls me a skinny twink  even after dropping 30 pounds but I believe that diets should take a day off on Thanksgiving. Everybody deserves to indulge their appetite once in a while.

Go for it!

I am going to enjoy the dishes my wife loves to make. Thanksgiving is her favorite meal and she looks forward each year to preparing enough food to feed a sumo wrestler. The star is the 20 pound turkey filled with savory stuffing. The supporting cast includes sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans in a mushroom sauce, cranberries, creamed onions, dinner rolls and at least two pies. It is full of taste and calories and I am going to enjoy it. My plan is to eat everything – in moderation. I don’t believe that healthy is never eating foods you like. I think you can enjoy anything that you want to eat so long as you don’t eat it all the time. My normal diet is simple and healthy but on Thanksgiving What I do is limit the quantities of foods I consider less healthy and I eat them infrequently. I am going to enjoy Thanksgiving and indulge my taste buds. It is only one day.