Combating Turkey Day Bloat

Thanksgiving is still one week away, but I can already smell the Thanksgiving Day feast!



This is OK. This is normal! BUT.......BEWARE! Thanksgiving is loaded with calories. Furthermore, Thanksgiving is the "kickoff" to a season of feasting on foods that only come around one time a year. And because these foods only come around one time a year, we think we can gorge day in and day out. The problem is, the season lasts for 1+ months (if you consider that you don't stop until your "New Years Resolution").

This year, join me by kicking off the "season" right!  

Here are the Top 3 Things I'm doing to Combat the Turkey Day Bloat:

1. Move It to Earn It - That's right, you've got to move it to earn it! I would guess that most of you will not do a Thanksgiving Day meal until at least 11am. Even if you choose not to wake up until 10am that day, you would still be able to get in a good half hour walk/run/lift/swim/bike/etc. Any way you can move prior to your meal will help in combating the Turkey Day Bloat. Better yet, lift your weights in the morning or do a circuit training workout. Both will help burn optimal calories post-workout! I will be leading a 10K Turkey Trot at our local Club, which will be a fun way to move it and earn it!
2. Protein + Favorites - If your Thanksgiving is anything like ours, it includes plates and platters and dishes and tins and jars of item after item. There really is no end in sight. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach. But, Thanksgiving is not the day to be on a "diet" or attempt "self-deprivation." ENJOY yourself, but do it in moderation. I will load up with turkey and any other proteins I can get my hands on (mostly because this is part of my GAPS Diet I follow). After that, I will look at my options and I will choose a few that look the best to me, even if they are the highest in calorie. Eating something that's second best in order to skimp on a few calories will not do you any good. In the end, you'll end up going back for seconds, thirds and fourths - all because you aren't getting what your body is screaming at you to take! Protein + (moderation) of only your favorite items will help reduce the Turkey Day Bloat.
3. Start Today - Start preparing for Thanksgiving Day today! No, I do not mean physically preparing food. I mean, work a little harder at the gym and be a little more conscious about your current food choices. If you ran on the treadmill for an extra 5 minutes a day for the next 7 days, did one extra set during your weight lifting sessions and skipped dessert just 3 nights, you will have saved up (or earned) about 1,000 calories (give or take, depending on the various factors). And couldn't we all use those 1,000 calories to combat the Turkey Day Bloat?

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving! I love knowing that I work hard almost every single day of the year, so when it's time to eat a little extra on Thanksgiving I can do so - with Thanks - and a full, (unbloated) stomach!

Detox Time

Day 67.

I think I will have to move forward with my all-out detox beginning on Sunday or Monday. Leah wants me to try it, since I'm doing most of it already. But there are a few things that will change. I realized I needed to do this today, when, I got bloated again. I felt a little bloated upon waking. Even though my stomach wasn't very "twisty" or turning and I was able to go to the bathroom one time, I got very bloated. It got bad around 4 or 5pm tonight. I look like I'm pregnant again! I drank a cup of Chocolate Smooth Move Tea, and I also took an Epsom Salt Bath. I'm hoping this helps.

One thing I'm concerned about is Protein. I wonder if I don't digest it properly. I took 4*HCL's with 2 of my meals today. I took all the other supplements as I'm supposed to. I wonder if my system, since it's not fully healed yet, has a really hard time working so hard with the protein? I do eat a lot of protein in the form of fish and lean meat. I don't remember ever being this bloated - if any bloat at all - when I detoxed a few years ago. That detox meant no meat. Leah believes in the term "Flexitarian." I LOVE THAT TERM! It means you can still have meat, but that you eat mostly vegetarian. She said that for my "detox," the only meat I can have is Organic. Basically, what that means to me is.....NO MEAT! Organic meat is so expensive!

If it wasn't for this stomach problem popping back up again, I would say I had an excellent day! My mouth was twitching again - yeah!! I am now even feeling a "pulling" sensation underneath my tongue on the left side. It sounds weird, but I know it's such a good thing. My mouth was about a 0/1 all day. I think a couple of times it was a 1/2. Overall, though, excellent again!

Today I will choose to be happy for the successes, rather than depress over the setbacks! Even if it's just one good thing a day, that's more than it was a few months ago at this time! H.O.P.E.


Here was my day:

Breakfast (Also post-workout - we worked out at 5am today!)

• Nutribiotic Vanilla Rice Protein Powder with Unsweetened Rice Milk, Coconut Milk Light, Flax, and Stevia
• 1/2 Fruit Fusion Bar (Dried Apple and Cranberry)
• 1/2 c. Unsweetened Applesauce
• Coffee + Unsweetened Rice Milk, Coconut Milk Light
• Sweet Apple Chicken Link
  

Snack

• Organic Apple
• Sweet Apple Chicken Link
  

Lunch

• Wild Salmon Burger
• Squash (steamed) + spinach (steamed) + garlic (steamed) + sea salt
• Baby Scallops + Ancient Harvest Pasta
• White Peach
  

Snack

• Baby Scallops + Ancient Harvest Pasta
• Organic Apple
  

Dinner

• Squash (steamed) + spinach (steamed) + garlic (steamed) + sea salt
• Fish oil + Spirulina
• Baby Scallops + Ancient Harvest Pasta
• Wild Salmon Burger
• Unsweetened Applesauce

Alright, bedtime for me. Up at 5am again tomorrow to workout!