Eat Drink and Be Thankful

This is not a post telling you how to survive Thanksgiving without gaining weight. I'm not going to offer suggestions such as choose the pumpkin pie over the pecan pie because it's healthier or has less calories.I have been that girl in the past but I am not preaching that sermon any longer. Thanksgiving is the one day of the year that is all about the food and all the glorious things those tastes, ingredients, and foods represent. You cannot get around the food at Thanksgiving and what the day is about. I've always loved that this is a wonderful holiday with no gifts, no shopping, no wrapping and no stressing over stuff. Sitting around a table is what it is all about. Holding hands and bowing your heads, saying grace and sbeing thankful for another year.Growing up the meal prep began in my home weeks ahead. The one meal, the Thanksgiving meal, took my mother a lot of thought, preparation, planning and mainly lots and lots of love. Enjoying the foods of Thanksgiving is what you are supposed to do. Without guilt. Without worrying about the calories. There is a huge difference between eating macaroni and cheese made with good pasta, real butter and cheese stirred with love and a blue box of powdered orange stuff. Eat the good stuff. Enjoy the real stuff. Appreciate the effort made to bring all the deliciousness to your plate, the real foods and where and how they are prepared.If you enjoy your time with family and friends and all the dishes and, yes, even all the carbs, on Thanksgiving Day, who cares if you gain 5 pounds? I don't. Chances are if you are reading this you know those 5 pounds are likely bloat that will go away in a day or so. And you are not going to continue eating as if it's Thanksgiving every day after.Thursday is all about the food and the people you are sharing it with. You may have an enormous table full of family, extended family, friends, neighbors and whoever the cat drags in. You may have a small gathering. I know some of you may have some empty spaces around your table. Since I have some of those empty spaces I know how difficult that can be. Whoever you are with - whatever the relationship - chances are you will be with your people. Some of your people may drive you absolutely batty, or get on your very last nerve, but they are still your people and that's the beauty of gathering at Thanksgiving.This year let's just focus on the eating, being merry and especially being Thankful. You will be sitting around a table full of delicious foods. That in itself is a gift. That in itself is something we are thankful for. THAT makes a healthy Thanksgiving. Eat the real food. Enjoy the dressing, the pie, the gravy if that is what you love and makes it feel like Thanksgiving. This one day IS all about the food. It just is. No way around it.