How to Prepare for Thanksgiving | …and still stay on track with your nutrition!

Here are some things you can do the week before Thanksgiving that will allow you to enjoy your holiday and still stay on track with your fitness goals.

1. Plan your schedule. Take a look at the calendar and make a mental note that you will need to adjust your diet just a bit exactly one week before Thanksgiving.

2. Make adjustments to your carbs:
a.We slowly want to decrease your carbs leading up to Thanksgiving but not so much that you feel lethargic.
b.7 days out from the big day eliminate the following carbs:
     i.      Crackers, cookies, candy, pastries, pretzels, chips, and any other boxed carb.
     ii.      Have no more than 2 servings of fruit a day
     iii.      Save your healthy starchy carbs and grains for earlier in the day (not at dinner). This includes potatoes, rice, quinoa, oatmeal to name a few.
c.The Tuesday before Thanksgiving only have ONE serving of starchy carbs or grains in your day. You can have unlimited vegetable (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, etc). If you workout use your single starch or grain for your pre-workout meal so you still have energy.
d.The day before Thanksgiving drop your fruit to just one serving. If you are working out keep your one starch or grain in your diet as a pre-workout. If you are not working out eliminate all starches and grains for this day. But all other veggies are great! You can eat them in unlimited amounts!

3. DO NOT eliminate your fat!
a.Because you are decreasing the heartier more filling carbs from your diet this week you want to make sure that you have a healthy fat at every meal. Nuts, avocado, olive oil, nut butters along with fatties protein sources like salmon are great.
b.Saturated fats like coconut oil and cultured butter are ok but avoid fatty cuts of red meat and other processed meats like sausage and salami.

4. Keep your Protein intake high
a.This one is easy! Have protein at every meal and stick to leaner sources like fish, turkey and chicken. Salmon although fattier is also ok.

5. Avoid alcohol the whole week leading up to Thanksgiving. 
a.Alcohol metabolizes like a fat. If you enjoy beverages such as wine or beer---you now have extra carbs that you are consuming too. The whole point of this week is to slowly reduce your carbs. When you drink your liver will first try to filter the alcohol out of your system before it breaks down anything else. This slows down your body’s ability to use the food you eat as energy. Instead you are likely to store what you ate as fat until your body can filter out the toxic alcohol. Save the drinks for the holiday!

6. ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY!
a.Ideally you get up and have a great workout here at The 12 and go home to enjoy your family. Allow yourself to cheat on this day. You have used the whole week to prepare for this day so enjoy it.

7. Get up on Friday and workout! 
a.Take advantage of the extra carbs that you ate and use that energy in the gym. Explode is the PERFECT class to use those extra carbs!