Here are my top five tips for enjoying a healthy Thanksgiving holiday.

5 Ways to Enjoy a Healthy Thanksgiving

Start Your Day Right

A national holiday doesn’t mean it’s no workout day. Keep your daily or weekly workout routine on the calendar. Clear the first two hours of your Thanksgiving morning. Plan for it the night before by putting your workout clothes out.

Sign-up for a Turkey trot and run it with friends while having fun. Local gyms have special HIIT-style classes on the schedule. So, hit the gym and revive your metabolism with intense Thanksgiving sessions.

Enjoy Outdoors

Get moving outdoors. You can make it a family affair. Visit a local park with kids. Take your guests and kids to a trail and go hiking late morning or early afternoon. Research shows that hiking has a positive impact on combating the symptoms of stress and anxiety. You will be a mood booster and a great bonding activity for your family and friends. Go for a gratitude run or walk. I love logging gratitude miles on Thanksgiving Day. I offer thanks for something or someone each mile I run. Offering gratitude in this manner makes up a nice long run too.

Take your guests and kids to a trail and go hiking late morning or early afternoon.

Eat All Your Meals

I have heard this so many times. I’m saving space for dinner tonight. Please don’t skip breakfast and lunch. It isn’t healthy to skip meals. It makes you very hungry by dinner, and it slows your metabolism. Starving all day will only make you eat everything in sight! Let go of your food restrictions this Thanksgiving related to your weight. Enjoy Thanksgiving all day by eating flavorful meals throughout the day.

Start your day with a balanced breakfast. A couple of hours before dinner, eat a light lunch or snack. Include thanksgiving flavors in your other meals. Go for pumpkin pancakes and eggs with a side of roasted squash. Try a fall salad topped with roasted chicken and pumpkin seeds for lunch. Spreading out Thanksgiving throughout the day will give your body time to digest and be satisfied. It will ensure your blood sugar is stable, and you won’t have unnecessary food cravings.

Let go of your food restrictions this Thanksgiving related to your weight.

Eat a Balanced Dinner

Food provides nutrition to your body, and food on holidays like Thanksgiving bring us closer to our loved ones. Eat a balanced meal on Thanksgiving Day and every other day of the year. Your plate should ideally have quality protein, healthy fibrous carbohydrates, and good fats. This combination of macronutrients in optimal amounts will help balance your blood sugar and keep your metabolic rate high. To balance your thanksgiving plate, fill half your plate with veggies like green beans, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and squash, then fill 1/3 of the plate with protein like turkey breast and finally fill the rest with healthy grains like brown rice, bulgur, quinoa, or whole grain bread. Top off your plate with healthy fat sources like olive oil and nuts. You can use this plating technique to visualize the amount of food you should have, but you don’t have to eat it that way!

Savor the Food

Food is supposed to be enjoyed, so consume it slowly. Slowing down while eating is a great way to communicate with our brains. Research shows that the body sends its satiation signal about 20 minutes after its full to the brain. This lag leads us to overeat often unconsciously. Savor your thanksgiving meal and enjoy the company of loved ones. Be present in the moment and enjoy every bite of your meal. Bon Appetit!

The good news is that it’s possible to enjoy this holiday and stay on top of your health goals.

It’s time to celebrate and offer gratitude for the people and experiences you cherish. This Thanksgiving, enjoys the outdoors, make it about friends and family, and enjoy balanced meals throughout the day. Following these tips, you can enjoy this holiday while staying on track with your healthy habits.

The post How To Enjoy a Healthy Thanksgiving 5 (1) first appeared on Tone & Strengthen.

We mostly take gratitude for granted in day-to-day life. Gratitude practice should be to appreciate and focus on what we have instead of what we lack. There is a lot to be grateful for, from the big things like good health, a passionate career, and a supportive family to the small things like sending a short text to a friend or hearing a compliment from a co-worker.
Being thankful can help you have the many benefits of practicing gratitude.

Sign a Gratitude Practice Contract
Make a contract with yourself and sign it. Commit to notice your blessings and give thanks for the next 21 days. Write down why you accepted this challenge and what you wish to gain from it.

List three things you are grateful for
Notice three things about yourself that you are proud of and express gratitude for them. If you’d like to share the list on your social media with friends and family.

Be thankful for someone in your life
Express your gratitude to someone special in your life. Maybe it’s your partner, a parent, or a mentor. Give them a call, and appreciate their support.

Be thankful for something negative in your life
Think of a hard time or situation you had to go through. Be grateful for it. Think of what you learned from the experience and how you came out stronger from it.

Send a card to someone
Send a thank you card to a friend or co-worker today. You are sure to put a smile on someone’s face and make their day with the card.

Donate to a good cause
Fund a charity of your choice. Giving is an excellent way to be thankful for your blessings.

Say what you are grateful for today
See the beauty in each day. It’s up to us how we see the day. Say what you are thankful for today.

Look in the mirror and see how beautiful you are!
We are often our own worst critics. Stand in front of the mirror and scan your body from head to toe. Notice how beautiful you are to this Mother Earth. Name three things you are grateful for. When you look in the mirror, be appreciative of all the things your body allows you to do daily.

Bake a treat to share with friends and co-workers
Who doesn’t like goodies? Bake a treat and make extras for neighbors, friends, and co-workers. Could you drop them off or bring them to work?

Try gratitude meditation
Try and meditate with the mantra of what you are grateful for in life. It’s a simple and easy way to remind yourself of your blessings.

Take stock of your blessings
In your gratitude journal, write something you are thankful for and has nothing to do with money. It’s just something money can’t buy, like the love of your family, the feeling of accomplishment after a hard workout, or your friends. You are sure to find many things in your life that cost nothing but are priceless.

Call a friend
It always feels nice to catch up with friends, especially those you haven’t been in touch with for a while. Call a friend and tell them how their friendship means a lot to you. Be thankful for that friend in your life.

Pick one of your five senses to be grateful for
Tap into your five senses. Write down what you like about each of your senses and offer thanks for those.

See the world through the eyes of a child
Children have authenticity, vulnerability, laughter, tears, and pure joy that they indulge in. Try to live a day with a child’s heart. Feel your heart soften and welcome all the emotions into your heart.

Write down five things you love about yourself
Today love yourself more by focusing on at least five things that you like about yourself. Write them down in your journal.

Let a car merge in front of you
Let a car merge in front of you. It’s a simple act of kindness. They might be in a hurry to get somewhere.

Don’t complain today. Be positive!
Even if we have positive attitude, we all complain sometimes without even realizing it. Having an attitude of gratitude helps us to enjoy life fully. Try to look at things with a different perspective.

Forgive someone
Practice forgiveness today. Forgiveness isn’t about forgetting and reconciliation. It’s about your heart. When you haven’t forgiven someone, you feel anger, resentment, vengefulness, and hurt. These emotions will keep you trapped and aren’t good for you. Forgiveness is the practice of letting go of pain and moving forward.

Be kind to yourself
Try to go throughout the day without saying something negative towards yourself. Replace all negative thoughts about yourself with positive thoughts.

List your accomplishments
Write in your journal about the accomplishments that you are proud of. Celebrate your accomplishments today.

Write a thank you note to someone who deserves recognition
Thank someone who has made a great impact in your life. It could be a mentor, teacher, or a person who impacted your life positively. If you can’t thank them in person, write a letter. You can sleep on it and decide later if you want to send the letter.

Save the 21-Day gratitude challenge calendar and practice it for the next 21 days.

The post 21 Day Gratitude Challenge 0 (0) first appeared on Tone & Strengthen.

This is one of my favorites for fall. These pumpkin pancakes were born out of experimentation. I wanted pumpkin pancakes that were GF and dairy free but packed with flavor and texture. I had to try the recipe a couple of times to get the dry and liquid ingredients ratio right. Once I hit that sweet spot these pancakes became a breakfast staple.

A few things I learned while making these pancakes are:

• Pumpkin doesn’t have much flavor of its own and spices bring out the flavor to pumpkin recipes
• Use a measuring cup sprayed with gluten-free cooking spray to portion out the ingredients
• You can use an egg substitute and turn this into vegan pumpkin pancake recipe
• You don’t need tons of sugar to get the delicious flavor, just a hint of maple syrup and/or honey will make it sweet 
• You can make extra pancakes and freeze them. They reheat perfectly in a toaster. I make a big batch on Sundays and freeze them. They are a perfect pre-run snack.
• To freeze the pancakes, let them completely cool down and place them on a parchment paper lined tray. Quick freeze them for 10 minutes to prevent them from ticking together then put them in freezer baggies for the exact portion size and freeze.

I’ve made these pancakes. On thanksgiving and during holiday season for family and friends and they were a hit. Did you know – pumpkin has health benefits too; it is packed with vitamin A, fiber, and antioxidants.

How to make pumpkin pancakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup (or honey)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup water or choice of milk
• 1 egg
• 1 cup paleo flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon chai seeds
• 1 tablespoon granulated brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon pumpkin spice mix
• Chocolate chips – as topping
• Pumpkin seeds – as topping

Instructions

• To start go ahead and pre-heat a large non-stick griddle and spray it with non-stick spray.
• Whisk together your dry ingredients except for brown sugar.  
• Whisk pumpkin puree with the granulated brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, and water.
• Combine the wet and dry ingredients with a spatula.
• Allow the batter to sit next to warm stove for 5 minutes.
• Pour the batter on griddle and spread the batter evenly. Top with pumpkin seeds and chocolate chips. 
• The pancakes will need to cook for about 4 minutes per side.

The post Pumpkin Pancake Recipe 0 (0) first appeared on Tone & Strengthen.