stories : Feature
How to Eat More
Make room for the good stuff
Getting full after your first helping of Thanksgiving dinner is nearly as bad as getting bounced out of a bar at happy hour.
To find out how to eat more, we talked to Melvin Heyman, a gastroenterologist at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California–San Francisco, and Crazy Legs Conti, currently ranked 11th by the International Federation of Competitive Eating, and star of the documentary Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating. Though we do not recommend the unhealthy practice of stuffing oneself, here are some things to consider if you plan to.
Limber Up
Thanksgiving dinner is an incredibly sedentary activity. If you can build up a light sweat beforehand, what Conti calls “cardio before carbs,” you’ll be hungrier and mentally sharper for the challenge ahead. To train for eating competitions, Conti goes to the gym and stays in shape. Just don’t wear spandex to the table.
Avoid the Mashed Potatoes
The fattier the food, the longer it will take to break down in the stomach during the first phase of digestion. The less break-down, the less room for new foods to come in. Most fatty? “Often it’s mashed potatoes, because sometimes people put sour cream and butter in them,” says Heyman. Save mashers until the end, along with anything else swimming in butter or cream.
ummm, really unhealthy! How to cram yourself? Guys! This is Chowhound, not "Deliberately be unhealthy"
Thanksgiving Dinner should never be a food eating contest.
Cute idea, well executed by a "pro." Great illustration with the plate being cleaned more and more on each page!
OK, so not healthy, true, but also no big deal if you just want to indulge (gorge) yourself once a year.
I love this! Excellent quotes.
I have never been overly fond of thanksgiving for the very fact that it seems the whole point is to eat til one is ready to burst.
Take a day where we are supposed to remind ourselves how lucky we are, to be thankful, then eat so much that everyone is COMPLAINING about having eaten too much food.
Yuk. I just don't get it.
I agree with lisa13.
However, I find the tip on skipping the "everyday" fatty foods like mashed pototaoes (how special are THEY) in favor of some of the more interesting side dishes and salads to be a valuable one.
These days, when my metabolism shows the result of too much food for all the world to see, I try to be aware of what things are worth the calories, and what is not. Case in point is when we went to one of those Brazilian churrascarias, and I was careful to leave the mashed potatoes alone, and concentrate on only the more flavorful cuts of meat.
I, on the other hand, have never been overly fond of other holidays, like Christmas. Other holidays also revolve on needless consumption with gifts and buying frenzies.
But Thanksgiving...Thanksgiving has some of the best special homemade dishes of the year, served with your favorite friends and family! This article was amusing. Some Thanksgiving dishes I only get once a year and they never taste as good at different times. I try to eat as much as I can, so come August, when I start dreaming of stuffing, yams, parsnips, pie, turkey, ect. I have no regrets. I think people who pick at their food are the ungrateful ones! But that must be because I come from a family of eaters who feel the happiest with full bellies! :)
I always say, "Now Thanksgiving, there is a holiday I can sink my teeth into!"
Calm down, you party poopers -- everyone knows better than to eat this way more than once a year. (OK, maybe two or three times.) We're on Chowhound because we love food -- am I right??? I LOVE Thanksgiving and LOVE celebrating with special meals. I always end up too full to really enjoy everything at Thanksgiving, so I appreciate having a strategy! This year my family has made a conscious effort to make sure our guests aren't filled up on appetizers before the meal is served. We're putting out lighter fare (more veggie apps) in smaller quantities so we don't distract too much from the main attraction -- or from our homemade pies and chocolate bread pudding for dessert.