Thanksgiving Swaps

Far be it from me to deny anyone their traditional Thanksgiving favorites on the one day a year they actually get to eat them. I love a goopy green bean casserole topped with packaged fried onions and marshmallow-covered sweet potatoes as much as the next guy! (Although I’m finding that the older I get, the less and less of them I end up eating…) However, you’d be surprised where you can save a few—or a few hundred—calories by making simple changes here and there, yet preserving the same flavor and texture. Let’s take the day from start to finish, setting yourself up to enjoy all your favorites, but without the stomachache at the end.

Thanksgiving Morning

What better way to negate all those extra calories than to get some exercise beforehand? Running the Turkey Trot downtown, which happens to be the nation’s longest-running footrace, is a no-brainer. The almost-5-mile race attracts almost 15,000 people and is definitely THE place to be on Thanksgiving morning. However, if that sounds like too much to add into your already busy morning, consider the local Turk-EA Trot! The 5k begins at 9 a.m. from the East Aurora Cooperative Market and is free and open to all ages. Participants are asked to bring canned goods to donate to FISH of East Aurora, and costumes are encouraged. If running isn’t your thing, many gyms are open for limited hours that morning, or simply take a brisk walk around your neighborhood.

Food Preparation

Many dishes will turn out just as well with half the butter or sugar that’s called for in a recipe! There is a lot less room for error in baking, such as with pies, cakes and cookies, so follow the instructions unless you’ve already experimented with the recipe. However, that sweet potato casserole is prime for paring-down. Consider decreasing the traditional amount of butter and brown sugar by one-third to one-half, and top with fewer marshmallows or plain chopped nuts instead of candied nuts. Mashed potatoes can be prepared the same way; simply add enough butter and milk until the consistency is right, but try not to go overboard. Many people eat their potatoes with gravy, and therefore won’t even appreciate the extras in the potatoes! Consider serving sautéed green beans instead of the traditional green-bean-and-mushroom-soup casserole, and try not to bathe other vegetable dishes in butter as well.

Navigating the Appetizers

Have you ever sat down to a holiday meal, only to realize you’re not even hungry? Mindless snacking before dinner can add up to way more calories than you’d think, and fills you up fast. Instead of circling the snack table while the turkey is resting, grab some seltzer and chat up your aunt on the other side of the room. If you’re truly hungry and the turkey is far from finished, put together a small plate, making sure to load up on items from the veggie tray. Then, practice mindful eating rather than wolfing down the cheese and crackers. Also, often just one or two bites of something is enough to satisfy your desire for that food, so keep appetizer portions very small.

At the Dinner Table

Perhaps the most important words of wisdom for Thanksgiving are: portion control. At what other time of year do we prepare upwards of ten dishes, all for one meal? It isn’t possible to eat the same amount of stuffing as you might if it were being served on any other night. One thing I say to myself over and over again is, ‘If you want more you can have more.’ Unfortunately, I’m a plate-cleaner and I know that I’m likely finish whatever I put on it. It’s important for me to start out with very small amounts of each side dish—maybe only two or three bites worth—so I can enjoy all of them. As Thanksgiving comes but once a year, don’t feel like you need to fill half your plate with vegetables. Instead, take a little of everything you’d like to eat, and don’t be afraid to be choosy; if you know you don’t like your aunt’s stuffing, don’t waste precious calories on it. Lastly, be sure you’re not overdoing it on the booze. Alcohol inhibits our ability to make good choices, and that that goes for food, too.

Pie Pie Pie!

Finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for—dessert! We all know Thanksgiving is really just an excuse to eat three or four slices of pie in one day, right? Yet again, I’ll encourage you to enjoy a little of each dessert that you’d like, but keep those portions small. As in, a sliver of pie, not an eighth, or even a sixteenth, of the pie. Another nice option would be to pack up a small slice of one or two varieties to enjoy another day, when you aren’t uncomfortably full. I like to mix a little pumpkin or apple pie with plain yogurt and milk the next morning and blend it into a protein-packed smoothie!

2nd Annual Turk-EA Trot

This morning, a crowd of about forty gathered at the East Aurora Cooperative Market to run the 2nd Annual Turk-EA Trot. Last year, we had seven runners. This year, we had more than 25! I was giddy with excitement! Continue reading “2nd Annual Turk-EA Trot” →

Turk-EA Trot

Guys! I started something. I think.

Since we moved to East Aurora, we’ve traditionally stayed in town and done Thanksgiving with Andrew’s parents, which means we eat early (like 1:30) and I can’t go downtown for the YMCA Turkey Trot. The 8k (5 miles) race began in 1896 and is said to be ‘the oldest continually run footrace in North America,’ and is capped at 14,000 runners each year. It’s a huge deal around here, full of costumes and a great post-race party. Logistically, however, it’s a nightmare; parking is no where near the start, and with that many people, and a 9 am start, there is no way I’d be home before noon.

So, you can imagine my disappointment each year to miss out on such an exciting and hallmark event in our area. For the last couple years, I’ve done my own exercise Thanksgiving morning, from a simple run to a ‘Gobble ’til You Wobble’ workout full of squats and lunges.

This year, I posited an idea to our running group, which has grown to 20+ people who come out on Thursday nights for our weekly runs. Why not have our own race here in East Aurora?? With my heart racing, I posted the idea to our Facebook page and waited. There HAD to be more people like me whose cooking responsibilities precluded them from doing the run downtown, right? But what if people hated it?

They didn’t hate it. While many of our runners are loyal to the downtown event–and will continue to be–I got others who said they’d be interested in doing the run, or perhaps next year (as they were already signed up for the other one). In the days leading up to the run, I promised baked goods as a post-race goodie, made a sign and planned a route. A small handful came out, and I was thrilled when one of our regulars brought her husband along, too.

Seven of us ran the inaugural ‘Turk-EA Trot’ (name compliments of a friend) and had a blast. The weather was mild, a few came in costume, and we brightened the smiles of those we passed on the road. Once we finished and were enjoying some coffee from the East Aurora Cooperative Market (where we met), multiple passers-by were interested in our run and lamented that they hadn’t known about it. I explained that I’d only mentioned it to the running group, but that we planned to do it again next year! The general manager at the co-op, a friend, was psyched to see us using the store as a meeting place (our new weekend morning run starting location, FYI) and promised help with the run next year.

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t already had visions of becoming a ‘race director-extraordinaire’ with that first Facebook post. I’d love to one day have real registration and t-shirts and goodie bags and road closures. To attract runners from not just East Aurora, but from Orchard Park and West Seneca and Elma. To have costume contests and prizes. For now, I’m happy to do some homework on what it takes to become a real race, and bring treats for those who come out next year. I’ll bake until the race is too big!