A few years ago when we were living in Los Angeles, my husband and I started our own little Thanksgiving tradition. We’d invite our friends who were not spending their Thanksgiving with their families to have dinner with us. The first time we did it, I proudly announced “I am de-boning a turkey.” Since I had previously de-boned several chickens, I figured, heck a turkey is just like a bigger chicken, right? Wrong. That freaking turkey and I had a fight that involved a knife… I wrestled with it for about 4 hours. At one point after cussing Joseph asked me “honey are you okay?” To which I replied “NO… STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN, I’M PISSED, I HAVE A KNIFE AND THIS TURKEY IS GOING DOWN!” After four hours of wrestling, the dust settled down and I came out of the kitchen with more than a few cuts but I was alive and the turkey was finally COMPLETELY de-boned (yes, even the legs), all that was left of the poor turkey was a big puddle of skin and meat. Yes, it came out delicious, it was easy to carve but I swore I would NEVER do it again and I have stuck to my promise.
Fast forward to 2010… I’ve been waking up in the wee hours of the morning to workout and I figured I deserved some rest for a change, so we actually did something new… we took our daughter to Knott’s Berry Farm and then we actually made reservations in downtown Los Angeles and had Thanksgiving dinner at a nice restaurant (New York style.) This was the first year we ever did this, I have to say that although I enjoyed it, I missed the cozy feeling of staying home and cooking.
As I remember my famous “turkey fight,” I am reminded of how tempted we are to “count calories” during the holidays. Believe it or not, Joseph and I still managed to wake up a little early and workout. What I’ve found to be extremely interesting is how less tempted to stray I am when I workout, my mind goes into “but I worked out so hard!!” that I don’t want to have my body work overtime, maybe it’s just me, I honestly don’t know. However, I did have a couple of bites of dessert and realized that it’s all about portions, a little piece of pie won’t hurt me today as long as it’s a small one and only if I really want it… in other words, I didn’t eat it just because it was sitting there. So no, I didn’t fight the pie this time, as long as it’s in moderation and I do it every now and then it doesn’t hurt. This is what I used to do when I was fit a few years ago. The problem was that I got to a point where all I did was eat bad food and not workout.
If you fight the temptation, you may end up like me, with a few cuts from the wrestle, or you may end up like the turkey (just kidding), but hey, it’s really no fun to fight temptation when all you want to do is be with your family, so go ahead, eat that little piece of pie. Don’t fight the turkey my friends, embrace the turkey (and the pies, and the temptation) because the more you fight it, the more you wrestle with it, the stronger the temptation is and the easier it is to succumb to it. If you really want the apple pie, just eat a little piece of it, moderation won’t hurt you. More importantly, enjoy your time with family and friends and have a wonderful holiday.