PREPARE FOR HOLIDAY MEALS

I don't know about the rest of you, but Thanksgiving marks the beginning of a difficult dieting time for me.

This holiday feast was a big deal at my house. My mother, aunt, and grandmother would be up most of the night before preparing the huge meal. The dinner would include more food than the nine of us could eat in a week. So there is not only the main feast to deal with, but also all the wonderful leftovers.

Even though my family has dwindled in size over the years, I find I am still conditioned to prepare massive amounts of food and it's a real struggle with myself to control that urge.

I find that I also feel very disappointed after making too much, because I know that I will be feasting all week long, so I'm sitting at this dinner already feeling bad about myself. That leads me to overeat even more.

Last year I really forced myself to maintain control in my cooking. I did make many different dishes, but I made smaller portions of each and even left out a couple sides. I felt more in control which gave me the confidence I needed not to overeat. It felt great! Of course we had leftovers but I divided those into small portions to be put in the fridge and I froze the rest.

Freezing leftovers I thought was a great idea because I was unable to get up for an instant snack from the fridge in the middle of the night.

This year I thought another helpful thing to do would be to really scale down my portions starting the Sunday before. I know my own eating habits and by eating just several very small meals days before, I and my stomach will get fuller faster on Thursday.

I also plan to use a smaller plate Thursday and drink a glass of water and maybe a cup of coffee or tea prior to dinner.

I won't give up our dinner traditions but with those strategies and others I hope to enjoy the meal without guilt!