Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, but it can sometimes be a little tricky if you’ve been trying to eat healthily. There are a few options.

The first is of course to just enjoy for the day (or weekend), but this doesn’t work for some people. It can sometimes be really tough to get back into the patterns of healthy eating after spending a full three or four days not worrying about food at all. Another method is to try to just eat things that you’d normally be eating. A great deal of traditional Thanksgiving foods are very healthy, but of course, you miss out on desserts, cranberry sauce, etc.

With that in mind, this is what I like to do so that I can completely enjoy myself while still maintaining some structure. Since Thanksgiving dinner is Thursday afternoon, I keep my carbs low from Monday to Thursday morning. Eggs, salads, vegetables, and meat/fish make up my food until Thanksgiving dinner and I try to take a 30-45 minute walk each day and do some weight-training as well.

On Thursday morning, I will go for a quick walk and try to just eat a single light meal of chicken and salad. When it finally comes time to eat the Thanksgiving dinner, give yourself a four-hour window. After three days of preparation, you will not only be even more thankful, but your healthy eating habits will be much easier to fall back into the next day!