First rule I always teach is – Enjoy your self and do whatever the hell you want to do! If you really want to splurge, then go for it. Just keep in mind a few simple rules. If you want to have a healthy holiday and not gain 2-4 lbs like most everyone else, then go straight to number 10 first and then read the rest.

1 – Workout every day, especially Thanksgiving day, in the afternoon as close to dinner time as possible. If you have to workout in the morning do it, but the closer to dinner the better.

2 - Do a fairly intense workout Wednesday; your most intense workout of the week on Thursday;and a moderate workout Friday. This will help your body deal with the overload of calories on one particular day. Keep your workouts short but intense. If you have not been working out at an intense level, don’t start now. Just do what you normally do.

3 – Do not stuff yourself. Enjoy your meal and eat to feel good, but do not stuff yourself where you feel bloated and ready to explode and have to casually lean back in your chair and carefully unbuckle your belt and hope no one sees…not cool.

4 – Enjoy yourself, but watch out for too many carbs- alcohol, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatos, bread, deserts, puddings…sounds yummy, right? Those foods are all carbs and there is nothing wrong with them as long as you don’t have any food allergies or have a total carb feast. Make sure you balance your meals with fat and protein. Protein for most, comes from turkey or whatever meat, and the fat can be olive oil for salad dressing or butter. Balance your meals so you always have a protein, fat and carb

5 – Meal Timing- Don’t snack while waiting for dinner. Chill out w/ the fam and drink water but don’t eat until its dinner time. Once you are finished eating, you are finished. Dont hang out and then eat desert 20 minutes later. Eating should be one event that starts and stops and doesn’t have a ‘break’ in between main course and desert.

6 – If you are going to drink alcohol,don’t have it on an empty stomach. Have a little fat or protein to balance out the sugar. A little baggie of walnuts goes a long way. You can also eat guacamole. Based on what I said in #5, this means you should only have a little fat or protein w/ the alcohol, and have it an hour or so before eating dinner….but don’t have too much or it will interfere with your meal timing and ruin your digestion, no matter how much or how little you eat.

7 – If you are afraid of overeating,have a snack like raw walnuts or almonds an hour before dinner. This will help you from gorging because you are starving by the time dinner arrives.

8 – Go for a walk after dinner to help you digest your food. If its too cold to walk outside, something as simple as playing with the dog or your nieces and nephews will help digest the meal. If you are stuffed – then simply chill out and take it easy.

9 – If you are overweight or are over 35…you might want to take a digestive enzyme just before you start eating. A good quality enzyme will help you break down the foods and make it easier to digest.

10 – The number one rule for staying healthy is this: eat like you would any other day. Enjoy yourself but dont use holidays as an excuse to beat yourself up for the next 2-3 days. Stuffing yourself and getting bloated is not wise and makes you feel gross. Stay focused on your health & fitness & fat loss goals and stay true to yourself….no matter how much pressure there is to eat, if you are trying to lose weight, a holiday will either make you or break you.

If you really want to lose weight, stay true to yourself and you will feel AWESOME after. If you give in to pressure and allow other people to run your life and eating habits, you will not only feel gross and bloated, but you will gain weight and feel bad that you ‘fell off the wagon’.

Want to lose weight? Treat Thanksgiving like any other day in terms of how much you eat.

If you are creative and having a non traditional meal, please let us know what you ate and how it went. Coconut oil is excellent for cooking and really enhances the flavor of turkey.

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Leading Fitness Experts Give The Gift Of Health To the World with the Biggest Ever Health and Fitness Giveaway This Holiday Season!

On Wednesday, December 10, my colleague Dax Moy and over 250 of the world’s top
fitness professionals will open the doors on the World’s largest ever
health and fitness gift-giving event, set to generate positive health for
over 500,000 people this Christmas

I was involved in this last year some of you may remember and it was very cool!
The program, called ’12 Days of Fitness’ initially began when the UK’s
leading fitness professional, Dax Moy, wanted to express his gratitude
to his clients and offered them a gift a day for 12 consecutive days as
his twist of the 12 Days of Christmas.

Last year Moy shared this idea with fellow fitness professionals & the world at large and gave fitness gifts to
over 200,000 people who signed up at the site at www.12daysoffitness.com.

This year, with the help of 250 of the world’s top personal trainers,
nutritionists, therapists and specialist fitness experts, the 12 days
of fitness is set to become the biggest fitness gift giveaway in
history with expected downloads of over 500,000 between the 10th and
22nd of December. “There’s never been another health event like this,
where so many people stand to benefit from the expertise of true
professionals for free” says Moy who has been working flat out to make
this year’s 12 days a success.

“Fitness professionals from around the globe have contributed hundreds
of e-books, reports, videos, meal plans and other free gifts in their
hope of making 2009 the year that anyone, regardless or their location,
financial situation or past failures, can finally reach their fitness
goals and make those New Year’s Resolutions a reality once and for all.”

Perhaps the best part of the 12 Days of Fitness giveaway is that
regardless of a persons health or fitness goals, there are going to be
gifts specifically designed to help them achieve success.

“We’ve received gifts designed for busy mom’s, elite athletes,
bodybuilders, back pain sufferers and pretty much anyone else you can
imagine covering everything from fat loss to rehabilitation and
everything in between.

There literally will be something for everyone this year and all of it
free, making it, without a doubt, one of the most important gifts
anyone will receive this year. After all, what’s more important than
health?”

The 12 days of gift giving starts December 10th but those interested are urged to visit www.12daysoffitness.com right away to sign up for their free gifts.

Once enrolled, participants will get a daily email telling them how to
access each of the new gifts that are being added each day as well as a
reminder on how to access previous gifts.

To guarantee a healthy start to 2009, simply visit www.12daysoffitness.com today.

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