What we’re really talking about is a wonderful day when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?
– Erma Bombeck, a humorist who apparently missed her calling as an etymologist
Many people will intentionally work out harder or longer on Thanksgiving morning to deserve the right to stuff their face with Thanksgiving goodies later in the day, if not intentionally work out harder or longer the morning after to burn off the meals and desserts from the day before.
If a fucked up relationship with food is what you’re after so exercise becomes a punishment for eating or permission to do so, then sure, go ahead and do a workout Thursday or Friday that strays beyond your norm!
If an eating disorder isn’t on your agenda, then eat in accordance with one of several holiday eating tips out there.
As it turns out, the first Thanksgiving celebration between the Wampanoag people and the illegal immigrants that are lovingly referred to as the “Pilgrims” featured wild fowl. But instead of that “fowl” being in reference to turkey, what was most likely eaten were ducks or geese. As to that first Thanksgiving celebration, it wasn’t regarded as a special occurrence by anyone during the event or after because the act of getting together to give thanks for the autumn harvest was a routine tradition dating back to Europe. With that as context, American colonists weren’t observing the Plymouth settlers when they had their own informal Thanksgiving feasts in subsequent years, by which time turkey was on the menu of the harvest celebrations because the bird had become more prevalent in the New England colonies. It wasn’t until about 240 years later that the idea of officially commemorating the “first Thanksgiving” came along. One of the strongest advocates for Thanksgiving becoming a national holiday was Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor and writer that made turkey into the center of the ideal Thanksgiving meal in some of her works. This reinvention of the Pilgrims’ celebration in Hale’s books and magazine features spread across the expanding country and helped link turkey and Thanksgiving together in the public imagination so that there was already a national mythology formed around the festivity when it was finally declared a national holiday in 1863.1Here’s a fun fact: Hale isn’t only famous for being the “mother of Thanksgiving” due to her work in popularizing Thanksgiving and getting it recognized as a holiday. Nope, she’s also the author of Mary Had A Little Lamb!
Turkey is a staple of Thanksgiving because of marketing — NOT factual history. And because you’re susceptible to marketing, that’s why you continue having turkey on Thanksgiving day. Now, while turkey has many nutritional qualities that make it ideal for someone who’s mindful of their health and weight, some of the ingredients and methods that are used to prepare it for Thanksgiving can make it a nutritional nightmare via the addition of extra fat and calories. That need not be a concern of yours with this turkey recipe if you’re trying to have a healthy Thanksgiving dinner! Continue reading Healthy Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe
In fact, because you know what gets measured is what gets managed, do you want to track the number of calories you consume? The number of calories you burn via exercise? How many steps you take? Your hydration levels? How much sleep you’re getting and the quality of it?
Well, there’s an app for that!
In fact, there are many, many mobile and web-based applications that are now available that can help with weight loss and lifestyle management by way of one or more of those desired features. Further, some apps offer daily reminders for motivation, provide access to online communities of fellow dieters for support, and have the ability to sync with other health and fitness devices for more robust tracking.
There’s only but so many times you can fuck or get fucked by the same person before you get bored and start desiring for something else to spice things up, at least occasionally.
Well, the same goes with the gym.
While it’s good to perform the same exercises each and every workout so you can progressively overload and develop actual strength and muscle, there are times when it’s good to throw something new into the mix to break up the monotony. One such exercise is the front raise if you’ve been doing a lot of shoulder pressing for the anterior deltoids. Concerning the front raise, it can be performed with a barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, or at a cable station. But the most badass looking variation is the plate front raise, which requires nothing more than a weight plate, as its name implies.1That is, it has the potential to look badass if you’re using a big boy plate and not something like a 5 or 10 lbs one! It too works the anterior deltoids to help strengthen the shoulders while also involving the core and lower traps to a lesser degree. Continue reading How To: Standing Plate Front Raises
