Itâs that time of year againâwhen everyone on campus starts itching for Thanksgiving break. After waiting since Labor Day while all our friends at other schools had fall break, our time has finally come.
You can deny it, but if youâre like me youâve been thinking about your meals at home ever since you left in August. Donât be ashamed, food is obviously one of the most important things about going home. But you donât want to get stuck filling up on just âokayâ meals when youâre home, nor do you want to come back to campus feeling like youâve gained the Thanksgiving thirtyâespecially with the seasons of semi-formals and winter break beach vacations fast approaching.
Here are a few occasions you should indulge (and not feel even remotely guilty about it) along with handy tips for resisting those temptations and only slightly overeating this Thanksgiving break.
Five occasions to prioritize:
1. Thanksgiving
As someone whose all-time favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, Iâm all about wearing super loose pants and eating as much turkey, stuffing, pie and other totally delicious desserts as my stomach can possibly handle. This day of thanks only comes once a year so itâs basically a given that it should be an occasion to indulgeâyour first eating priority. You have lots of bases to cover with all the mouth-watering Thanksgiving staplesâso coming starving to the table is basically a necessity.
2. The first home cooked meal
Even if youâre lucky enough to have a kitchen at school, there is something about your momâs lasagna or your dadâs steak tips that simply canât be replicated by anyone else. This is certainly a time to indulgeâmost of you have been patiently waiting for this for at least three months.
3. Your favorite restaurant
Youâve likely been awaiting your return at your favorite restaurant in town ever since you stepped foot in Foggy Bottom at the start of the school year. If you have a chance to go with your family, youâll probably even swing a free meal out of it. Take advantage of it while you can and suggest an outing to that favorite place of yours (because a trip to Ruthâs Chris is âfamily bonding timeâ, right?).
#SDRWTaste13 pic.twitter.com/xq2CVBzU87
â Ruths Chris SanDiego (@RuthsChrisSD) September 13, 2013
4. Your friendâs birthday
Thanksgiving is one of the few times a year when all your high school friends are home at once. Between the months of August and November, thereâs bound to be someone with a missed birthday or another fun occasion to celebrate. If youâve got a sweet tooth like me, youâre definitely going to want to eat that amazing cake from your favorite bakery to celebrate. Come on, youâre basically disappointing everyone if you arenât digging in with them.
Now that everyone is sufficiently daydreaming about/drooling over/obsessively planning each of the events above, you have to make sure you save room for themâthereâs nothing worse than getting so excited about a meal but giving into your popcorn craving only an hour beforehand and then not being able to eat it. Iâm about to make sure that heartbreak doesnât happen to you.
Tips to help you save room (and calories):
1. Donât wander into the snack cabinet
Didnât your mom always tell you that eating before a meal will ruin your appetite? Well, she was right. You can have those Doritos anytime. If youâre really hungry, donât take the whole bag back to the couch with you. Youâll subconsciously keep reaching in for more, and before the next episode of SVU is over, youâll be full.
2. Get together for a group reunion
Itâs always tempting to eat out with individual friends while catching up. But meeting up with friends multiple times a dayâfor lunch, coffee, fro-yo and dinnerâcan make you super full (and do damage to your bank account). Instead, make a plan with a bunch of friends to all go out together. You get to see everyone at once, scale back your eating-out calories, and use the leftover funds for your reunion dinner with your roommates back at school on Sunday.
3. Live for leftovers
Unfortunately, no matter how big your sweats or how stretchy those yoga pants areâyouâre going to have to admit to defeat at some point during the Thanksgiving meal. But remember that even when that time comes around, the holiday can live on for a few more days with these leftover Thanksgiving hacks.
4. Slow and steady wins the race
I knowâyouâre super excited to eat everything youâve been wanting but canât have or canât afford at school. But remember, youâll probably regret stuffing your face and filling up in the first half hour youâre home. You have a few days to do that, so spread it out. Your new motto: âitâs a marathon, not a sprint.â