Thanksgiving (n.): The one day a year that Americans eat all the food they want without giving a second thought to how much they are eating

First, an interesting bit from the New York Times about the top Google searched foods for Thanksgiving. Check it out here. Whatever your favorite is, we can all agree that Thanksgiving is the time to eat as many of these and as much of it as you can. For this week’s #WorkitWednesday post, we want to help you prepare to eat all the food. Here is our own advice to help you get as much as you can out of Thanksgiving this year.

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. Last year, I spent Thanksgiving with my husband’s family. It was my first time ever not eating with my family. This meant that there were a lot of new foods and pretty much none of my family’s staples (aside from, of course, Turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes). I was in a bind. I didn’t know how much of what I wanted. I mean, what if it was bad? So I devised a plan that I have decided to share with you. Take small portions first. Likely, there’s going to be a LOT of food. So the first time through, just take a little bit of everything. When you find what you like, go back and fill your plate up with only the good stuff!

Jensie’s advice is simple. EAT PIE FIRST. We all know the best part of Thanksgiving is the pie. So why do you have to save room for it? Vanessa Williams was not talking about food in her song “Save the Best for Last.” Just go for the gold. Pie first.

We even got Gerrit to chime in—here’s his advice:

I know it’s usually not cool to talk politics at a family holiday, because we all know the people who don’t agree with our own views are basically extremists, but bear with me here…I can’t help feeling that you could use it to your advantage this year. If you can successfully get the two biggest eaters involved in a heavy political debate before the meal starts (tensions and opinions will be strongest before the eating begins), you might be able to sneak away in time to score a choice platter before the buffet devastation truly begins!

If that fails, you could bring in a filling appetizer as your personal potluck contribution. Appetizers are sneaky…they fill up the entire family before the real food is even ready.

A few other strategies I’ve heard include:

• Leaning to your left. With your stomach on the left side, it helps get the digestion flowing and will empty your stomach faster…. supposedly.
• Eat mashed potatoes last. They take up a lot of room in your stomach!
• Same with liquids. Liquids take up more room than you think. So drink sparingly!
• Find more at chow.com

We hope you have a great Thanksgiving weekend and wish you all safe travels!

Kara and the whole Slanted team