Why I Hate When People Try and Make Thanksgiving Healthy

Because leftovers are the best part.

Hi, friends! Let’s chat for a moment, shall we?

Over the past couple of years, I’ve become more sensitive to the narrative that we, particularly in the US, have around food. I remember a study from several years ago where researchers asked residents of different countries to do word associations. When the researchers said, “chocolate cake,” people from the US associated that with the word “guilt.” In comparison, people in France often used the term, “celebration” to describe chocolate cake. When I first heard this it rang so true that it has stuck with me ever since. 

In the US, we are so obsessed with diet culture and using food only as a form of sustenance. Women, in particular, and men also have widespread challenges with body image, eating disorders, and disordered eating patterns in general which are separate from a clinical diagnosis. Though I’m not sharing specific science here, if it’s something you’re interested in, I’d be happy to do a more scientifically-backed and well thought out post in the future. 

I have fallen victim frequently to feeling guilty for the food that I eat or feeling like I have to earn a rich or hearty meal through exercise or through consistent healthy meals that serve as tokens that I can redeem for something more calorically dense. I recognize the role that socialization has played in these feelings of guilt that I’ve experienced and that I imagine many of you reading this have experienced as well. 

I hate this philosophy that I’ve unintentionally adopted.

I hate the idea that food is only supposed to be this perfectly well-balanced, low calorie, low carb, low fat, low sugar, low pretty much everything source of sustenance (although barely) and sustenance alone. I reject these ideas because I know both from my own personal experience and also through the experiences of others that none of this thinking (and I repeat: none of this thinking) actually leads to a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. What it does lead to is guilt and shame and comparison and hiding our eating patterns and catering to other people and bingeing and overexercise and and and... the list goes on. 

So, let’s bring it back to Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving is intended to be a feast. It’s intended to be a moment where food is used for celebration, and yes, positive emotional eating (because that’s a thing). There was feasting in the Bible for goodness sake. Who are we to say that the occasional overeating is some monstrously horrible thing? 

When people try and make Thanksgiving “healthy,” and I put that in quotes because healthy is based on pre-determined social standards, what we lose is a truly healthy relationship with food because we put in a single category of either “good” or “bad.” What we lose is a connection to food that runs deeper than calories – a soul-level gratitude for the tastes that we are about to experience. What we lose is the celebration and joy that food brings. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m over losing those things. 

I want to reject the idea that if I’m not drinking a daily green juice and doing a HIIT workout that I’m somehow a defective or less valuable human. I want to reject the idea that we should incorporate “alternative healthy options” for holidays instead of celebrating what God has so delightfully and deliciously put on our tables. I want to reject the life and body image and diet standards that others have set for me and instead savor all of the beautiful foods and flavors that cross my path.

... And that’s coming from someone who loves green juice. 

I say this as much for me as I do for all of you. Though I fundamentally believe these things, it’s hard for me to practice when comparison is fighting so hard to change me. It’s only together that we can really tackle this and start having a more loving relationship with food and our bodies.

So will you join me in rejecting these ideas? Will you partner with me in balance and moderation? Will you eat too many potatoes at your next holiday meal or wake up the next morning and join me in a pie breakfast? I hope so. 

I wanted to get this out quickly because it’s something I notice each holiday season and I felt it important to share with you. But, I have so many more thoughts on this topic, on what health means to me, and on the gender discrepancies in diet and body expectations. I look forward to sharing those with you in future (and less rant-y) posts. 

As always, please connect with me if you’d like to talk more about any of the themes that come up in these posts. 

Love, 

Abbey