Why I Don't Think You Should Fast Before Thanksgiving
Every year on the week of Thanksgiving, health professionals around the world start putting out advice on what we should do this week to stay on track with our health and prevent ourselves from spiraling out of control. Of the common health strategies recommended during this time, there is none more popular than fasting.
While it makes intuitive sense that fasting leading up to a day where we feast can limit the damage of that feast, I think this is the wrong way to look at things and in some cases, this approach could end up being more damaging to your health.
One of my favorite authors, Gary Taubes, said this best at a conference a couple of years back. If you were going to dinner tonight at the best restaurant in your town and someone told you to bring your appetite, what would you do? You would probably fast. You may skip lunch and maybe even breakfast leading up to the dinner so that you would have an appetite for and be able to indulge in that delicious meal. As Taubes said, this approach works! We bring our appetite to that meal meaning that we overeat during that meal. We dig into the bread bowl, clean our plate, and consider opting for that dessert before we get the bill.
I think something similar occurs when we take the approach of fasting before Thanksgiving. We spend days leading up to Thanksgiving not eating or heavily restricting ourselves. Then when the day comes we are more easily able to reckon with overeating and overindulging in foods that we maybe wouldn’t normally have in our diet.
To me, this sounds like an unhealthy relationship with food. This is a purge and binge approach to diet that I think can take a toll on our mental health. I think this approach also puts food in the driver seat, and us in the passenger seat.
Surprisingly, I am not going to recommend that you don’t indulge on Thanksgiving. In fact, I think you should. Thanksgiving is a feast. It’s a time for us to be with our families and enjoy incredible food around the dinner table. Of course, I think you should do your best to keep it under control and do what you can to opt for more healthy whole food Thanksgiving dishes, but regardless I think you should enjoy this time.
Thanksgiving, from a diet perspective, doesn’t need to be so much different from a regular day. Sure you may be having foods you don’t typically have in your diet and you might be eating more than you normally do, but we are talking about a single meal here. We are talking about your Thanksgiving dinner. Having more calories than you normally do at this meal is not going to ruin all of your health progress (unless you really let the handles fly off) and certainly doesn't require not eating in the days leading up to it.
I encourage you to focus on maintaining your healthy dietary strategies this week as is. Keep doing what you know works for you. When Thanksgiving comes, enjoy your meal and the time with your family and friends. The next day, get back on track with your tried and true nutrition principles. You may find that the mental impact of this approach produces more benefits than you imagined.
Thanks for reading,
Chris Irvin
P.S. New Thinking Health Podcast recording with the amazing Dr. Austin Perlmutter just went live today! In this episode, we talk about the impacts media and technology have on our health, mindset, and behaviors. Check out the episode here and if you love it, do me a favor and leave a review! Thanks!