Health and Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving only three days away, many college students will be going home for their first real meal in almost three months. Thanksgiving is a holiday notorious for family, food and football. Overdoing the food part can be detrimental to your health.

Eating two or three plates of this can be terrible health-wise.
photo from here

The typical Thanksgiving Thursday consists of cooking, football, eating, football, sleeping and football.   And no human person can resist getting second (or even third) plates of turkey and ham with gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing and rolls. According to livestrong.com, a study from the University of Michigan shows that the average person will eat anywhere from 2,000-3,000 calories at Thanksgiving dinner, not including other meals that day. That meal alone has as many calories as people are supposed to eat in a day.

Along with this insane amount of calories, other common Thanksgiving habits can affect your health. Junior Communication Studies major Amanda Ellis falls in line with this other health risk. "I ordered a Thanksgiving dinner for me and my boyfriend from a local restaurant this year" said Ellis. "Typically after eating big meals I like to sleep".

Many people sleep after eating their Thanksgiving meals. According to the National Wildlife Turkey Federation, eating a big turkey dinner makes people sleepy. Turkey contains a chemical called tryptophan, which does cause drowsiness. This chemical combined with the high number of calories leads to a large number of naps after dinner, which can cause weight gain. Instead of napping, people should partake in as much physical activity before and after eating as possible. Lots of families get together and play football, which for some reason has become immensely popular on Thanksgiving. By doing this, your risk of weight gain goes down.