Health
Best time for Thanksgiving dinner: Nutritionists give recommendations for proper digestion
The time of day you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner could have a wider effect on your health.
The timing of the meal can make “all the difference for your digestion,” Los Angeles-based registered dietitian nutritionist Ilana Muhlstein told Fox News Digital.
Somewhere between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m. is the “sweet spot,” she said.
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“If the meal is too early, say 2 p.m., people tend to linger around the table for hours, leading to multiple helpings of each course just to pass the time,” she noted.
“On the other hand, eating too late — like 5:30 p.m. or later — can backfire if people skip meals throughout the day.”
“By having Thanksgiving dinner between 3:30 and 5:00 p.m. and closing the eating window within two hours, you can strike the perfect balance between savoring the meal, enjoying the day and feeling good afterward,” an expert advised. (iStock)
Waiting until later to eat often results in “overeating at dinner, feeling uncomfortably stuffed and struggling with digestion or regret,” Muhlstein cautioned.
The expert suggests limiting the time you are eating to no more than two hours — and that includes any appetizers or charcuterie.
“Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner mindfully, savoring each bite and listening to your body’s cues.”
“If you start with cheese, crackers, chips, dips and wine right away, your eating window can stretch to three or four hours, making it more likely that you’ll overindulge,” she said.
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“Instead, try focusing on drinking water or a seasonal tea, like pumpkin or cinnamon, for the first hour of mingling — then go right into the main course,” Muhlstein suggested.
“This way, you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy a substantial Thanksgiving meal and dessert without overdoing it.”
Experts suggest eating a balanced meal before Thanksgiving dinner to prevent overeating later. (iStock)
Jessica Sepel, clinical nutritionist and founder of JSHealth Vitamins, told Fox News Digital in a separate conversation that the timing is less important than how you approach the meal itself.
Sepel, who is also based in Los Angeles, does suggest eating the main meal before 9:00 p.m., which will allow the body to “digest properly before winding down for the night.”
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Beyond timing, Sepel recommends a few more options to support good digestion and overall well-being on Thanksgiving.
This includes sipping fennel or ginger tea before or after the meal to support digestion.
“These herbs are fantastic for easing bloating and helping your system process a heavier meal,” she said.
“Nourishment is about balance, and there’s room to enjoy the festivities without compromising your well-being,” a nutritionist said. (iStock)
The expert also suggests balancing meals throughout the day to ensure adequate protein and nourishment and to prevent overeating.
“Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner mindfully, savoring each bite and listening to your body’s cues,” she advised.
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“Nourishment is about balance, and there’s room to enjoy the festivities without compromising your well-being.”
Feeling over-stuffed?
It’s easy to overeat on Thanksgiving when there is a plethora of delicious food.
Eating too much at once and not allowing for proper digestion can “overwhelm our system, leading to bloating, indigestion or even fatigue,” according to Jamie Maitland, certified holistic nutritionist, author of “21-Day Reset Cookbook” and founder of The Office Health.
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“A big holiday meal can be rich in fats, carbs, sugar and protein — and while that’s all delicious, it’s important to give your body the space to process everything,” she told Fox News Digital.
Florida-based Maitland — who recommends eating between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. for the digestive system to function at its best — offered a few additional tips for aiding digestion.
Experts recommend slowing down and chewing each bite thoroughly to help digestion. (iStock)
“One tip is to slow down — savor each bite, rather than eating like it’s your last meal,” she advised.
“Chewing thoroughly not only helps with digestion, but also gives your body time to signal when it’s full, so you don’t overeat.”
“It’s important to give your body the space to process everything.”
Maitland also recommends drinking water throughout the day to support the breakdown of food and to prevent bloating.
Another way to support digestion is to incorporate movement after the meal, which could be as simple as taking a walk or playing a family game, she added.
“Movement helps stimulate the digestive system and keeps things moving, so you can avoid the ‘food coma’ feeling,” Maitland said.
“It doesn’t have to be a structured workout — get creative and don’t underestimate the power of a little stroll.”
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
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“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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