Lose weight during Thanksgiving? Sure. Don’t get sauced.

The other day I spoke about cooks tending to dabble in the gobbler while griddling.

While sampling in the kitchen can be the beginnings of a difficult holiday season, beginning at noonturkey, and ending January 1 of the following year, there’s something to be said for the feasters.

Keeping your waistline slim during Thanksgiving Dinner is as easy as following these tasty steps.

1. Don’t come to the table hungry. Eating a high-protein snack prior to the meal is a great way to ensure not overfilling the plate. Even when a body registers its fullness, by the time the marrow is sucked clean from that turkey bone, the damage is done if a person eats past satiety and into being over-full.

2. Use smaller plates. Cliche, perhaps, but the less white space to fill on the fancy porcelain planes of food placement, the less opportunity to spoon three extra helpings of tofurky into spots that look barren. The stomach is really only roughly the size of a fist, and to pile a plate high is forcing that muscle to work overtime in an effort to accept and digest that excess yam-ness.

3. Go whole hog…on turkey. Turkey is higher-protein fare, providing more bang for the stomach-filling buck. Choose to make the star of the show the emcee of hunger this Thanksgiving, and leave the high glycemic load foods like dinner rolls and bready stuffings by the wayside.

4. Watch the alcohol. While fermented libations might hit the spot, alcohol also affects the blood stream, causing a depressive feeling which many satisfy with higher-carb foods for a system stablilizing effect. If partaking, choose to stop at one, and make certain to accompany alcohol with food (like turkey) to keep the ensuing hunger at bay.