Working off the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and stuffing you ate on Thanksgiving -- not to mention that extra helping of pie -- is going to take some sweating, and it can't be avoided, experts say.
While counting calories has been the most common method of trying to gauge how much we've consumed and what effect it may have on our weight, there's growing evidence a more powerful method of getting people to consider what they eat lies in "sweat equivalents" and questions like "If I eat this, how much hard exercise will I need to work it off?"
In experiments, it has been found that posting or publishing sweat equivalents, which leave little room for waffling or self-delusion, helped consumers choose water over heavily sugared sodas, or salads instead of cheeseburgers.
"Sweat equivalents" of the typical American Thanksgiving dinner have been provided by CoachUp, a website that connects motivated athletes with private coaches.
Assuming you're a typical American and you scarfed up 4,500 calories chowing down on your multi-course holiday meal -- pumpkin pie included, of course.
Ready to burn that off? Then you'd better be ready -- and willing -- to run or play football or basketball for 7.7 hours.
Prefer a bicycle ride? That'll be a 15-hour one, thank you.
Up for more than 10 hours of hiking or rowing? Or the same for swimming?
If you like, you can do something a little less strenuous and treat yourself to a session of bowling, only it's going to be a 20.6-hour marathon on the lanes.
Or maybe you're one of those people who simply fall asleep on the coach after your Thanksgiving meal, blaming the tryptophan in the festive bird for your "food coma." As it turns out, you're putting the blame in the wrong place, even though tryptophan does produce serotonin, a brain chemical that can yield a relaxed feeling.
Plenty of other meats, such as chicken and pork, contain the same amount, and nobody blames a nap on a bucket of fried chicken. So put the blame where it belongs, experts say. Can you say carbohydrates?
That's right. It's all that stuffing and dinner rolls and cornbread and sweet potato casserole. And, yes, pie crust. Those side dishes and desserts don't contain tryptophan; so what's going on?
What happens is that all those carbohydrates put whatever amount of tryptophan you've consumed on the express train to your brain, where it does it's "you are getting very sleepy" act.
"Carbohydrates soothe and tranquilize," says Judith Wurtman, author of The Serotonin Power Diet. "It's a very clear-cut effect."
