Thanksgiving Believe It or Nots
November 15, 2024
We’ve got a few facts about Thanksgiving which are likely to knock your socks off.
Socks on? Let’s see if they’ll stay on.
Our turkey is a native American bird in the peacock family, but the pilgrims confused it with a similar-looking bird familiar in Europe as being from the region which is now the country Turkey.
Hence, the name turkey, the only bird in the world named in common language after a country.
If you have someone in your family tree who told you they trick or treated before the mid-1940s, they either were fibbing or had dementia.
Believe it or not, the first Halloween trick or treating began right after World War II.
Beginning around the turn of the 20th Century, the big house-to-house event each year was Ragamuffin Day on Thanksgiving.
Kids walked the streets on Thanksgiving morning dressed as hobos or down-and-out politicians to collect treats.
In those days, women were deemed too fragile to participate. It was all boys.
Ragamuffin Day began to fade with the advent of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927 and disappeared as the Macy’s Parade began to be televised and became a Thanksgiving morning national tradition.
In late fall of 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided to issue an executive order changing the date of Thanksgiving from the 4th Thursday of November to the 3rd Tuesday. He made the enactment to give retailers another full week between Thanksgiving and Christmas for holiday sales.
This proved highly unpopular in, even then, a politically charged environment. For several years until the enactment was rescinded, we had dueling Thanksgivings across the country.
Oh for the days when all we fought about was the official date for Thanksgiving.
Did you know turkey is considered the meat of choice for athletes?
A single serving of roast turkey contains only 45 calories, but a healthy 25 grams of protein, and at the same time just 4 grams of fat.
Doesn’t add to your weight, but efficiently provides plenty for the body to be nourished in the right way.
The average American eats 14.6 pounds of turkey annually. That same American eats 56 pounds of beef over the course of a year.
Now that’s BELIEVABLE!
Our country might be in a better, healthier place if those weight totals were reversed.
Holiday Lessons From Blue Zones
Did you know there are five regions in the world where people can be thankful they commonly live past 100, with one of the five right here in Southern California?
They are known worldwide by health scientists as the Blue Zones, regions renowned for longevity and remarkable health.
Wanna created your own mini-Blue Zone? Here are the health practices universal across all the blue zones:
- Moving regularly during daily activities.
- Clarifying your sense of purpose.
- Cultivating daily rituals to reduce stress.
- Prioritizing strong social connections with family and friends who support healthy behavior.
- Enjoying a diet rich in whole grains and beans.
- Eating fresh, seasonal veggies and leafy greens.
- Limiting processed sugars.
- Practicing mindful eating and stopping when 80% full.
- Drinking mostly water, tea, coffee, and limiting to one or two glasses of red wine daily.
- Minimizing meat, seafood and cows milk consumption.
LEARN MORE ABOUT BLUE ZONES HERE
Pumpkin Spice Energy Balls
You can mix the ingredients in a food processor or bowl and then roll into little balls. You can keep some in the fridge for now and put some in the freezer for later!
A Shoutout from Austin
Habits That Set Happy People Apart
Who doesn’t want more happiness? From practicing gratitude to setting meaningful goals and caring for your body, explore the 12 habits that set happy people apart—and see how they align with lessons from the Blue Zones! Click below to learn more.
