The title of this article will prompt some eye rolls and internal groans. I understand that this holiday – a holiday all about food and not a lot else – brings up a lot of complicated feelings for many of us. We are excited about the food. We are concerned about the food. We want to eat; we don’t want to eat. We hope to run in a Turkey Trot; we hope to sit on the couch. So many of the difficult feelings we have about food are really about how eating different foods and amounts of food might impact our bodies.

What if we try to be grateful for our bodies this Thanksgiving?

For many of us, whenever we think about or see images of our bodies, our inner critic gets the first word. We’ve been conditioned to identify our flaws, whether we perceive the problem to be our stomachs or our noses. But we can focus on these perceived flaws less and practice gratitude more.

“Practicing gratitude” may sound about as pop-psychology as it gets. However, there is growing evidence that focusing on what we are grateful for can improve our quality of life. Specifically, research has found that gratitude interventions can increase positive affect, happiness, and life satisfaction while decreasing negative affect, stress, and depression symptoms. Practicing gratitude even seems to help people sleep better!

One of the most common gratitude interventions asks........

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