Families sit around their dinner table and fill up their plates with all kinds of delicious food for the children to munch on and the adults to savor. This of course is the holy grail of dinners, Thanksgiving.

Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie are only a few of the delicacies that are laid out on the biggest table in the entire house for a whole family to devour.

The only bad part about this glorious holiday is the aftermath of the meal. The combination of tryptophan plus the immense weight gain in the coming days and weeks will prohibit people from doing anything.

Tryptophan is an amino acid that sends a signal to the body that makes the consumer tired. This dreadful and merciless reaction by the body leaves countless family members laid across the couch without any signs of waking until late in the night. This lethargy can alter your mood for many days and can cause depression for periods of time, according to Livestrong.com.

On Thanksgiving day, people gain an average of one pound, according to the WebMD. This statistic is contrary to the myth that the average person gains five to 10 pounds on that one day. While this weight gain may not seem that much, this one pound is from only one meal. If bodies cannot withstand the amount of turkey and stuffing being shoveled into people, they can fall into a food coma. Food comas can lead to more dangerous circumstances like a heart attack or stroke. That is 3,500 calories in one meal, which is equivalent to seven Big Macs from McDonalds in one sitting.

Even though people gain only one pound, the combination between tryptophan and this weight gain will drain the energy out of anyone for Thanksgiving evening and maybe the rest of the week.

Ways to fight tryptophan are to eat healthier foods than the ones on Thanksgiving, going to a gym and working out and to stimulate your brain with puzzles, according to multiple sources.

by DANIEL SHARRAH