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Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.

Thanksgiving is only days away, and families all across America are in the midst of building their dinner menus for the feast. While you’re heading to the grocery store to pick up your turkey and sweet potatoes, there’s one aspect of Thanksgiving that’s important to consider while planning out the big day: When will dinner be served? Over the years, Americans have opted to host their dinners at different times, with many families starting the meal at 3pm on the fourth Thursday in November. On the other hand, some people decide to eat dinner as they normally would, by hosting Thanksgiving at 6pm or 7pm. The question of when to have your Thanksgiving dinner may be tied to one major factor - that large meals can make you a bit sleepy. There’s constant discussion surrounding the star of Thanksgiving, turkey, and how it makes you tired. Turkey contains tryptophan, an amino acid in our bodies that helps make melatonin to regulate sleep schedules, according to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. There’s no arguing that eating a Thanksgiving meal full of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes would make anyone ready for a nap. Still, the question remains as to whether the chemicals in turkey actually make us susceptible to tiredness, or whether other factors are at play in our post-meal slumber. Speaking to The Independent, professional chefs have discussed the drowsiness that comes from eating a hefty meal, and how that feeling can affect your upcoming Thanksgiving plans. According to the Cleveland Clinic, tryptophan is an essential acid that’s found in food containing high levels of protein, such as chicken, eggs, cheese, and fish. Since there’s tryptophan in turkey, the amino acid can affect our body’s levels of both melatonin and serotonin, neurotransmitters that control our moods. Speaking to The Independent, California-based chef Brendan Collins acknowledged that the tryptophan in turkey is an amino acid that affects our sleep schedule. However, he clarified that turkey isn’t the reason for the drowsiness, and rather our eating habits on Thanksgiving could be the culprit. “I think the truth is that we can end up overeating on Thanksgiving, in comparison to our normal eating schedule, and we get food comas,” he explained. “We need to sleep because of that. Not because of the small amount of tryptophan found in the turkey itself.” John Carpenter - an executive chef at Signature Restaurant at La Cantera Resort and Spa in Texas - agreed that stuffing our faces with food on Thanksgiving may be more likely to blame for our tiredness. He noted that it’s easy to feel sleepy after a big meal and specified that a range of foods and beverages can contribute to the drowsiness, from pumpkin pie to wine. “Thanksgiving dinner is quite heavy, between stuffing and large amounts of meat we eat, whether that be turkey or ham,” he explained. “It’s also usually surrounded by friends and family, and there’s some alcohol drinking usually involved, which isn’t exactly known to keep us awake.” With the side effects of eating a big Thanksgiving meal in mind, chefs have shared their advice on when to plan your dinner. It’s important to note that the day before Thanksgiving can be relatively busy, from buying your ingredients to decorating your home. In addition to managing physical tasks, Carpenter said there’s another routine he usually takes on to prepare for the holiday - changing up his eating habits. “For me personally, I definitely prefer to change my eating schedule, leading up not only the day of Thanksgiving, but also a couple of days before,” he said. “I always eat a little bit lighter, leading up in anticipation of a big meal. And personally, I normally don’t even eat breakfast on Thanksgiving because I know I’m going to eat so much.” The morning of Thanksgiving tends to be quite hectic, so Collins urged families to give themselves enough preparation time before dinner. He recommended giving yourself a good two and a half to three hours of cooking time, when you can prepare all your vegetables while the turkey is in the oven. So, when is the best opportunity to serve the food to your guests? Professional chefs recommend the daytime, rather than evening, as the best time to host your dinner, taking both meal preparation time and drowsiness into account. “Normally for me, it’s early in the afternoon or early in the day,” Carpenter explained. “I have two children so I prefer earlier because it gives us the rest of the day for them to wind down from a big meal and all that. And then you have more time during Thanksgiving day to be with your family.” When you decide to host your Thanksgiving dinner is entirely up to you, but Collins acknowledged that the age of your guests is another factor to consider. He noted that children are generally accustomed to having their meals earlier in the day, even though that might not be the case for adults. “I think if there’s a lot of children under 10 years of age, having your dinner at 2pm or 3pm would be good,” Collins said. “If it’s more towards the adult scene, then I think it’s more of an early dinner, late lunch kind of thing. I’d personally go for 4pm or 5pm.” Thanksgiving aside, studies have found that late-night dinners may not be the best idea. In a 2022 study published in peer-reviewed journal Cell Metabolism, researchers examined 16 patients who were overweight and obese as they ate the same exact meals on two schedules - one group eating as late as 9pm. Results showed that eating later had a large effect on how patients regulated their “energy intake, expenditure, and storage”. Since there’s so many different types of food served on Thanksgiving, eating dinner on the earlier side could ultimately be better for your physical health. “Personally, I know you shouldn’t be eating a huge meal later at night, especially the size of a normal Thanksgiving meal,” Collins added. “So definitely give yourself the time for your food to settle down.” Although there are various factors to consider when planning the timing of your Thanksgiving dinner, it’s important to remember not to let the stress of it ruin the day. “Don’t stress out too much about the food,” Collins said. “I know sometimes Thanksgiving is one of the first times you’ve seen friends or family in a long time. So I think the idea is that it’s celebratory, and make sure you do that. Buy really good wine or champagne and enjoy yourself.” Read More 10 Thanksgiving traditions and where they come from The French have rules, and they have camembert rules – mess with them at your peril Pearly Cow, Margate, restaurant review: Go for the steak, but stay for the potatoes The French have rules, and they have camembert rules – mess with them at your peril Pearly Cow, Margate, restaurant review: Go for the steak, but stay for the potatoes We must stop Big Cranberry Sauce’s reign of terror over Christmas sandwiches

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A mother has sparked a debate after revealing that her son received a “zero” from his teacher because he didn’t bring in “classroom supplies”. The parent, Shanitta Busby, shared a recent video to TikTok about her 13 year old, in which she explained that he recently started at a new school. She noted that, prior to the middle schooler’s first day, she bought him “new school supplies,” since the list of supplies needed was “a little different” than ones she’d seen before, and she “wanted him to be prepared”. Busby said that while her child’s first week at school went well, he came home the second week and told her: “My teacher said we need to have classroom supplies.” She responded to her son by saying it was strange that his teacher wanted him to have certain “classroom supplies”. “I’m like: ‘That’s weird, because we got you everything on the list that you would need for the class. And you’re not going to be using any classroom supplies,’” she recalled. “And so I left it at that.” However, according to Busby, the teacher later told her son that she’d “give [him] a zero if [he] didn’t turn in the classroom supplies”. While the parent questioned why her son was being graded for having the items, she said that she still went on to get the “classroom supplies,” which included things like tissues, Clorox wipes, hand sanitiser, pencils, Expo markers and red pens. Although she gave her son these supplies to turn in to his teacher, she said that the following week, her son “still had a zero”. She explained that when she emailed the teacher about the grade, she also claimed that parents shouldn’t be responsible for “supplying” the items needed in the teacher’s classrooms. “I email the teacher and I’m like: ‘Hey, I’m kind of concerned because my student has an 83 in the class, and everything else in the class is 100s and 98s. And he still have a zero for something called classroom supplies,’” she recalled. “I was like: ‘We bought the supplies anyways, but I don’t feel like it’s the parent’s responsibility to supply your classroom.’” She also told the teacher that she didn’t “think it was appropriate to assign a grade to students based on whether or not they’ve supplied” their teacher’s classroom. According to Busby, the teacher responded to the email by saying: “I appreciate an involved parent, and I’ll update his grade today.” However, the teacher didn’t address the parent’s concerns about the grade itself existing. @shanittanicole Am I doing too much? #fyp #school ♬ original sound - Snooze ❣️ “She said nothing about the fact that we shouldn’t have to supply your classroom with supplies,” she explained. “So I emailed the principal, I might be extra, but I just wanna see what’s going on. Why do I have to buy supplies for the classroom? In the comment, she clarified that she and her husband bought the supplies that were needed for his homeroom, as he’s in middle school. She then specified that the grade he got for “classroom supplies” was for only his math class. Busby later shared a follow-up video with a screenshot of her son’s grade in the class, noting that there were two different grades for his “supplies”. While he got 90 for his “homework/classwork,” in the “supplies section”, he initially had a zero under the “participation” for “supplies”. However, his zero was then updated to a 100, giving him a 98 in the class. She then emphasised why she contacted the principal about her son’s “supplies” grade, adding: “Why are you assigning a grade for additional school supplies for the classroom? That’s what was wrong to me.” In the comments of the two videos, which have received more than 1.5m views combined, many people came to the parent’s defence, noting that some parents can’t afford all classroom supplies, so children’s grades shouldn’t be penalised for that. “Classroom supplies are not graded. She is not to force parents to get it,” one wrote, while another added: “That is so unfair!! Especially for the kids whose parents CAN’T afford groceries let alone classroom supplies!!!” “Somebody has to buy supplies and it’s not fair to the teacher. BUT they pool the supplies because everyone can’t afford them. To grade that is ridiculous,” a third commented. On the other hand, some parents acknowledged that they would get certain school supplies for their children, and defended teachers from having to buy them. @shanittanicole Replying to @In the view Graded School Supplies Part 2 #fyp #school #xybca ♬ original sound - Snooze ❣️ “I will buy anything my kids’ teachers need. I usually send $200 through a cash app per 1/4. Teachers shouldn’t have to buy either,” one wrote, while another added: “The grade I don’t agree with! As a former teacher, I spent a lot of my personal money on supplies. New teachers don’t even get a stapler.” “Teachers don’t make anywhere near enough to supply everything for classrooms, like tissues if your kid has a runny nose. Or wipes to clean messes,” a third wrote. Speaking to Insider, Busby said she’s still waiting to hear back from the principal on how the situation is being handled. She also shared her belief that the school districts should be giving supplies needed in classrooms, rather than having parents or teachers pay for it. The Independent has contacted Busby for comment. 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