Thanksgiving Healthy Eating Tips
We all know that Thanksgiving has been labeled the least healthy eating day of the year. If you are on a diet, you will most likely blow it, or make yourself crazy trying to stick with it. With Thanksgiving’s tradition of eating until you’re ready to burst, it seems pretty logical to be scared.
So, Thanksgiving stands accused as the least healthy holiday. Like your mother used to say, “Don’t hang out with the wrong crowd.” Thanksgiving, as far as its effect on health, is just another day in November, it’s just guilty by association. More specifically, its association with food, lots of food! Well, this is a free country, we are free to do, or eat what we want, and we are innocent until proven guilty. So let’s give Thanksgiving a fair trial and see what our final verdict is.
First up, I’d like to call to the stand, Turkey, the main character in the Thanksgiving feast.
5 ounces of Turkey (White Meat): Total Fat: 11.8g Saturated Fat: 3.3 Trans Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 107.7 mg Sodium: 89.3 mg Carbs: 0 Protein: 40.5g
It seems like turkey does have a little bit of fat, but it’s a healthy unsaturated fat, not saturated or trans fats. It has small amounts of cholesterol, sodium and no carbs. There are tons of proteins, and proteins from turkey are especially good because it is a complete protein with all necessary amino acids. Well, it looks like turkey is not only not bad for you, but actually good for you. The outcome, Turkey is innocent.
Next, Sweet Potatoes.
Sweet Potatoes, Dark Orange, Fresh, 5″ long Total Fat: .1g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 71.5mg Carbs: 26.2g Protein: 2g
Well, it looks like sweet potatoes are pretty close to fat free and cholesterol free. The sodium content is minuscule as is the protein. It actually has good carbs, they are complex carbs which means they digest slowly and provide your body with energy over time, instead of just adding inches to your waistline. There is no fat, or anything else unhealthy and they are a healthy source of good carbohydrates. It seems Sweet Potatoes are innocent as well.
Up next, canned cranberry sauce.
Cranberry Sauce, Sweetened and Canned, 3 slices: Total Fat: .3g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 49.6mg Carbs: 66.5g Sugars- 64.5.g Protein: .3g
Cranberry Sauce has no fat (the FDA allows foods to be called “NO FAT, Preservatives, Trans Fat as long as each serving has less than .5g of fat. Don’t be fooled thinking you aren’t eating fat, first look at how many servings you are eating, then multiply it by .49 and that’s how many actual grams of fat you just ate, FYI). It has no cholesterol, and the salt content of two saltine crackers, not bad. The bad part is, it has 66.5 grams of carbs, and 64.5 of those is sugar! Measure 65 grams of sugar in a measuring cup, now imagine that pile of sugar being added directly to your waistline, because that’s what happens when you eat 64.5g of sugar, unless you are currently running a marathon, and a sprint to the dessert line does not qualify as a marathon. The verdict: Guilty! Canned cranberry sauce is guilty of having way to much sugar and adding padding!
Next on the stand is Stuffing:
Stuffing, bread, prep/dry mix 1/2cup Total Fat: 8.6g Saturated Fat: 1.7g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 543mg Carbs: 21.7g Sugars: 2.1g Protein: 3.2g
Stuffing has a bit of fat, but not bad fat. It has negligible amounts of cholesterol and protein, but a boatload of sodium. This tasty treat has a lot of sodium, but less than one can of most canned goods. So compared to most people’s diets, stuffing is low in sodium. The carbs are a little high, but the sugar isn’t. That means that the carbs are actual food and not sugar. Now these carbs are from the white bread found in the mix, so they aren’t the best, but 21g of it isn’t enough to worry about, it’s less carbs than a 20oz Gatorade. The Verdict: Innocent!
The results speak for themselves, turkey isn’t bad, but actually healthy. Sweet potatoes aren’t bad, but healthy, cranberries are healthy if you prepare them yourself, and stuffing isn’t healthy, and isn’t bad.
So, is Thanksgiving innocent or guilty? It’s innocent. Think about it, if we eat a serving of turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries (not the canned sugary kind), and stuffing, we actually have a pretty healthy meal made of real, natural food. For some, it would be the healthiest meal they have eaten in a while.
I think we know who is really guilty.
No matter what you eat, whether it’s turkey or a hamburger, if you eat too much you will gain weight. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight.
Why is everyone so afraid of Thanksgiving? It’s because we overeat, and not only on turkey, but also dessert. You know that sugar is bad if you are trying to keep your weight in check, so I don’t need to tell you to take it easy on the pie.
Give Thanksgiving a break, and get real. Instead of stuffing ourselves with more turkey, we know when to stop and have enough will power to do it. Let’s enjoy our time together and give thanks for a full table, and a reasonably full stomach and refrigerator.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
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