Do you know that the average Thanksgiving dinner has over 2,000 calories? And this number does not include the meals and/or snacks leading up to the meal. It can be a real challenge if you are watching your waistline. The following are some eating tips so that you can still have a healthy Thanksgiving dinner without having to deprive yourself.
If you are preparing the meal there are some ways to reduce the calories in the meal:
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Make gravy from de-fatted drippings (allow fat to rise to the top and then skim it off).
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Replace butter in stuffing recipes with fat-free broth.
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Reduce the fat in mashed potatoes by replacing the butter with either fat-free broth, fat-free half and half, low fat milk or skim milk.
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Use reduced-fat mushroom soup in your green bean casserole.
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Make pumpkin pie with evaporated skim milk instead of the whole milk.
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Reduce the sugar in the pie recipe to ½ cup instead of 1 cup.
Here are some tips for eating the meal that can save you some calories:
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Don't skip meals before the big meal that day. You'll be too hungry and may overeat.
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Begin the meal with a salad. You'll eat less during dinner.
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Watch portion size when choosing side dishes.
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Go for a long walk after the meal.
Lastly, let’s address the question of dessert. Which dessert is the better choice for calories – pumpkin or pecan pie? Neither pecan nor pumpkin pies are low-calorie, low-fat desserts, but your best bet would be the pumpkin pie. While most of the fat in pecan pie is unsaturated, one slice of homemade pecan pie has around 503 calories, with 108 of the calories coming from fat. A slice of pumpkin pie has only 316 calories with 130 of the calories coming from fat.
Neither type of food is really low fat, but pumpkin pie is lower in calories, and an excellent source of vitamin A, as well as a good source of calcium and iron. Also you can reduce the calories of a pumpkin pie by reducing the sugar to ½ cup, substituting the evaporated milk with evaporated skim milk, and using egg whites instead of eggs.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Rebecca
