Thanksgiving Dinner for Carolee...

I thought I'd blog a bit today about my upcoming Thanksgiving meal. Recently at work we had a Fit for Work session on our favorite holiday foods. I was completely shocked to find out that in a typical Thanksgiving day, your consumption of calories can easily hit 4500! I decided to plan my meal out more methodically this year. I would hate to to sabotage the last 2 1/2 weeks worth of hard work towards healthier nutrition.

Here's my menu:
Turkey Breast, Roasted 6 oz. (no skin) (240 calories; 2g fat; 0 carbs)
Gravy with meat drippings 1/4 c (100 calories; 4g fat; 18 carbs)
Fruited Jell-O Salad (sugar free) 1/4 c (47 calories; 0g fat; 10 carbs)
Dinner Roll, Small Brown & Serve (84 calories; 2g fat; 14 carbs)
Light Margarine, 1 TBS (50 calories; 6g fat; 0 carbs)
Vegetable Relishes, Mixed Raw 1/4 c (25 calories; 0g fat; 5 carbs)
Mashed Sweet Potatoes, with Milk 1/4 c (130 calories; 0g fat; 30 carbs)
Green Bean Casserole 1/4 c (60 calories; 3g fat; 9 carbs)

Total Meal: 736 calories; 17g fat; 86 carbs

How's your menu going to look?

Here's some other favorites you may want to think about before eating...
(*nutrition facts are approximate, may vary by recipe/brand*)

Ham, spiral cut 6 oz. (410 cal; 23g fat; 0 carbs)
Prime Rib, 6 oz. (612 cal; 47g fat; 0 carbs)
Bread Stuffing 1/4 c (180 cal; 9g fat; 11 carbs)
Mashed Potatoes with milk and butter 1/4 c (120 cal; 5g fat; 18 carbs)
French Onion Dip 2 TBS (60 cal; 5g fat; 3 carbs)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (110 cal; 6g fat; 11 carbs)
Pumpkin Pie, 1/8 pie, 4.8 oz (340 cal; 15g fat; 46 carbs)
Pecan Pie, 1/6 of 8" Pie, 4 oz (452 cal; 21g fat; 65 carbs)
Puppy Chow/Muddy Buddies 1/2 c (220 cal; 9g fat; 30 carbs)
Potato Chips, 11 chips (160 cal; 10g fat; 14 carbs)

Here's a few great tips from one of LifePointe's Registered Dietitians:
For starters, don't skip breakfast and lunch, "saving space" for the big meal. It won't work. If you eat healthfully throughout the day, the food will be digested by dinnertime anyway. Also, if you hit the dinner table starving, you'll be much more prone to eat fast and eat too much. The body can only process so much food at a time and what it can't use, it just stores as fat.

Next, when you're ready for that second plateful, hold off for 10 minutes. That first plate is still making its way into your stomach. It may seem like you have more room, but you probably don't.

When you're filling up your plate, dish on the veggies first. You know how it is—the first things always get the hardy-spoonful treatment while the last foods get shoved between the turkey and the yams. Make the majority of your plate healthful. Finally, no rolls. You just don't need them. Thanksgiving meals are loaded with complex carbs. Losing the bread is an easy way to take off at least one hundred calories.

From me to you... Have a Heart Healthy Thanksgiving!