Top 10 Tips for Healthy Eating This Thanksgiving
I can’t believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner! Though your celebration may look a little different this year, it’s still a great time to cook some of your favorite holiday dishes. Many traditional Thanksgiving dishes can be made a little healthier with a few tweaks, so today I’ll share some of my favorite ways to make these dishes a little bit healthier. I’ll also give you my top 10 tips for healthy eating this Thanksgiving.
Making your favorite dishes healthier
Most Thanksgiving dishes are typically high in calories, carbohydrates, fat, and sodium. I’m all for enjoying your favorite dishes on special occasions, but if you want to make them a little healthier, here are a few things to think about:
Make a tray of roasted vegetables for a side dish. Read this previous post for a simple recipe. Carrots, Brussels sprouts, turnips, and parsnips are great options if you’re looking for seasonal produce.
Roasted winter squash is another great side dish. Read this previous post for instructions on cooking squash. I made this for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and it was a hit!
Make green bean casserole from scratch. This recipe is great because you can make it and stick it in the freezer up to 2 weeks ahead of time. You can even try making the fried onions yourself or substitute with caramelized onions instead.
Try making mashed cauliflower, a lower carb alternative to mashed potatoes.
Try using olive oil instead of butter in your mashed potatoes or when sautéing veggies for your stuffing.
Add extra vegetables to your stuffing or try using whole grain breadcrumbs.
Reduce the amount of sugar in your sweet potato casserole. Sweet potatoes are pretty sweet on their own, so try reducing the amount you would normally use or try this recipe, which doesn’t contain any added sugar.
Make your pie crust from scratch or serve a crustless pumpkin pie.
A note about food allergies: most Thanksgiving dishes can be modified to make them dairy-, gluten-, nut-, soy-, or egg-free!
10 tips for a healthy Thanksgiving
Don’t skip breakfast. It may be tempting to save your calories for the big meal, but this may backfire and cause you to eat more because you are so hungry from skipping a meal. Eat something with protein, healthy fat, and fiber, like scrambled eggs with avocado toast or plain Greek yogurt with berries.
Go for a walk or do some sort of exercise before eating your big meal.
Don’t go crazy on the appetizers and instead save room for the main meal!
Limit alcohol, which is high in calories. Stick to water or other calorie-free drinks or switch off between water and alcoholic drinks.
Look over all the food choices before filling your plate. Skip things you don’t like as much so you can save room for your favorites. I’m not a huge fan of mashed potatoes so I skip them and save room for the cornbread stuffing!
Try to fill half your plate with veggies. The high fiber content will fill you up without giving you as many calories as most other Thanksgiving dishes.
Enjoy your meal and don’t feel guilty for indulging!
Eat slowly. Before going back for seconds, give yourself 15-20 minutes to think about whether or not you’re still hungry. Remember, you can always have leftovers tomorrow!
Go for a walk after your meal.
Get back to your healthy eating plan the day after Thanksgiving. Don’t beat yourself up if you went a little overboard; it’s only one day!
Hopefully, this has given you some ideas for making your Thanksgiving dishes a little healthier. But keep in mind, it's also important to enjoy your favorite dishes without feeling guilty about indulging! Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving recipe you’d like to share? Feel free to leave it in the comments below!
