Thanksgiving: The Least Healthy Meal of the Year, Right?

By Klint Newton

Everyone knows that Thanksgiving is the worst eating day for everyone in the US. Anyone that is on a "Diet" is either going to blow it or will have to use every ounce of unnatural will power to not give in to the Holiday's tradition of stuffing your face until you can't move. Even more specifically for us Texans, stuffing your face until you can't move and waddling into your relative host's living room to watch the Cowboys.

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.

The first offender, Turkey, the centerpiece of our Thanksgiving meal.

5 ounces of white mean Turkey: Total Fat: 11.9g Saturated Fat: 3.4 Trans Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 107.8mg Sodium: 89.3mg Carbs: 0 Protein :40.6g

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 Up, Sweet Potatoes.

Sweet Potatoes, Dark Orange, Fresh, 5" long Total Fat: .1g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 71.5mg Carbs: 26.2g Protein: 2g

It seems that sweet potatoes are fat free and cholesterol free. They are nearly free of sodium as well as protein. This vegetable, or root, has good carbs as well. These good carbs are complex, which means your body breaks them down slowly providing you with energy over time, instead of going straight to your hips or stomach as fat. It would appear that sweet potatoes are innocent also.

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

Well, it appears that cranberry sauce is fat free, please remember that the FDA lets food be labeled as fat free, preservative free, or trans fat free as long as there is less than .5g of the substance per serving. Please don't think that everything is actually fat free. Just think of it as .49g of fat per serving. Canned cranberry suace has no cholesterol and a very low sodium level. It does have 66.5g of carbs, 64.5g of those are sugar. Think of those 65g being pasted right to your belly, that's not a pretty sight. It looks like canned cranberry sauce is guilty!

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 does have a little bit of fat, but it's not bad fat. It is low in sodium, but also low in protein. There is a ton of sodium, but actually less than most canned or boxed goods, so it's not that bad compared to most American diets. There are a fair amont of carbs, but they are from the white bread and not sugar. It would appear that stuffing is innocent!

I've seen all I need. We have learned that turkey is actually healthy, canned cranberries are loaded with sugar, sweet potatoes are great, and stuffing isn't healthy, but isn't that bad either.

We have determined that Thanksgiving is actually innocent! Eat small portions like you would on any other day and Thanksgiving could actually be your healthiest meal of the whole year!

Now who do you think is actually 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.

Let's stop accusing Thanksgiving, and get real with ourselves. How about this year we take responsibility for ourselves and call it quits when we know we should. We won't feel guilty, or miserable and actually enjoy our time with family. This year let's be thankful for our family and that fact that we have so many leftovers.

Have a great Thanksgiving. - 30414

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