How to Cook Healthy Thanksgiving Meals

Thanksgiving recipes generally contain a lot of fat and this increases the energy in the food which leads to weight gain over the holiday period.

Listed below are the ingredients that are usually to blame for causing expanding waistlines during the holiday season. Although many of the substitutions are not ideal, they are an improvement. To some extent high fat in the diet is not the major problem – the major problem is that high fat meals hold more energy, therefore you are actually consuming far more calories when you cook with the high fat versions.

Although Thanksgiving is not really a time to go on a calorie controlled weight loss diet, there is no reason why you cannot improve your Thanksgiving diet by making a few small changes.

Healthy Thanksgiving Recipe Substitutions

Replace 1 Whole Egg with 2 egg whites (high in protein too)
Replace sour cream with Low fat plain yogurt or low fat sour cream
Replace Milk with Skim or 1% milk
Replace Ice Cream with Frozen yogurt
Replace Heavy Cream (not for whipping) with 1:1 ratio of flour whisked into non fat milk (e.g. 1 cup of flour + 1 cup of non fat milk)
Replace Whipped Cream with Chilled evaporated skim milk or other low fat whipped products such as Nutriwhip
Replace Cheese with Low-fat cheese (please note: non-fat cheese does not melt well if use in cooking or baking)
Replace Butter with a light butter substitution
Replace Cream of mushroom with fat-free cream of mushroom!

Criticism of the Thanksgiving Diet

This diet, often referred to as a Thanksgiving diet, or holiday season diet, is really slightly flawed. Although there is more energy in fat than protein or carbs, low fat foods are often higher in sugar. To ensure that you do not gain too much weight, it may be more sensible to consume less starchy food, such as bread, past and rice, before and during the holiday period. Eating less is the key to weight loss, but to manage your weight it is vital to exercise during the holiday season.

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