Interviewer: Healthy alternatives to your classic Thanksgiving dinner. We're going to discuss that next on The Scope.
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Interviewer: I'm with Kary Woodruff. She's a registered dietician at University of Utah health care. Kary, we'll go over the classic Thanksgiving dinner and maybe try and find some healthier alternatives for people who don't want to gain tons of weight this holiday season so let's start with the big one, turkey.
Kary: Turkey can be very healthy. It can be very lean meat, a good source of B12 and iron and other nutrients. I just suggest looking for the white meat turkey and consuming less of the dark meat.
Interviewer: So next big one and my favorite, gravy.
Kary: You know what. Again, everything in balance and moderation so if you're having a little bit of gravy on your turkey and mashed potatoes that's okay, but are you using a cupful of gravy and that would be of concern. So gravy is going to be a little bit higher in saturated fat and so it's not that we shouldn't eat it at all we just should monitor our portion size a bit.
Interviewer: Okay. Next one that a lot of people like, mashed potatoes.
Kary: Sure, you know I've seen some people mash their potatoes with the skin and that would a more healthful way to eat it because you're getting the benefits of the fiber and potassium that we find in the skin. And again it's a portion size piece so some mashed potatoes are okay it's just not consuming too much of them. And then finally just what are you adding to the mashed potatoes, right? So my mom personally adds sour cream, cream cheese and butter to her mashed potatoes...
Interviewer: Oh my.
Kary: ...so I wouldn't highly recommend that but if you're using just a little bit of one of those options and again maybe getting some skin in there and watching your portion size it can be a very healthful part of Thanksgiving dinner.
Interviewer: All right so green beans. This is the healthiest part of Thanksgiving, right? Green beans.
Kary: Oh yes and it can be and it can not be right? So they could be smothered in butter and have bacon and lots of other add-ins or they could be steamed with maybe a little bit of olive oil. Sometimes I'll serve them with just a little bit of toasted walnuts or pecans. Sometimes I've added blueberries to them and that can be a way to get more vegetables. Just avoiding the heavy use of butter and other higher fat add-ons.
Interviewer: Okay so a healthier alternative to stuffing.
Kary: I've seen stuffing made with whole wheat bread and that would be a good start. Avoiding adding lots of meat to stuffing because my thought is if you're already going to be getting some meat with the turkey maybe not adding the sausage or other bacon or other higher fat add-ins to the stuffing.
Interviewer: And then now the sweets. The sweet potato casserole.
Kary: I think those marshmallows can be optional. You know I always make them half the casserole for those who just need to have the marshmallows and then half without. You usually can get away with adding half the butter that some people add and they're still very, very tasty and so again, it's what you're adding to them. Sweet potatoes are a great source of potassium. Great source of Vitamin C. Really great source of nutrients, it's just what are we adding to them and how much are we consuming?
Interviewer: Right. Okay. Holiday staple. Pumpkin pie.
Kary: My advice to the pumpkin pie is how many times do we come to Thanksgiving dinner and we eat dinner and maybe we even eat a little bit of seconds and we are so full but then we see the pumpkin pie and think okay well I'm just going to squeeze that in and I would say you know what? Save it. Save it for later when you're not so full. It's hard to really enjoy something when you're so full and trying to add in one more thing and so maybe you save it for the next day or you save it for a couple hours later. So have some pumpkin pie. It is a special thing to have but just watch how big of a piece are you having and maybe wait until you're not so full.
Interviewer: Great suggestions. Any final thoughts with a healthier Thanksgiving?
Kary: You know, I've seen some statistics where the average calorie intake on Thanksgiving, just for dinner, not for the whole day but just for the mean can be anywhere from 2000 to 3000 calories.
Interviewer: Oh wow.
Kary: And that's a lot. I mean to put that in perspective that's if not equal to probably more than what we need for a whole days worth of calories so some tips that I have are, A, don't save up all day. Some people won't eat all day but then the challenge is by the time they get to dinner they're so hungry they can't control how much they're eating. So even if you just eat a small breakfast and a small lunch that can help to prevent us from over eating.
The second tip is again, just remember you can have it later. You can save some for later. I think we get into this mentality of oh my gosh it's the only time that I do this all year long so I have to get it all in. And keep in mind we can always make mashed potatoes some other day or make a pumpkin pie some other time or just save it for later for the next day.
Interviewer: Leftovers.
Kary: Yes, exactly.
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