By Becki Sanders
FoodConnect San Francisco
becki.sanders@foodconnect.com

How to Have A Healthy Thanksgiving

Here's the lowdown on our traditional Thanksgiving favorites:

The Good:
White Meat Turkey - If you are looking for a lean cut of meat, turkey is hard to beat. A 3-ounce serving of skinless white meat contains 25 grams of protein, barely 3 grams of fat, and less than 1 gram of saturated fat.

Cranberries – Loaded with antioxidants. Try a homemade cranberry relish dish with fresh cranberries for optimal goodness and less processed sugar.

Sweet Potatoes - An excellent source of vitamin A, beta carotene, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber.

Pumpkin - Pumpkin is low in fat, low in calories, and loaded with potassium, vitamin A, beta carotene, and vitamin C. I heard that pumpkin custard us much healthier for you than the traditional pumpkin pie.

Pecans - Most nuts are great sources of heart-healthy fats. Pecans are no exception. Twenty pecan halves contain about 20 grams of unsaturated fat. Studies from around the globe show that people who routinely eat nuts are less likely to die of heart disease than those who don't.

Green Veggies – These are some of the winners of Thanksgiving, that is as long as you don't load them up with butter! My pick would be steamed green beans with olive oil and a fresh spinach salad with dried cranberries and slivered almonds.

The Bad:
Stuffing – The traditional boxed stuffing is basically a load of carbs, butter and seasoning. I know, that equals delicious but there are way better options that are just as tasty, I promise.

Mashed Potatoes – Simply speaking, white potatoes aren't necessarily bad for you, it's what you put in them to make them delicious… ie milk, eggs, butter. Maybe you think they are a necessary evil to go with your delicious gravy so my recommendation is go light on the extras here and let the gravy do the work.

The Ugly:
Cream, Eggs, Butter, and Sugar – Need I say more? There are one of these ingredients in almost every Thanksgiving dish it seems like so I won't ramble on about it. Use low-fat versions, olive oil, natural sugars such as raw cane sugar, honey or pure maple syrups. For eggs, use the whites only as the yolks are very high in cholesterol.

Dark Meat - It has more saturated fat than white meat, and eating the skin adds a hefty wallop of these bad fats.

Mom’s real turkey dripping, fatty, homemade Gravy – Mmmm, how much do I love the? So much! But I also love my heart. If you make gravy from meat drippings, chill them for a couple hours first, the fat will glob up at the top and you can skim some of it out.

Have a Healthy Thanksgiving!