Stuffing the turkey and stuffing faces are widespread traditions for many Americans during the holiday season, and this year people can eat all they want on Thanksgiving Day, without the guilt.

"Overeating on one day usually is not going to be a terrible disaster," said BYU associate nutrition professor Lora Beth Brown. "It's not going to cause somebody to go from being a waste to being an obese balloon."

A typical Thanksgiving dinner, including one serving each of turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, a croissant and a sliver of pumpkin pie, delivers a total of 1,550 calories, 58 grams of fat and 32 grams of saturated fat, according to Environmental Nutrition.

This makes one serving of Thanksgiving dinner 89 percent of the total recommended daily requirement of total fat and 60 percent more than the recommended daily requirement of saturated fat based on a 2,000-calorie diet, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Web site.

This is a lot, but Brown said people can prepare for the Thanksgiving gorge by eating smaller meals before the big dinner.

"It's sort of the budget idea," she said. "If I'm going to a place where they are going to have deep fried cheesecake, then earlier in the day I'm going to make sure I have a lower calorie intake."

If people are not careful, however, it is possible to gain weight during the holiday season, Brown said.

According to an article in Nutrition Reviews, during a six-week study between Thanksgiving and New Years, people gained an average of 2.5 pounds, and 14 percent gained an average of five pounds.

For big holiday meals, Brown said leaving a little space between servings of food on a plate is one easy way to keep the calories in check.

"Instead of piling everything on the plate like the great pyramids, taking smaller portions can cut the amount of calories on your plate in about half," she said.

However, for those who do end up eating way too much during the holidays, there are a few remedies, said Joseph Miner, Utah County Health Department executive director.

One popular solution is to go to the gym after eating a huge meal. Miner said this could help to erase the food that was just eaten, though it would take a lot of work.

"If you eat a lot over a few days, it's very unlikely you're going to exercise or be able to exercise enough to burn that quantity of calories that you've taken in extra," he said. "But if you were to keep up the exercise and eat moderately the rest of the time, eventually you'd surpass the extra calories you took in."

Another popular remedy is to give up food for the next few days after eating a great deal, though this method may not be the best choice, Miner said.

"It's bad to suddenly eat a lot and to suddenly starve and to suddenly exercise hard when you're not used to exercising," he said. "That's not good for your health, but eventually it kind of works to balance itself out. That's kind of like saying, well, if your head's in the freezer and your feet are in the oven, on average you're comfortable."

However, there is one healthy alternative to these extreme remedies, Brown said.

"All foods are OK to eat," she said. "The trick is to not have excessive amounts of anything that's super, super high in calories or fat. Eat them all in moderation."



Copyright Brigham Young University 25 Nov 2002