With all the great Thanksgiving dishes to taste, chances are you’ll eat far more calories on Turkey Day than you would at a typical dinner. But if you just have a light breakfast and lunch or snack, our version of the big meal, which has less than half the calories and a quarter of the fat of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, can easily fit into a healthy 1,500- to 2,000-calorie day. With a few simple changes to the classic Thanksgiving menu, our healthy Thanksgiving menu – which still includes turkey, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, onions, green beans and pumpkin pie – saves 1,273 calories and 92 grams of fat over the traditional version. Here’s how it compares to a menu with traditional versions of these dishes.
| EatingWell Meal | Traditional Meal | Amount Saved | % Cut | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 1,061 | 2,334 | 1,273 | 55% |
| Fat (g) | 35 | 127 | 92 | 72% |
| Saturated Fat (g) | 9 | 68 | 59 | 87% |
| Sodium (mg) | 1,580 | 3,227 | 1,647 | 51% |