by aJ GAZMEN ツ GucciBeaR

Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes Key to Keeping Calories in Check

It’s that time of year again. The time of year when calories are in total abundance and everyone is having some sort of holiday party or potluck dinner. You bring your favorite dish and hope that others are cooking healthy like you are trying to do. You know the days are coming when you’ll have a house full of people and a fridge full of leftovers. You know it’s ok to indulge once in a while, but having so much high calorie food on hand can only lead you to overeat. And then there are the gatherings. Around the holidays, offices, churches and schools all typically have some sort of gathering where they want to celebrate by having people bring food. The problem with this is you never know what everyone else is going to bring, and you never know how many calories are in each item.

If you’re someone that’s trying to lose weight, the holidays can wreak havoc on your diet. Calories are usually overflowing from holiday food. Some of the classic holiday dishes include macaroni and cheese, turkey, stuffing, ham, casseroles and desserts galore. One of the staples that might help dieters make it through the holidays is having healthy Thanksgiving recipes. Thanksgiving is the holiday that kicks off the holiday season, so starting off on the right foot can pave the way for healthy eating. Having some healthy Thanksgiving recipes at your disposal will allow you to enjoy some of your favorite dishes without the guilty feeling of blowing your diet. Having these recipes will also allow you to try some different things. There are certain dishes that are standard for Thanksgiving, but it never hurts to bring something new that will draw excitement.

Most of your classic recipes can be made into healthy Thanksgiving recipes by simply switching out some of the higher fat key ingredients. For example, if you replace heavy cream and regular cheese with low-fat or skim milk and low-fat cheese, your macaroni and cheese receives an instant makeover. For cakes you can use applesauce in place of oil. By simply looking around you can find thousands of low-fat or healthy Thanksgiving recipes that you may have never tried before.

Select a few that sound interesting and you’ll find yourself trying new things and wowing your friends and loved ones at your next potluck dinner. You might even find that by trying these new healthy Thanksgiving recipes, you have some new favorites. It’s common knowledge that the holidays are the worst time of year to attempt to lose weight, but if you substitute just a couple of your traditional favorites with some healthy Thanksgiving recipes, you’ll be well on your way to staying on track with losing weight. The holiday season doesn’t mean you can’t indulge. The important thing to remember is that Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day are each just one day. If you stick to limiting your indulgences to those specific days, you’ll find it much easier to stay on track.