I saw the segment on Thanksgiving calories on the TODAY Show. At first I covered my ears. Calories schmalories. I love Thanksgiving dinner. Who really wants to know how many calories are consumed? It's a Thanksgiving FEAST.
It's no secret we pack on the pounds over the holidays. Americans tend to eat an extra 619 calories per day between Thanksgiving and New Year's according to a study by Texas A&M International University. According to nutritionist Joy Bauer on the TODAY Show, a cup of homemade turkey stuffing is approximately 450 calories which would take at least 90 minutes of walking at an average pace to burn off. (That equates to walking the lengths of 84 football fields.)
The average Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the fixings has a grand total of 4000 calories. Yikes! That's double the amount of calories that you need in an entire day!
Turns out the dietician Joy Bauer knows more about the "hidden" calories in our annual feast than most of us. Maybe her advice is worth considering. She isn't telling us not to enjoy the big meal, but she has some great tips on how to keep the calories under control and be strategic with splurges.
Tips on keeping the LBs at bay according to Bauer:
Get up in the morning and take a brisk walk to burn up some calories before you start the dinner prep.
Select the lower calorie slice of meat if possible. A 6 oz. piece of thigh meat only has 340 calories. To prevent those pounds from packing on, avoid the higher calorie wings because they have high meat to skin ratio that bumps up the calories.
A big splurge is eating a slice (or two) of pie. Apple, pumpkin and pecan are favorite pies this time of year. Pumpkin pie has the fewest calories at 320 calories a slice. Want to cut even more calories, slice off the outer crust and you'll save yourself 100 calories. By the way, the average slice of apple or pecan pie has an extra 100 calories compared to pumpkin pie.
For more information watch the TODAY Show clip below.
