Last week I read on Hungry-Girl.com that:
“the average Thanksgiving meal contains around 3,000 calories and 229 grams of fat.â€
Those figures sounded extremely high to me, so I did some calculations of my own and included absolutely everything served at my own Thanksgiving meal. My figures even included the Cabernet Sauvignon red table wine, sesame crackers and cheddar cheese log served to our guests before the meal to tide them over until the turkey was ready. Besides the bird and aforementioned appetizer, we served cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green and wax beans with cranberries, candied yams, corn cobbettes, dinner rolls with Smart Balance spread, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. The total:
| Thanksgiving Dinner with White Meat Turkey |
Thanksgiving Dinner with Dark Meat Turkey |
| Calories 1738 Fat 63g Saturated Fat 20g Trans Fat 2g Cholesterol 161mg Sodium 2654mg Carbohydrate 219g Fiber 9g Fiber Sugar 98g Protein 49g Vitamin A 514% DV Vitamin C 32% Calcium 48% Iron 35% |
Calories 1768 Fat 67g Saturated Fat 21g Trans Fat 2g Cholesterol 191mg Sodium 2584mg Carbohydrate 219g Fiber 9g Sugars 98g Protein 48g Vitamin A 514% DV Vitamin C 32% Calcium 48% Iron 39% |
Wow! Keep in mind these totals include one full serving of EVERYTHING on the table. Thankfully, none of my family members came close to eating a full serving of absolutely every offering. For instance, we were all too full to eat any dessert, and so we can remove the pumpkin pie with whipped cream from the calculation, saving 388 calories, 20 grams of fat, and 46 grams carbohydrate, but also cutting our vitamin A intake by half. (That’s OK. Yams are loaded with vitamin A, too.)
A few people, including myself, skipped on the canned cranberry sauce. So I’ll remove an additional 110 calories and a whooping 21 grams of sugar from some of our meals. I’ve never been a fan of the canned stuff, and I’m even less so now that I discovered that the stuff doesn’t have a lick of nutritional value. Cranberries are a great source of vitamin C, and yet somehow Ocean Spray managed to make a “cranberry†sauce with not even 1 mg of vitamin C in it! Apparently their version consists mostly high fructose corn syrup and water. Does this surprise/outrage anyone else?
I also estimated that about half of our guests downed a can of Coca-Cola Classic with their meal and half preferred dark meat to white. So, taking all of these factors into consideration (and erring on the heavy side), the average Thanksgiving meal eaten by the adults in my family was, at the very most:
| Average Thanksgiving Meal for my Family (estimated) |
 |
| Calories 1435 Fat 45g (69%) Saturated Fat 16g (80%) Trans Fat 2g Cholesterol 108mg (89%) Sodium 2142mg (89%) Carbohydrate 193g (64%) Fiber 9g (36%) Sugar 98g Protein 9g Vitamin A (265%) Vitamin C (27%) Calcium (33%) Iron (26%) |
Still frighteningly bad, but calorie-wise our meal was less than half of the Hungry-Girl estimate. (Hey, Mom, now you have proof that our family is below average, just like you always joked – only this time, it’s in a good way!) I wonder if other families are simply eating far more than mine does. Or is the HG estimate the total for an entire family?
Sadly, our huge meal was lousy with cholesterol, sodium, and sugar while horribly lacking in dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals. Thank goodness we only go nuts like this once a year! Next Thanksgiving, I am going to plan a much more balanced meal. For starters, only homemade cranberry sauce will be allowed at the table and, hopefully, we can all get off of the couch afterward and take a nice long walk together!
If you're not ready to make some simple changes to the way you provide veterinary care to your pet, beginning today... your dog or cat could be seriously ill and live a "shortened" life. Read more » |
{ 3 comments }
Those are pretty crazy numbers, Kelly! I feel sick just thinking about it.
My family actually did okay for Thanksgiving this year. My mother-in-law cooked her famous huge meal, and we partook of it to be a part of the family tradition, but cut our portions way down. She was nice to make us a big raw salad and I ate most of that to start out with (nobody else was interested in that, haha), then my family and I contributed 2 humongous bowlfuls of plain fruit salad which was polished off very quickly mostly by my kids and husband.
The kids and I didn’t have any meat, and my husband had ONE small plate of food besides the fruit salad.
I was proud of us this year!
Wow. I would never have guessed 3000 calories for the average Thanksgiving meal.
When I was a kid, I used to eat 2 or 3 plates full of food. Now I eat one. I have one very small piece of turkey and a little dessert.
I imagine the calories I consume are closer to yours, Kelly. Thanks for sharing!
My calculations are probably still a lot higher than what we actually ate. After all, I didn’t hover over everyone’s plate and keep a tally. :) We were so busy in the kitchen and getting ready that we didn’t eat anything else. I guess a person could consume 3000 calories if they snack all day and then eat a huge meal. I certainly can’t do that!
Sarah, you are an excellent influence on me. Your family’s meal was the complete opposite of my family’s. We didn’t have a singe raw item on the table (unless cheese is raw-?) That’s bad. Next year I’m going to serve a big bowl of greens and fresh fruit — even if I’m the only one who eats them!
I’m very proud of my father. Before he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, he would stuff himself to the point of being in pain. Now he’s happy with smaller portions. And I’m happy that he can stay awake after dinner. It certainly feels better to eat slowly and enjoy the company.
Comments on this entry are closed.