Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.
You know what that means: Delicious food, times infinity. You know what else that means: Fat, calories and sugar -- times infinity. To be more exact, the average is 4,500 calories and a whopping 229 grams of fat from snacking and eating a traditional holiday dinner with turkey and all the trimmings, according to the Caloric Control Council (yes, there is such a thing!)
The typical holiday dinner can be loaded with 45 percent of calories from fat. According to the Council, the average person will consume enough fat at tomorrow's meal to equal three sticks of butter. And that doesn't include the pre-dinner grazing and the post-dinner, late-night turkey sandwich.
Which begs the question: Do we really know the calories in all of those amazing Thanksgiving traditions? If you had to guess, you'd probably be pretty accurate on many dishes. On others, you might be downright shocked.
I don't want any of us in the Badass Army to deprive ourselves tomorrow. It is Thanksgiving - a single day out of 365. We get to live a little, and tomorrow we can get back on the Badass track.
But you can also make choices at the dinner table, if you want. Odds are that not every item on the menu makes you salivate, so why waste the calories? If you're going to treat yourself, make it count!
To help you choose, here's a breakdown of the calories in those most popular Turkey Day eats. Gobble, gobble accordingly:
- 325 calories: Roasted dark meat turkey without, 4 ounces
- 200 calories: Roasted white meat turkey without skin, 4 ounces
- 600 calories: Homemade stuffing (1 cup) with 1/2 cup gravy
- 210: Candied yams, 1/2 cup
- 190: Mashed Potatoes, 1 cup
- 150 calories: Green bean casserole, 1 cup
- 625 calories: Sweet potato casserole, 3/4 cup
- 80 calories: Cranberry relish, 1/2 cup
- 400 calories: Candied sweet potatoes
- 800 calories: A single slice of pecan pie with whipped cream
- 400 calories: Single slice pumpkin pie with whipped cream
- 400 calories: Generous cup of egg nog
- 535 calories: Chocolate Cream Pie, 1 large slice
Coming up: Holiday shopping, pre-relatives-arrive-housecleaning and other unexpected calorie burners.....
