Tips on making traditional Thanksgiving meals healthier without sacrificing flavor
BALTIMORE -- You may be tempted to indulge in all the dishes on the Thanksgiving dinner table.
But it may not be the best for your health.
Thanksgiving is a little more than a week away.
As you make your shopping list to buy all the ingredients to make your signature dishes, you need to also keep nutrition in mind.
Estelle Carter, a diabetes educator at the University of Maryland Medical Center, shared some tips on how to keep traditional dishes on the table without sacrificing flavor.
She told WJZ you need to take a second look at how much fat and sodium you should consume.
However, your traditional recipes don't have to be tossed out or lose its flavor.
Carter said you should roast your turkey instead of frying it.
Also, try using fat-free sour cream in your mashed potatoes rather than whole milk.
"It's best not to use the turkey drippings for the gravy because it can be high in fat," Carter said. "A better option is to use low-sodium chicken broth to give it some flavor."
Carter said that because greens are on the table, it does not mean the nutrition value is there.
"High fat meats can be used and that's high in saturated fats," Carter said.
If you are a guest and want to watch your intake, Carter said grab a tablespoon.
"And just take a tablespoon of this and a tablespoon of that and then get up and dance, work it off," Carter said. "That certainly makes it heart healthy."
Making these heart healthy decisions now could help prevent you from ending up in the hospital and being told it's too late.
"Bad cholesterol can put plaques in our blood vessels which can lead to heart attacks and strokes," Carter said.
Children are the fastest growing group developing diabetes and obesity.
Therefore, Carter said adults need to set healthy eating habits now.
"They need to see the changes that we make as adults so they can live a heart healthy life," Carter said.
WJZ is proudly working with the University of Maryland Medical Center and the University of Baltimore to offer meals to more than 1,200 hundred families in West Baltimore.
If you want to help our Thanksgiving Food Drive, visit this website.