Don't Be a Turkey

By Alex White, MD

Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org

The Pilgrims started off the tradition of Thanksgiving back in 1621.   Evidence suggests that the 1st Thanksgiving dinner offered everything from deer and duck, to squash, carrots, beans, spinach and mussels.  (Nobody is sure if turkey was included.) While there was no cranberry sauce, the feast surely featured wild blueberries, gooseberries and grapes.

Far from having pumpkin pie, the settlers had not yet built an oven.  However, according to some accounts, early English settlers improvised by hollowing out a pumpkin, before filling the shell with milk, honey and spices to make a custard by roasting the gourds in hot embers.  Yum!

When it comes to Thanksgiving, most modern Americans equate it with eating turkey, candied yams, mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.  The problem with this yearly food fest is that it has turned into something of a dietary apocalypse.  

Image courtesy of flickr.com

Let’s take a look at the main course.  While a couple slices of turkey are only 100 calories, the stuffing adds another 150.  Then there’s the mashed potatoes with gravy (135 calories), and the cranberry sauce (75 calories).  Don’t even get me started on the candied yams (170 calories). 
 If you want to wash it down with a glass of red wine, add another 125 calories.  Assuming that you don’t go back for seconds, this feast adds 755 calories before dessert.  A cup of black coffee and small slice of pumpkin pie (1/16 of an 8-inch pie) with a dollop of whipped cream adds 250 calories.  So, we’re talking more than 1,000 calories before you get up from the table.  Yikes!

Now that doesn’t mean that you should stop partaking in Thanksgiving dinner.  If you are counting your calories, the most important thing is portion control.  Don’t pile it on.  Refrain from going back for seconds.  Use a little self-control and you can win the battle of the bulge even during the holiday season.  Face it, Thanksgiving is only the tip of the food temptation iceberg.  Next comes Christmas.  Who can resist all those cookies?

Image courtesy of MicrobeFiber.com

If you are the person responsible for cooking Thanksgiving dinner, you can improve the odds by making traditional dishes that are less caloric.  Below are several recipes that are delicious, nutritious and won’t make you feel like one of the floats we see every year during the Macy’s Parade.  Even better, all 3 recipes are ready made to order if you want to add MicrobeFiber™.

 Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Why serve canned cranberry sauce, when it’s so easy to make it from scratch.

Ingredients

2 bags of cranberries

½ cup of orange juice

¼ tsp of vanilla extract

½ cup of brown sugar

Splash of Gran Marnier

1 scoop of MicrobeFiber tm

Start off by rinsing the cranberries.  Pour them into a pot and add ½ cup of orange juice.  Add a dash of vanilla and light the stove.  Over a medium heat let the juice mixture come to a slow boil.  You will hear the cranberries pop as they cook.  Stir for 15 minutes, by which time the mixture looks like fruit pudding.  Unlike the canned variety, this sauce has quite a few whole cranberries to add a touch of texture.  Add the sugar and the MicrobeFiber tm and stir for another minute.  Put the mixture in a bowl and refrigerate.

Yellow Squash Casserole

With this recipe, most people don’t even know they are eating squash until you tell them.  It looks more like a soufflé, but it’s easier to prepare.  I usually make this several days ahead of Thanksgiving. I leave it in the refrigerator until an hour before we carve the turkey. Then I sprinkle bread crumbs on top and pop it in the oven.

Ingredients

3 lbs of yellow squash peeled and sliced

1 onlion diced

1 egg scrambled

1/2 cup of breadcrumbs

3 tbls butter or margarin

1 tbls white sugar

1 tsp Salt

½ tsp pepper

1 scoop of MicrobeFiber tm

To begin with you need to peel and slice the yellow squash and you need to dice the onion.  Put these in a pot of water and bring to a slow boil.  Cook for 15 minutes, then drain. While in the colander, squeeze as much water from the squash as possible by pressing down on it with a wooden spoon.  By the time you finish, you will have mashed yellow squash with onions.  Transfer this mixture to a bowl and add ½ a cup of bread crumbs, 1 tbl of sugar, salt, pepper, and 2 tbls of butter or margarine.  Stir this along with the scrambled egg into the mixture before scooping into a baking dish.  Top with a dusting of breadcrumbs and the last tablespoon of butter cut into small cubes.  Pop into a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Guilt-Free Ice Cream

During the past few years, I have developed something of a sensitivity to milk products.  This means no more ice cream.  After a great deal of research, not to mention some trial and error, I have come up with an ice cream substitute that tastes like the real thing with only a fraction of the calories.  (Note, this recipe can be made using most any fresh fruit, or even by eliminating the fruit and adding 1 tbl of cocoa and a splash of almond milk.)

Ingredients

2 bananas, chopped into 1 inch slices and frozen

10 fresh strawberries

1 scoop of MicrobeFiber tm

Into a Cuisinart pour the bananas. Pulse until the mixture resembles oat meal.  Add the berries and the MicrobeFiber.  Run the machine for about a minute, or until the berries and bananas combine.  Scoop and eat.

By using a little imagination along with a dollop of self-control, we can all continue the time-honored tradition of Thanksgiving without being turkeys.  Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Alex White, MD is the Clinical Research Director of MicrobeFiber™