Abs Diets healthy holiday menu  

Look at these two dinners: each of them a wonderful, you-deserve-it holiday pig-out. With desserts and drinks, they top out at around 1,700 calories apiece. But the second meal has nearly 75 percent more fat (and lots more saturated fat) and 14 percent less protein than the first feast. Knowing why can help you stay slim this season.

The average American gains 1.05 pounds from October to March, according to one study. Most of that (0.8 pound) comes between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Less than a pound? You can handle this. "You just need to make smart choices," says Kathleen Zelman, R.D., an Atlanta-based nutritionist. Look again at these two meals.

The smart man chooses white meat turkey instead of dark meat (less fat and cholesterol), and stuffing instead of a roll and butter (nuts, raisins, and celery make it healthier). He avoids the stealth fat in mashed potatoes (6 grams of saturated fat) and the obvious grease in gravy (3 g), but loves low-calorie cranberry sauce, full of antioxidants.

He doesn't need the fatty goop and fried onions in the green-bean casserole, he scrapes off the marshmallows to get at the healthy sweet potatoes, and he prefers the health benefits of pecans and pumpkin to a calorie bomb of whipped cream. Read on to see the other choices you'll face.

HOLIDAY DINNER
Eat this:
8 oz white meat turkey breast
2/3 c stuffing
1 c sweet potatoes
1 slice cranberry sauce
2/3 c creamed corn
Sliver of pecan pie
Sliver of pumpkin pie
Glass of red wine
TOTAL: 1,695 calories, 83 g protein, 190 g carbohydrates, 50 g fat (12 g saturated)

Not that:
8 oz dark meat turkey breast
Dinner roll with two pats butter
1 c mashed potatoes
1/2 c gravy
1 c green-bean casserole
Slice of pumpkin pie with heavy whipped cream
Glass of beer
TOTAL: 1,655 calories, 71 g protein, 123 g carbohydrates, 87 g fat (43 g saturated)

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