Healthy Thanksgiving Delights

The Thanksgiving table is often filled with a variety of not-so-healthy treats, but it doesn’t have to be this way.  Depending on your family’s tradition, your menu might include turkey and dressing, ham, cranberry sauce, greens, string beans, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, mashed potatoes and gravy, cornbread and/or dinner rolls, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, and/or apple pie.  Below are some of these classics with a healthy twist as well as a few non-traditional menu items.  As you may recall from a previous entry, you can always start a new tradition of a healthier side dish (eh hem, three-bean salad anyone?).

Homemade Cranberry Sauce 

Even though the recipe calls for what seems like a lot of sugar, this is certainly less than what is in the canned versions of cranberry sauce.

Collard Greens with Turkey 

Make sure to use low-sodium chicken broth!  

Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes" 

There’s no real need to have both yams and mashed potatoes, which are both starchy vegetables with more carbohydrates than the average vegetable. This creative twist on a classic can be a great alternative.  
Not-As-Candied Yams 

Note that the recipe calls for butter instead of margarine. Butter is the lesser of two evils, because margarine contains artificial trans fats.

Three-Bean Salad

Get creative with the salad and add more beans that you like.  If you like a little spice to your food, add crushed red pepper flakes as well.


Don't hesitate to come up with your own healthy twist to a Thanksgiving classic.  Your family and friends may be in for a healthy, pleasant, and tasty surprise!