How do we go lean? We go lean by reducing some of the hidden fats in our diet. So here are (I know we've heard these before, but have we done any of them?) a few suggestions for Thanksgiving but more importantly, beyond. Let's:

Ask how is our food prepared? Let's ask our waiter how the entree is prepared. I have ordered grilled entree's to have them show up drowning in sauce or butter. Let's request no sauce and then ask for a separate gravy boat of sauce on the side. We can then add a little bit ourselves for flavor. This alone can save us a few hundred fat calories!


Ask what does this entree come with? This is another favorite question of mine to ask a waiter. I have seen many things come on a plate that were not listed on the menu. And, most of us know what happens once the French fries are in front of us.

Make special requests. Let's order all our foods grilled, broiled, steamed, and/or poached and again with all sauce on a separate dish on the side. Let's ask for our sautéed veggies to be made with chicken stock instead of butter (it's tasty, I promise). Let's order our eggs poached rather than fried or scrambled (this can save about 200 fat calories alone!).

Make substitutions! Let's order a baked potato instead of French fries for example (think about the fiber we're getting instead of the good greasy taste we're giving up along with those carcinogenic chemical compounds that are formed during deep frying). Let's try a non fat creamy cottage cheese with a touch of butter spray as a topping for our baked potato (here we not only go lean, but we swap fat calories for high protein calories!). We can also substitute a baked sweet potato for sweet potato pie this holiday. Cooking for the holiday? Let's try non fat chicken broth as a replacement for oil, butter spray instead of butter, low fat evaporated milk instead of heavy cream. We can also order club soda instead of tonic for our mixed drinks, and we can choose to drink wine instead of hard liquor.

Think fish, fish, fish! Even the highest fatty fish is healthier and mostly still lower in total fat (not to mention lower in saturated fat). Thanksgiving is turkey day of course, so if we remove the skin and choose the breast we're almost as lean as eating fish!

Add our own salad dressing! Okay, shoot me for this one. Most of us don't like showing up at a restaurant with our own bottled dressing, but we can try balsamic vinegar with a drop of shaved parmesan instead of oil and vinegar. (1 tsp. of grated cheese is less than half the calories of 1 tsp. of oil, and it goes a long way). Add some mustard and we're almost gourmet.

Let's start the day with a nutrient dense breakfast! Let's start our day with oatmeal, high fiber cereal, yogurt and fruit, etc. instead of muffins, bagels and those "white flour buttered rolls with fried eggs"! When we start the day feeding our body with premium fuel, it can make a big difference in how we feel and what we eat the rest of the day. Lastly, this applies to turkey day too, because if we save our calories for the big meal, we're more likely to eat even more (and I'm not referring to eating more turkey!).