Mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, cranberry sauce, relish, stuffing and pumpkin pie -- oh, and elastic waistbands. This will be the high-caloric scenario at many Thanksgiving celebrations Thursday.
Many nutritionists said they encourage everyone to eat a portion of the feast on Thanksgiving Day.
"Eating Thanksgiving dinner is not a binge, it is a celebration that is built and endorsed in society," said Dorothy Blair, assistant professor of nutrition and science technology and society. "It is all about family and praising food, but you can't praise food if you don't eat it."
Kris Clark, associate professor of nutrition and director of sports nutrition, said it is wise to limit the feast to one day.
"Let your hair down on Thanksgiving," Clark said, adding that the Thanksgiving feast should not be an extended weekend. "Leftovers can be dangerous."
Thanksgiving can be a day of football and calories, but experts said there are many small tricks to avoid unwanted extra pounds.
"I encourage people to wear pants with a belt and things that don't make you feel good when you overeat and that is a way of signaling fullness," Blair said.
Clark said she advises students to watch portions.
"Even if you overeat turkey or cranberry sauce, maybe there are some things you don't think are particularly special, and just take a little," she said.
There are little tricks that, if used, could avoid adding up hundreds of unnecessary and unused calories leading to a weight gain, she said.
Enjoy the pumpkin pie, but skip the whipped cream, Clark said.
"Half a cup of gravy could be 600 calories, that is six miles of running," Clark said. "A tablespoon of butter on a roll, that is a mile of running."
A general rule of thumb, Clark said, is 100 calories equals a mile of running or walking at a vigorous pace.
Blair has many tips for the chef to create a satisfying, nutritious meal.
Turkey is already really low in fat, especially the white meat, Blair said. Low-fat gravy can be made with broth instead of huge quantities of fat, she said.
"I think people need to branch out on what they put in their stuffing," Blair said. "It can be made with lots of butter, but it is just as good without a lot of fat."
People can add veggies to the stuffing, parsley and herbs and other things besides fat and bread, she said.
Blair said yams or sweet potatoes are low in fat and high in vitamins. A small slice of pumpkin pie without whipped cream will not hurt either, she said, since it does not have a top crust.
"Choose things that are low fat and will fill you up," Blair advised. "You want to feel full on a day like that."
Despite all the extra calories from pumpkin pies and cutout Santa Clause cookies, Chip Harrison, Penn State's head strength and conditioning coach, said it is still possible to maintain a steady weight around the holiday season.
"From the standpoint of calories and calorie burning, it's one of those things where it's kind of like a savings account -- always up or always down, whether you have enough calories, too many or too few," Harrison said.
For those maintaining a constant weight by balancing diet and exercise, a little change in diet will not affect weight all that much during Thanksgiving to the new year, he said.
Harrison advises students stick to their normal workout routines.
Harrison explained the difference in workout routines to boost metabolism.
"Cardio burns quite a bit of calories during the activity and burns some calories for maybe a couple of hours afterwards," he said. After weightlifting, muscles are recovering and can burn calories 12 to 36 hours after a workout, but weightlifting does not burn a lot of calories during the actual lifting compared to cardio, Harrison added.
"If you overeat, don't stress, but get off the couch and get away from football and get a little exercise," Clark said. "Put a leash on your neck and go walk yourself."
