Are you looking for ways to make your Thanksgiving dinner a healthy choice? If yes, we are here to help by giving you five great tips on how to avoid overindulging. Read below to learn!

Thanksgiving promotes families to overboard with the calories and consumption, then regret it later. The temptations of gooey apple pie and dense sweet potatoes topped with melted marshmallows make it hard for most to be disciplined during dinner.

Here are five ways experts suggest you do to avoid over indulging on not so healthy foods during Thanksgiving:

Stick to Healthy Portions

Experts recommend that you have one plate of Thanksgiving food. They say it is all you need. Fill up half of your plate with vegetables, fruit, whole wheat roll, a quarter of mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes, another quarter should go for the meats of turkey or ham. The more color to your plate, the better. Add leafy greens, carrots, bell peppers and beets to your veggie spread.

When you fill up on these types of food, you have a lower caloric density and a higher level of nutrition to serve your body. You will not only feel full but you will not be bloated or tired because it is a lighter, healthier and well-balanced meal.

As for dessert, pick fruit or pumpkin pies, they have fewer calories than chocolate or pecan pies.

Have Single Servings of the Most Unhealthy Foods

If you stick to single serving of the unhealthiest foods, you will avoid feeling bloated. Have a half of cup of mashed potatoes- that is the regular size of a cupcake. Have Turkey the size of your checkbook.

Eat before you indulge.

Make sure you do not starve yourself the whole day waiting for the big dinner. You are not saving room for your big meal but preparing yourself to over eat. Eat breakfast. Eat lunch. Have snacks. You will thank yourself later.

For more great tips on how to avoid overindulging, read this article from MyHealthyNewsDaily.com.

For more information on eating healthy, contact Hearn Kirkwood by calling 410.712.6000 (Baltimore), 301.621.2992 (Washington DC), or visit our website!

Hearn Kirkwood is a privately held Food Service Distributor specializing in produce, meat, poultry, dairy, and seafood. Since our founding in 1946, we have grown from a store front on the downtown Baltimore Produce Market to a 60,000 sq. ft. facility. Hearn Kirkwood purchases 90% of our fresh produce direct from California, Florida, Texas, etc. with the balance supplied by local markets. We are located within one mile of Route 295 and I95 providing us with easy access to Baltimore, Washington and Virginia.

Hearn Kirkwood currently operates a fleet of 33 refrigerated trucks. Our service area includes all of Maryland, Washington D.C., Delaware and Northern Virginia – with limited service to Fredericksburg, Philadelphia, and New Jersey.

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