Your Thanksgiving Dinner Survival Guide

This pudding recipe puts a healthy spin on pumpkin pie from Healthy Food for Living. Plus, it's vegan and sweetened only with fruit for a perfect pudding you'll want to share with even your pickiest friends and family this holiday.

Thanksgiving is all about family, friends and of course, food. And lots of it. We love to indulge in the traditional foods of Thanksgiving, but we also know that we’ll feel better about it afterward if we make smarter choices. With Thanksgiving just over a week away, it’s time to start planning now. Here are our favorite tips for making Thanksgiving dinner a delicious and nutritious meal you’ll feel good about!

Eat breakfast. While some of us try to starve until the big meal to pack every last bit of turkey and stuffing into our bellies, eating a healthy breakfast will ensure that you won’t over indulge later in the day. A thinkThin® protein bar and an apple should do the trick.

Take a walk. Get your entire family involved and take a walk together before you start cooking up the big meal. You can even checkout active.com for a local Turkey Trot 5k race and walk or run on Thanksgiving Day!

Tweak your recipes. You can make small changes to your usual Thanksgiving treats that will make a huge impact on your diet. Choose a low-sodium vegetable broth over traditional chicken, swap heavy creams and butter for lighter alternatives, and infuse more veggies into every dish. Here are some of our favorite alternatives to your traditional Thanksgiving foods.

• Turkey: Traditional turkey toppings are loaded with butter, but this healthful alternative uses just a bit of grapeseed oil and delicious spices to add flavor without a caloric overload: Herb-Rubbed Turkey with Roasted Garlic Gravy.
• Stuffing: Silvia Nardone’s Gluten-Free Apple-Pecan Cornbread Stuffing puts a healthy twist on this classic side.
• Cranberry Sauce: This no sugar added Ginger-Lime Cranberry Sauce is a great alternative to traditional high sugar sauces.
• Mashed Potatoes: Swap out your ordinary starchy white buttery mash for this Potato Root Vegetable Mash-Up, a tasty blend of sweet potatoes, parsnips and garlic.
• Pumpkin Pie: Try this low sugar vegan recipe for Pumpkin Pie Pudding, the perfect alternative to pumpkin pie, sweetened only with fruit.

Control your portions. Now this one is a given, but it’s not always so easy to control yourself in the moment. Try to choose only the foods you really love and take a small portion to savor between sips of water or wine. If you’re going to a friend or family member’s house, bring a healthy dish of your own to share. Try to avoid getting seconds and when dessert comes around, take only a small slice and enjoy every bite.

What are your secrets for having a happy, healthy Thanksgiving meal? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!