HEALTH

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A Vegan Thanksgiving: not just corn and candied yams

By Carolyn Grindrod
[email protected]
Editor-in-Chief

As the time for great feasts on turkey and ham wait anxiously around the corner, many of us have already started planning our Thanksgiving meals for our family and friends. However, most people do not realize that the typical Thanksgiving dinner, including turkey and gravy, candied yams, corn and cranberry sauce, contains more than 2,600 calories.

That�s about the same number of calories as found in five McDonald�s Big Macs at 560 calories apiece.

The National Center for Health Statistics show that 30 percent of U.S. adults, 20 years of age and older (that�s over 60 million people) are obese, and this increase is not limited to adults.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) surveyed 55,459 people including omnivores (people that eat plants and animal products), semi-vegetarians (people that eat meat only on occasion), lacto-vegetarians (people that eat dairy products, but no meat) and vegans (people that eat no dairy or animal products). The survey showed that the prevalence of overweight or obesity was 40 percent among omnivores, 29 percent among both semi-vegetarians and vegans, and 25 percent among lacto-vegetarians.

According to the NLM, even if vegetarians consume some animal products, results suggest that self-identified semi-vegetarians, lacto-vegetarians and vegans have a lower risk of overweight and obesity than do omnivorous people. The advice to consume more plant foods and less animal products may help individuals control their weight.

So, to lower your calorie intake over the holiday season, try something new.

Click here for an altered version of a People for the Equal Treatment of Animals, or PETA, Thanksgiving recipe idea.