Thanksgiving Dinner myth busted!

grayclee / CC

So, you’ve heard that Americans typically wolf down 5,000 to 7,000 calories on Thanksgiving Day? Tara Parker-Pope at the New York Times was skeptical. So she cooked up a highly indulgent Thanksgiving meal, including 6 ounces of turkey with crispy skin (299 calories), sausage stuffing (310), and a well-buttered dinner roll (310). Then came a fattening sweet-potato casserole (300), mashed with gravy and butter (140), and a few greens and cranberry sauce (208). Dessert was killer, naturally, with pumpkin pie (316), pecan pie (503), and whipped cream (100). But that came to just 2,486 calories. Sure, wine and a hefty breakfast could fill in the rest, but stomach size and nausea would make that a toughy. So the 5,000 to 7,000 calorie may well be an exaggeration. Perhaps Parker-Pope failed to take into account seconds and thirds? Or the second Thanksgiving meal? You know, you eat at 2PM, then head back to the fridge a few hours later and fill a plate for the microwave.