Welcome to the Holidays

In my house from now until about February we celebrate! We started with Halloween then we go ito Thanksgiving, Christmas, College bowl Game Week, Super Bowl and finally Valentine's! The great thing is that I have discovered how to take care of myself. I actualy enjoy leaving a family holiday with my pants buttoned! Please remember that during this time each holiday is only one day of that week and there is no reason to go bezerk!

Opt for tasty Weight Watchers recipes
Compare the POINTS values for some traditional Thanksgiving dishes versus our sure-to-please renovated recipes:

Traditional Recipe POINTS Value Weight Watchers Recipe POINTS Value
Green bean casserole (3/4 cup) 4 Green beans with almonds (3/4 cup) 1
Candied sweet potatoes (1 cup) 8 Candied sweet potatoes(1 cup) 3
Garlic mashed potatoes (3/4 cup) 6 Garlic mashed potatoes (3/4 cup) 3
Mashed sweet potatoes, canned (1/2 cup) 2 Mashed sweet potatoes (1/2 cup) 1
Canned cranberry sauce (1/3 cup) 3 Cranberry-orange relish (1/3 cup) 2
Bread stuffing (1 cup) 8 Bread stuffing (1 cup) 2
Pumpkin pie (1 slice) 9 Pumpkin pie (1 slice) 3
Pecan pie (1 slice) 12 Pecan tartlets (1 item) 3

Know your portions
To help you size up your servings, come armed with some visuals:

1 cup of mashed potatoes is about the size of a tennis ball or your fist
3 ounces of turkey equals a computer mouse or a checkbook
1/2 cup of green bean casserole fits into a small cupcake wrapper or an ice cream scoop
1/4 cup of gravy equals 4 tablespoons; measure out some water in your gravy ladle to see how many tablespoons one full ladle holds

Go for the two-for-one side dish special
Hopefully not all the vegetables are drenched in butter. Opt for two spoonfuls of vegetable side dishes for each starch-based one that you take (and no, potatoes are not a vegetable in this case).

Plan on eating leftovers
There are usually more than enough side dishes for a few meals. Whatever you don't taste today, you can taste tomorrow.

Seek satisfaction
Think about what's worth eating and what's not. You can make yourself a baked sweet potato anytime, but your Aunt's sweet potato pie is a once-a-year specialty.

Fend off food-pushing relatives
Don't eat something just because your mom wants you to. Compliment her outfit, ask for a recipe, enquire about an old friend — anything to change the topic from why you didn't touch both her pecan pie and pumpkin cheesecake.