The healthiest feast of the year?

Thanksgiving is the kickoff to the holiday eating season, when it is easy (and not uncommon) to rack up a good 2,000 calories at a single meal. That's roughly the calorie intake recommended for a grown man -- in a whole day. The problem is not the foods we associate with the holiday menu -- many of them are nutritional rock stars. The problem is the bad company they tend to keep.

Traditionally, most Thanksgiving dinners feature turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and pecans. That's a pretty healthy list -- with vitamins, minerals, protein and antioxidants in great abundance. But when you add the butter, sugar, marshmallows, eggs and cream, it's a different story.

As a protein source, turkey is so lean it ought not to be relegated to once-a-year status. Turkey meat minus the skin contains only about 1 gram of fat or less per ounce. Studies have shown that even if you cook turkey in its skin, the fat doesn't drip into the flesh. So it's perfectly OK to cook the bird with the skin; just don't eat it.

Turkey is also an excellent source of nutrients that are not only vital for a healthy diet, but are good for the heart, keeping blood cholesterol low, helping ward off cancer and boosting the immune system.

When buying a turkey, read labels and avoid turkeys sold as "basted." I prefer organic birds whenever possible.

As for Thanksgiving fruits and vegetables, the rule of thumb is the darker or brighter a fruit's or vegetable's color, the more nutrients and antioxidants it contains. Case in point: cranberries. This tart, bright red berry is another tradition that should make more than just a cameo appearance once a year. Make your cranberry sauce from scratch and try to use as little sugar as possible. Fresh cranberries, in season October through December, contain the most beneficial nutrients, followed by frozen.

Thanksgiving dinner is also known for its range of carbohydrates, and these should not be automatically written off as evil. Relax and enjoy the sweet potato; it's chock full of nutrients, such as vitamins A and C -- both potent antioxidants. Don't forget to eat the skin -- that's where the fiber is concentrated.

If you're worried about the calories associated with sweet potatoes, just don't eat too much. You certainly don't need excess sugar or fat (such as marshmallows and butter); sweet potatoes are sweet enough as is. Try thin-slicing the sweet potatoes and baking them into chips. Lightly spray them with olive oil, sprinkle with seasonings of choice and bake in the oven. The result is a revelation.

Pumpkin is highly nutritious, mercifully low in calories and jam-packed with nutrients: beta carotene, vitamins C and A, plus potassium and lots of fiber, to name a few. Of course, this is before it makes its way into a pie. Canned pumpkin (pureed pumpkin, not pie filling, which is loaded with sugar and fat) is just as nutritious as fresh. Instead of pumpkin pie, why not try a pumpkin custard or pudding made with nonfat milk? You can even crush up graham crackers and layer them with the pudding to make a sort-of pie.

Despite the vicious rumors, nuts are not all about the fat. Yes, they do have calories and fat -- they actually contain almost 70 percent fat -- but it's primarily unsaturated fat, which in moderate portions might help lower bad cholesterol while keeping good cholesterol stable. In fact, in 2003 the Food and Drug Administration approved a health claim for seven varieties of nuts, including pecans, that "scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease."

Of course, to be valid this means eating nuts in place of other fats in your diet -- not in addition to them.

Thanksgiving has the potential to be a really healthful meal, not something to atone for. Remember: The less you eat on the big day, the healthier you will be -- and the more delicious leftovers you'll have!