Thanksgiving Day can be an intimidating time for someone attempting to stick to healthy eating habits.

All of the stuffings, pies and trimmings can be a disastrous temptation for a diet-minded person, but Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be a dreaded holiday for you and your belly. In fact, you don’t even have to completely eliminate the foods that make it such an enjoyable time.

“We believe that you should be able to eat the foods that you like and that you enjoy the foods that are a tradition in your family that you get only one time a year,” River Region dietician Francine Nosser said. “It’s great to include those at your dinner table.”

Instead of completely skipping out on grandma’s brown gravy or that delicious piece of homemade pecan pie, it’s better to enjoy your favorite foods in small quantities while complementing them with plain vegetables or healthy foods.

“Add some plain foods that don’t have the cheeses and the gravies and the sauces that make these things so good,” Nosser said. “Have two or three dishes like that.”

Another tip that may seem common sense, but is often overlooked — how much of that pecan pie you do eat goes a long way.

“I know sometimes my favorite foods at Thanksgiving and Christmas time … I just want to gorge on them,” Nosser said. “If you can, just remind yourself to eat until you’re satisfied. Try not to eat until you’re unbuttoning your pants.”

Fellow River Region dietician Gwen Robinson agreed.

“Portion sizes, you can kind of control that. You can maybe eat a little of it, but we’re not talking about eating the whole pie,” she said. “You might have to be a little more stringent, but you want to be able to eat some of what you enjoy.”

Nosser and Robinson work with the patients of River Region, helping guide those with health problems to an improved diet.

Their advice on turning Thanksgiving into a holiday that is both enjoyable and controllable doesn’t mean completely forgoing the items that make turkey day so great. Tamping down on how much and what kinds of foods you do eat is the way to go.

“If you’re really craving something, to me, it’s always better to go ahead and have a little of that and then go back to being more stringent,” Robinson said. “If you just keep depriving yourself, you’re just going to let go and eat everything in site.”

Drinking a glass of water before and after your meal, avoiding appetizers and giving yourself 20 minutes to let your stomach settle before eating again are all ways to make Thanksgiving better for you and your stomach.

“A lot of times we think we’re going to gain all this weight during the holidays. The studies show that we actually gain over the holiday season one to two pounds,” Nosser said. “I think it’s better to have the vegetables and healthy things along with (your meal), and maybe just smaller portions of grandma’s gravy and that kind of thing.”