Why your Thanksgiving meal will satisfy your stomach and your health!
There is nothing that brings family and friends together quite like a delicious, hearty home-cooked meal. Dozens of dishes to pass along the table, funny stories exchanged over a famous secret family recipe and the collective feelings of happiness and enjoyment that engulf the end of the meal.
In America, there are plenty of opportunities for these festive feasts―winter holidays, birthday dinners, celebratory occasions. However, there is one meal that takes the cake when it comes to delicious food and good times spent with great people―Thanksgiving.
This meal brings together people from all across the country to sit down and enjoy some of the most delicious, drool-worthy Thanksgiving classics: Yams, pumpkin pie, stuffing, honey-baked ham, mashed potatoes and gravy and, of course, turkey. Just thinking about these delectable dishes is enough to make your stomach growl and your eyes grow large. After all, Thanksgiving is the one time of the year where you can guarantee your eyes will be bigger than your stomach.
However, once the meal is over and you have eaten more food than is comfortable, do not feel guilty about all of those plates and side dishes that you consumed. There are many health benefits that come with Thanksgiving dinner, especially when it comes to your eyesight and vision health. Here are just a few classic Turkey Day dishes that will leave your eyes searching for more:
Sweet Potatoes
This delicious, savory dish is a favorite of children and adults alike (especially when you add a little brown sugar and toasted marshmallows to the recipe… yum!). However, it doesn’t just satisfy your taste buds. These hearty potatoes are packed full of nutrients, including vitamin A, potassium, vitamin C and vitamins B5 and B6.
Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for good optical health and helps to stop the process of macular degeneration and age-related problems in the cornea and retina. Vitamin C also aids in the process of this, while also helping to reduce your risk of developing cataracts.
Turkey
No Thanksgiving is complete without a delicious turkey in the center of the table. Luckily, this holiday classic is loaded in zinc, which offers many different benefits for our vision. Not only can zinc significantly reduce the risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and its associated vision loss, but it also has a significant effect on the development and progression of cataracts. Turkey is also considered a good source of vitamins B3 and B6.
Cranberries
Whether you include this delicious berry into your pies, your side dishes or atop your turkey, this beneficial fruit can help to protect your eyes from many different types of eye conditions. For instance, the nutrients vitamin A and vitamin C in cranberries helps to prevent cataracts and MAC, conditions which both result in dangerous vision changes or even vision loss.
This Thanksgiving, whether you plan to spend the day relaxing with your family, watching some holiday football or gearing up for the chaotic Black Friday sales, be sure that you leave plenty of room in your time and schedule for your Thanksgiving feast. Consuming these classic Turkey Day concoctions will not only keep your stomach full and satisfied, but will also help promote healthy eyes and vision for many holidays to come.
