You are probably preparing to be completely stuffed tomorrow. But what if you could enjoy the foods you love on Thanksgiving and not feel miserable afterwards? It’s possible, it just takes a little smart plate planning.

You may be familiar with USDA’s MyPlate, a handy guide that can help you become more mindful in creating a healthy plate.

To guide you, ChooseMyPlate.gov suggests while looking at your plate, mentally divide it into halves. Then equally divide one of your halves. When filling your plate, place lean proteins on one-fourth of your plate; the other one-fourth should be for whole grains; and the remaining half for fruits and/or vegetables.

With Thanksgiving and other food-centered holidays upon us we can use the healthy plate concept to keep us on track. You can enjoy your favorite foods, but be smart in creating your plate at meal times. It may seem like a small effort, but saving a couple hundred calories here and there can really add up!

This is a great example of how you can design your plate to still include the foods you enjoy so much at special holiday meals, but not completely blow your calorie budget.

Photo courtesy of Timesnews.net

Hope you enjoy every bite of your holiday meal!