How Many Calories ... in Stuffing?

Thanksgiving is close by, and one of my favourite parts of the turkey dinner is without a doubt the stuffing, particularly the way my mum makes it. With the exception of dessert, thanksgiving dishes are usually pretty healthy -- there's lots of vegetables and lean turkey meat, so it seems stuffing is the least healthy part of the meal. But is it? It's basically just bread, vegetables and herbs cooked inside the turkey, right? So is it healthy or not?

The answer is 400 calories, along with 17g of fat and about 44 g of carbs. That's not bad but it's not particularly good either -- with all the food you're eating at Thanksgiving, I would stick to just a half-cup serving of stuffing.

And if you're the one cooking up the feast this year, there are some healthy changes you can make to the stuffing. Make it with whole-grain bread instead of white and leave out any added fat -- replace any butter that the recipe calls for with non-fat cooking spray. Or better yet, here's a recipe from the Mayo Clinic that doesn't have call for any fat at all.