Before you tuck into turkey, read this

Jean Tremaine would like to interrupt the coming feeding frenzy with a public service announcement:

Thanksgiving dinner is a meal, “not an all-you-can-eat buffet that starts in the morning and goes through the weekend.”

Not that Tremaine, director of the county’s public health nutrition program, wants to be a turkey day buzz-kill.

By all means, she says, enjoy those once-a-year specialties. (Especially if depriving yourself at dinner means you’ll make up for it with a chocolate binge at home later.)

But come in with a game plan. Eating strategically is more than just a way to strike a blow for eating sanity at a meal that can easily weigh in at 3,000 calories or more.

It’s also a chance to create a healthy eating pattern for all of the holiday temptations ahead.

“Heading into the overeating season, it’s a good opportunity to set the tone and come out of this relatively unscathed,” says Tremaine, a 23-year county veteran whose department oversees nutritional education programs, helping to translate healthy eating practices into individualized approaches for L.A.’s ethnically diverse communities.

Otherwise, if you don’t watch it, “you’re in a food coma for the months of December and January.”

To stay out of that state—and to do your part to combat America’s obesity epidemic—here are a few of Tremaine’s tips for navigating the Thanksgiving bounty.

1. Know your must-have dish, and then take it easy on the rest.

“The most important thing to me is the pumpkin pie. My sister makes it. It’s just the classic recipe off the can, with a little more spices.”

2. Concentrate on the people around the table.

“Enjoy the socializing and not focus so much on the food. It’s called thanks giving. Think about what’s good in your life.”

3. Divide and conquer your dinner plate.

Load half your plate with vegetables (preferably not the kind that come doused in canned soup and topped with fried onions.) Leave one-quarter of the plate for turkey (no skin, please) and the rest for a starch of your choice. “Because there are so many simple carbohydrates, I skip some of them. I don’t need stuffing and mashed potatoes and a roll.”

4. Make the pre-dinner nibbles healthy.

“Normally, a Thanksgiving dinner starts hours before dinner.” Instead of “high fat dip, pretzels and peanuts,” offer guests seasonal fruit like sliced Fuyu persimmons, or a bowl of Satsuma tangerines.

5. Take it easy on the alcoholic beverages.

“Limit the booze. It’s high in calories and it lowers your eating inhibitions.” If you do imbibe, alternate your drinks with glasses of water.

None of this should make you think that Tremaine is some kind of joyless anti-food crusader. On the contrary, she’s the kind of person who enjoys seafood-eating vacations in places like Sicily or Sardinia. But, as a longtime Weight Watcher, she has learned how to combat a holiday tradition of “eat until you hurt.”

“A couple of decades ago, I stopped doing that,” says Tremaine, 63. “It’s a wonderful feeling not to eat until you hurt.”

And she thinks a less gluttonous approach can help people find more meaning in the holiday along the way.

“It’s really an occasion for reflection,” she says, “to ask ‘What am I grateful for?’ ”

For some other helpful hints, check out this turkey-carving video and make sure you’re up to speed on how to cook and serve your feast safely.

Posted 11/18/10