Where's the cranberry sauce?
Historians say that the first Thanksgiving menu was a good healthy balance of proteins and carbohydrates, too, though the foods were a little different from what we've come to expect. Some sources say the pilgrims feasted on corn, barley, wild turkey, waterfowl (like duck), and venison.
The pilgrims were thinking more about survival than nutrition, but their menu was actually chock full of beneficial vitamins and minerals. Corn supplies potassium and thiamin, while barley is a great source of dietary fiber and manganese. We already covered the nutrients in turkey, but duck and venison are good sources of protein too. Duck is high in cholesterol, but it's also rich in iron, niacin, and selenium. And venison is full of iron and B-vitamins.
But the real health benefits of the first Thanksgiving comes from what it didn't have -preservatives, antibiotics, growth hormones, trans fats, processed flours, added salts and sugar, and all the other "advancements" we've made in the last several centuries.
