A big Thanksgiving feast isn’t exactly the model of heart-healthy eating for most people.
Cardiologists know it and some of them indulge a bit, too, on this one occasion.
“If you deprive yourself for Thanksgiving, then likely the next day or the day after, you’re just going to binge eat everything you feel like you missed out on,” Dr. Marc Eisenberg, a clinical cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, previously told TODAY.com.
“I tell most people: Just enjoy yourself.”
Still, there are certain foods heart doctors limit on the holiday.
Cardiologist Tip of the Day: Skip the Butter on Thanksgiving
All of the cardiologists interviewed by TODAY.com about the foods they avoid on Thanksgiving said they skip butter to keep their own hearts healthy on the big holiday.
“Butter is probably the worst thing people can eat,” Eisenberg warned.
“Butter is used in excess in many situations where you often don’t need as much to get the quality taste of the meal,” added Dr. Susan Cheng, a cardiologist in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.
Dr. Sean Heffron, a cardiologist in the Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease at NYU Langone Health in New York, said he’s modified his grandmother’s stuffing recipe to include no butter.
Why It Matters
The heart doctors said they’d skip the butter because of all the animal fat and cholesterol it contains.
A 2025 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found higher intake of butter was associated with increased mortality. Substituting butter with plant-based oils, including olive oil, “may confer substantial benefits for preventing premature deaths,” the authors wrote.
More than 50% of the total fat in butter is saturated fat, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture — you get 3 grams of it per pat, plus 52 calories and almost 6 grams of fat total.
Eating too much saturated fat can raise the level of LDL cholesterol, the type that contributes to clogged arteries, according to the American Heart Association.
The organization recommends consuming no more than 13 grams of saturated fat per day. Just two pats of butter contain about half that daily allowance.
How to Get Started
The healthiest butter substitutes include olive oil, mashed avocado and nut butters, dietitians say.
As always, it comes down to moderation.
“We’re not saying that people should give up butter entirely,” Yu Zhang, author of the 2025 JAMA study, told NBC News.
“But we’re suggesting that a small reduction in the daily consumption of butter and an increase in plant-based oil could lead to significant long-term health benefits.”
TODAY’s Expert Tip of the Day series is all about simple strategies to make life a little easier. Every Monday through Friday, different qualified experts share their best advice on diet, fitness, heart health, mental wellness and more.
