Turkey is often cited as the culprit in after-feast lethargy, and hardly a Thanksgiving goes by without someone mentioning the sleep inducing effects of tryptophan found in the holiday bird. But the truth of the matter is, tryptophan only causes sleepiness when eaten alone. And honestly, who only eats turkey on Thanksgiving day?

The real reason behind the infamous post-dinner drowsiness is the fact that you've likely overeaten. If you've eaten a lot of high-carb, fat-laden foods, such as mashed potatoes, stuffing, rice, corn bread, rolls, gravy, and even apple pie, your body is stuck using every ounce of energy to digest is. This in turn makes you really, really tired. If you add a glass of wine into the mix, as many people do, you're even more likely to get heavy-eyed.

While preparing for the meal and holiday can be stressful, most people find that the meal is the most relaxing part of the festivities. No matter how crazy your day was, once you sit down you begin to relax, and often times, that feeling carries over after the meal.

Today Metro Networks, the largest traffic gathering and reporting operation in the U.S., revealed today their list of The Top Ten Worst Holiday Traffic Tie-Ups in America. The list was compiled by Metro Networks traffic pros from around the country, and covers the biggest traffic hot spots in the largest U.S. markets during the busy holiday travel season.

In other words, if you're hoping to avoid any major hang-ups during your holiday travel, you may want to consider avoiding these areas. Or, at the least, plan to be stuck for awhile and give yourself some extra time to get where you need to go.

Dark meat or white meat? Leg, breast or wing? you may want check and see if your favorite part of the Thanksgiving turkey is also the healthiest.

Looking at that chart, dark meat clearly has more calories and fat than the white meat, but as far as protein levels go there's not much of a difference. And here's something else you might not know that isn't displayed on the chart: dark meat is considerably higher in iron content than white meat due to the presence of myoglobin proteins.

Here's a quick breakdown of the calories, fat, and protein found in various sections of turkey:

When you think of Thanksgiving, inevitably one of the first things that comes to mind is turkey. One of the last things that you'd think of is a hand injury, and so this year the American Society for Surgery of the Hand is cautioning carvers to take steps to carve their main course turkey, and not their own hands.

Hand injuries are a common injury around the holidays, often stemming from cutting open pumpkins or carving up turkeys. But according to Reid Abrams, member of the ASSH, danger lurks elsewhere, and hand injuries are the result of more than just carving turkeys, hams, and roasts:

"Many hand injuries also occur during post-meal clean-up. Care needs to be taken when washing dishes--particularly soap-covered, slippery glasses. I've also treated many tendon and nerve injuries that were caused by crystal breaking while washing glasses by hand," said Abrams.

But fortunately, most of these injuries are avoidable with a little precaution. To avoid an unpleasant holiday injury, the ASSH is recommending that everyone follow these tips:

Impress your friends and family this year with your knowledge of strange Thanksgiving Day facts and figures. Check out the list below, compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau:

272 million

The preliminary estimate of turkeys raised in the United States in 2007. That's up 4 percent from 2006. The turkeys produced in 2005 together weighed 7.2 billion pounds and were valued at $3.2 billion.

46 million

The preliminary estimate of turkeys Minnesota expects to raise in 2007. The Gopher State is tops in turkey production. It is followed by North Carolina (39 million), Arkansas (31 million), Virginia (21.5 million), Missouri (21 million) and California (16.8 million). These six states together will probably account for about two-thirds of U.S. turkeys produced in 2007.

690 million pounds

The forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2007, essentially unchanged from 2006 and 11 percent more than 2005. Wisconsin is expected to lead all states in the production of cranberries, with 390 million pounds, followed by Massachusetts (180 million). New Jersey, Oregon and Washington are also expected to have substantial production, ranging from 18 million to 52 million pounds.

1.6 billion pounds

Thanksgiving is infamously known as the holiday when we Americans gorge ourselves on food. From turkey to stuffing to pumpkin pie, this is the holiday of culinary excess. For those looking to eat a little healthier, either due to dietary restrictions or even the desire to just eat well, the Mayo Clinic has put together a comprehensive list of healthier Thanksgiving recipes.

The recipes that they've chosen still have all of the taste, but with less calories, fat, and sodium. And don't be scared off by the word "healthy" either; just check out the list and you'll see that many of the things on there don't sound very healthy even though, in fact, they are.

So without further ado, here's a list of healthy Thanksgiving recipes that you might also want to save for when Christmas comes around in December:

Thanksgiving recipes: Delicious options for healthy eating (Mayo Clinic)

If you love the traditional Thanksgiving feast with your family, but hate all the preparation that goes into it, or just can't be bothered, you may want to check into some take-out offers. Take-out Thanksgiving meals allow you to enjoy your traditional meal in the comfort of your own home, with your family and friends, while not having to worry about the mess.

This year, Cracker Barrel is offering a special "Thanksgiving Dinner To Go", which will feed a group of six. The special meal includes oven-roasted turkey breast with creamy turkey gravy, made-from-scratch cornbread dressing, baked sugar cured ham, three country vegetables, cranberry-orange relish, and a baker's dozen of either fresh biscuts or corn muffins. Sounds like it'll cost you a fortune, right? Not so! For just $49.99, you can feed your whole family.

It's the perfect solution if you just can't be bothered with firing up the oven. Just call ahead and let them know what time you want to pick up your meal, and it'll be ready when you get there.

There are several Cracker Barrel locations in the Cleveland area. If you'd rather eat out than at home, many area restaurants (including Cracker Barrel) will be offering some great dine-in Thanksgiving specials.

Agricultural economists at Purdue University say that this year, your Thanksgiving meal will cost more than last year, mainly due to rising energy costs and world food demands. Food prices have increased on an average of 4.4% over last year, although dairy has seen a 15% increase, and eggs have gone up 45%.

"Food prices in 2007 are up across the board. What we've seen happen in 2007 is different from previous years," said agricultural economist Corinne Alexander at Purdue University.

"This year we're seeing food prices increase at a rate of 4.4 percent, which is well above the 10-year average of 2.6 percent. In general, food price inflation is lower than the rest of inflation, but this year that's changed," he continued.

Some items, such as dairy and eggs, have seen even larger jumps in price. Energy prices on the rise are also to blame for increased food prices. Rising energy costs affect the cost of your food because that also increases the cost of manufacturing the food, as well as transporting it. Retailers are now passing on these higher costs to consumers.

A shortage of wheat worldwide has also added to the cost of wheat-based foods.