IF YOU ARE LIKE MANY OTHERS, the holiday season officially kicks off on Halloween—with candy, apples with caramel dip, cider, etc.—and runs straight through Super Bowl weekend. Assuming Super Bowl LVIII occurs on Sunday, February 11 as scheduled, that equals 104 days of potential overindulgence! No wonder the average weight gain over the holidays is around seven pounds!
I completely understand the impulse to overdo it during the holidays. After all, nothing excites our senses more than delicious holiday meals, and decadent dishes made with ingredients like full-fat dairy, butter, sugar, gravy from drippings, bacon, cheese, and cream cheese are sure to be crowd pleasers. However, enjoying the holidays doesn’t have to mean abandoning healthy habits.
Here are a few simple strategies that can help boost the nutritional value of your holiday dishes:
Power up your produce
Start with fruits and vegetables for your holiday table. Consider doubling up on vegetables, and edge out ingredients like butter, salt, cheese, and bacon. When preparing veggies, quick steam, gentle sauté, or serve them raw to preserve their nutritional value. Also, choose fruits and vegetables that have healthy antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties and are high in fiber but low in calories. Consider beets, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, spinach, turnips, squash, and carrots. Look for pomegranates, oranges, cranberries for making relishes, salads, and fruit bowls.
Fill up with fiber
Try to serve up healthy amounts of fiber-packed side dishes. Fiber comes mainly from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and offers a host of benefits, such as relieving constipation and lowering the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.
How can we realistically implement this recommendation considering so many holiday dishes are high in refined grains, added sugars, and fat? The key is to swap out refined grains with healthier options like oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, or bulgar wheat. Also, choose whole-grain flour for recipes, bread cubes, and pasta.
Make your calories count
Improve the nutritional value of dishes by using olive oil, which is high in monounsaturated fat, in place of butter, which is high in saturated fat—the bad fat. Other healthy options for holiday cooking include using Greek yogurt instead of cream in recipes, using applesauce in place of oils in baked goods, avoiding adding extra salt to recipes, and avoiding added fats like cheese and bacon.
Don’t stress out!
The thought of modifying your holiday dishes to make them more nutritious might seem overwhelming, but don’t let it stress you out. Make a plan now for your holiday eating and drinking, and, as always, be sure to include physical activity to offset any added calories in your planning. Plan for fun activities like playing games, walking, yoga, and listening to music so the focus is not only on the food.
Also, be sure to tend to your hunger over the holidays. Don’t starve yourself all day so that you can indulge at the buffet later. Instead, have smaller, healthier meals throughout the day. If you do “fall off the wagon” and overindulge on one day, don’t feel guilty. Tomorrow is another day. Pick yourself up and plan for healthy meals and activity the next day or two.
Most importantly, remember to enjoy the holidays. Make the most of seeing family and friends while working in your favorite madehealthy dishes—for example, the following recipe for Cranberry, Orange, Apple Relish from Cooking Light magazine. This recipe appeared in their magazine in 1997, and I’ve made it ever since. It’s a holiday favorite with my family.
I recommend making it the day before serving so the flavors have a chance to blend
CRANBERRY, ORANGE, APPLE RELISH
1 bag cranberries, washed and raw
1 large apple, quartered, leave peel on
1 orange, quartered, leave peel on
2 Tbs. crystallized ginger
3 Tbs. honey
Add ingredients to a food processor. Blend until fruit pieces are ¼-inch x ¼-inch. You want it a little chunky like a relish or salsa. Do not puree. Refrigerate 8-12 hours before serving.
Laurie Syring, RDN/LD, is Clinical Nutrition Manager at ProMedica Flower Hospital.
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