- Save yourself some calories
- Other tips to save calories
- Think Exercise
- Plan your Holiday
- Healthy Holiday Recipes
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Happy Healthy Holidays
Do something different for your holiday meal. Pick one traditional favorite recipe but mix up your side dishes and offer fresh fruit salad or melon wedges. Offer raw broccoli with salsa as an appetizer. Try a baked apple with cinnamon for dessert. Let the kids have some bubbly by offering club soda with a little bit of 100% juice.
If you are thinking that Healthy Holidays is an oxymoron, it doesn’t have to be that way. It definitely is a time where many of us will enjoy holiday food and maybe wish we hadn’t overindulged. Some are waiting until the new year to start a new diet or exercise program. Why wait till January 1st when your whole family can keep up good habits or at least adopt a couple of new ones. Realistically though, it may not be the ideal time to start thinking about losing weight because you may set yourself up for failure. You may find yourself overeating because of emotional issues around the holidays, by attending more social events (office parties, school parties, etc), or just because there are more things to do and less time for meal planning at home (i.e., more snacking on the go or more stops at the fast food restaurants).
Here are some things you can do for you and your family:
Save yourself some calories by giving non-food items.
- Instead of making cookies or fudge this year for your neighbors and friends, create cards such as “thank you” cards. Your kids can help create the cards using blank cards and fun stickers available at scrap booking shops, Target, and the like. The kids can write “Handmade” on the back with their name.
- You may want to talk to your neighbors or office mates if you usually exchange gifts and come up with alternatives to candy and baked goods. Perhaps just collecting $5.00 from everyone and donating to a food bank. Your kids can donate from their allowance thus making them more aware of the giving spirit.
- Still feel like giving a gift of food? Try simple things like a box of tea or take a jar and fill it up with lowfat hot chocolate mix. Wrap a ribbon around it and a small card with directions.
Other tips to save calories:
- If you are the one cooking, limit taste testing. You don’t want to be full (and still eating) when the guests arrive. Plus, 50 calories for one taste and another 50 calories for a 2nd taste adds up to an extra 100 calories. An extra 100 calories a day over and above what your body needs adds up to a 10 lb weight gain by the end of the year.
- Be careful of those holiday spirits – a 4 oz glass of wine is about 120 calories. Try non-alcoholic wine for the 2nd bottle and save some calories. Try drinking water in between. This can help you fill up as well and consume less food.
- If your host offers soda to your kids, let them enjoy the one small cup (maybe split it between the siblings). Soda has a lot of sugar in it as well as caffeine. Be careful with juice too; although most juice is made of natural sugar, better to offer water throughout the day. Kids are growing but they don’t need to eat extra calories. Avoid juices like Sunny Delight© which is just a high sugar drink and has nothing to do with juice.
- Look up some lowfat versions of your favorite holiday recipes. For example, use lowfat milk instead of whole milk when making mashed potatoes. Applesauce can be substituted for oil when baking. Check out epicuriouis.com or foodtv.com for low-fat recipes.
- Try new side dishes instead of traditional ones: serve baked sweet potatoes or baked parsnip fries (see recipe). Also grilled asparagus or steamed artichokes can be a nice new side dish (use a non-fat dip for the artichokes or just sprinkle with lime juice).
- Simplify your menu: offer low-fat pumpkin soup (see recipe) as a starter, followed by an entrée and green veggie (sautéed spinach with garlic) and small dinner rolls.
- It is nice to offer appetizers when guests arrive but change it up a bit this year. Provide grapes and strawberries or maybe pickles as well as pickled watermelon.
- Choose the one food you will indulge in and enjoy it while taking small portions of the other offerings.
- Be careful with gravy. A half a cup poured over your mashed potatoes can add another 200 calories to your meal. If that is your love, enjoy it but then skip dessert.
- Serve a crust-less pumpkin pie this year and save calories (see recipe). Skip on offering pecan pie and serve sliced fruit along with apple or pumpkin pie.
- If you can’t say no to leftovers such as brisket, ham, etc, bring along a small ice chest with cold gel packs. If you have a long way to drive home, you want to ensure your foods are kept cold to prevent food illness (see November’s article on food safety).
- Add in fiber throughout your day as fiber keeps you feeling full. Try adding beans to soup or making pumpkin soup or pancakes (pumpkin is great source of fiber as well as vitamins A and C).
- Remember to get your kids to be your assistant chef as well. While they are out of school, they’ll have some time to cook and even clean up.
Think exercise.
- Give yoga mats to your spouse and kids along with a yoga CD. Get the whole family doing downward dog. Or for yourself set up a date with a good friend for an exercise class together.
- Inform your guests that there will be a walk after the mid-day brunch; tell them to show up with their running shoes and bring extra clothing to bundle up.
- If you don’t like going to a gym, give a family gift of a Wii and purchase the exercise games such as Wii Fit.
- Utilize your time more efficiently and order gifts on-line. You can then plan to get in some physical activity. Take advantage of the nearby high school track and try walking up and down the bleachers or run 110 and 220 races with the family.
Look at the entire day and plan around it.
- If your holiday meal is a late lunch or early dinner, start off the day with a high fiber cereal, low fat milk, and sliced bananas. Or perhaps egg beaters (this is just the whites of the egg so you avoid saturated fat), one tortilla, and sliced mango. Plan a family walk or hike together as well before taking off to the holiday get-together. Get away from the attitude of: “Oh well, I’m going to blow it anyway today, so I might as well start the day off with sausage and high fat, high calorie egg nog.”
From the staff at Nourish Interactive, Have a Healthy and Happy Holiday Season. Wishing you lots of family time and laughter in the New Year.
Recipes:
low fat pumpkin soup
low fat crustless pumpkin pie
roasted parsnips
Written on December 2008
Last updated: July 2009
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