Heart Healthy Holidays

With the holidays rapidly approaching, our schedules are packed with holiday parties and events which revolve around food and high calorie drinks. Many people find this a tough time of year for maintaining their healthy lifestyle goals, so here are some tips for surviving this holiday season:

·    Never skip meals and always eat breakfast.  Eat small, healthy snacks during the day to prevent yourself from being ravenous at your holiday parties and overindulging.

·    If you do overindulge at one meal, don’t stress about it – just get back on track with your next meal and go for a walk to help digest your food and burn some calories.

·    Don’t drink your calories! Monitor alcohol and soda consumption. Both are high in calories (especially the eggnog). Try alternating water or diet soda and alcoholic beverages.

·    Modify your recipes:

o    Substitute with low-fat/nonfat versions of yogurt, sour cream and mayonnaise

o    Herbs and spices instead of salt and fats

o    My favorite trick ever - strained unsweetened applesauce for butter or oil in baking (1:1 ratio). Or try mashed up bananas or pureed  carrots. With applesauce, you can even use less sugar!

o    Make mashed potatoes from scratch –

§    Leave some of the skins on to increase fiber and vitamin content,

§    Add two cloves of garlic while the potatoes simmer (heart healthy addition!)

§    Use a combination of low-sodium chicken stock and skim milk for mashing the potatoes

§    Use a heart-healthy brand of margarine

§    Roasted garlic and fresh chives add great flavor

o   In baking, use half whole-wheat flour and half white flour to increase fiber and vitamin content

o   Use low-fat greek yogurt or evaporated skim milk instead of cream

o   There are thousands of healthy holiday recipes on the internet. Search for a healthier version of your favorite recipe. 

·    Eat smaller portions or use a smaller plate. Share a piece of pie and don’t go back for seconds.

·    Pace, don’t race. Eat your food slowly. If you eat too fast your stomach won’t have time to register that it is full. Savor each bite and wait 15-20 minutes before going back for seconds!

·    Trim back the trimmings. Dressings and side dishes are typically high in calories. Eat turkey without the skin, make gravy with little or no fat and use lighter dressings.

·    Save your “splurges” for a dish, dessert or drink you truly enjoy – and have a ½ portion instead of an oversized plate-full.

·    Skip the appetizers – nibble on raw vegetables, low fat dips and salsa. Better yet, offer to bring your own healthy dip. Here are two of my favorite recipes!

Roasted Garlic Guacamole

Ingredients:

6 large cloves garlic, unpeeled

6 ripe medium avocados

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, loosely packed

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus more if desired

1/2 teaspoon salt

To make homemade torilla chips:

Whole wheat tortillas or corn tortillas

Olive oil cooking spray

Canola oil

Guacamole Nutrition Information (1/20 of recipe): 70 calories, 6gm fat, 62mg sodium, 3gm fiber, 1gm protein

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

To make the guacamole: Place unpeeled garlic in small dry skillet over medium heat; cook, turning occasionally, until soft and blackened in sport, 10-15minutes. Cool, then slip off the skins; finely chop. Scoop avocado flesh into large bowl. Add the garlic, cilantro and lime juice to taste. Coarsely mash everything together. Season lightly with salt. Transfer to a serving bowel and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the tortilla chips: Prepare baking sheet by brushing a light layer of canola oil over bottom of pan. Cut whole wheat tortillas/corn tortillas into 4 pieces to resemble chips. Spray both sides of each “chip” before placing on the pan. Bake until lightly brown and crispy, about 8 minutes.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Ingredients:

2 cups canned garbanzo beans, drained

2 tablespoons tahini

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

3-4 cloves garlic, halved

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pinch paprika

½ teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley

Directions:

Place the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt and garlic in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer mixture to a serving bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the garbanzo bean mixtur and sprinkle with paprika and parsley. Tastes great with homemade tortilla chips (above) or fresh veggies!

Nutritional Information (2 Tbsp): 77 Calories, 4.3gm fat