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
So one of my New Year's Resolutions is to try a new vegetable at least every month. Tonight, soup is on the menu so I have a great soup recipe from the Clean Eating Cookbook that calls for collard greens. As a dietitian, I hate to admit that I couldn't even find this leafy green in the grocery store - I had to ask! To save you the effort, I'll include a picture to help with identification. Not only is this recipe healthy and delicious, it's easy and budget-friendly! This recipe also happens to provide 30% of your daily fiber intake, is a good source of iron and can easily be gluten-free. 
