Shelly Koon
Contributing Writer
Are you trying to eat healthier? I am, but you know the holidays can be a problem. With visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads, it can be hard to eat healthy during Christmas and New Year! It’s easy to get swept up in the holiday season.
Each year, the average person gains a small amount of weight. But, it’s the holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving in the United States, that are responsible for most of our annual weight gain. In fact, during Christmas, statistics show the average person gains 1 to 2 pounds.
If your goal is weight loss, be realistic about what you will achieve over the holidays. You’re not perfect, and that’s okay. You may indulge in a few treats or miss a workout. It’s important to remember that the key to feeling successful on your health journey is to set achievable goals.
Christmas tends to be the holiday where everyone fully indulges in comfort foods and sweets before they start on their new year’s resolution of no longer indulging in those things.
You don’t need to deprive yourself, eat only boring foods, or take your treats with a side order of guilt. Instead, by practicing a bit of defensive eating and cooking, you can come through the holidays without making “go on a diet” one of your New Year’s resolutions.
Indulge a little, it’s Christmas! If your favorite food item at Christmas is the stuffing, then have a little. Enjoy it! But then skip the bread and desserts. Putting the holidays into perspective, remember there are 360 days that don’t include Christmas, New Year’s, and Thanksgiving. Enjoy the food, but be very picky. Budget wisely. Don’t eat everything at feasts and parties. Be choosy and spend calories judiciously on the foods you love.
Be mindful of what is in your cup. One of the most helpful healthy eating tips for Christmas is to fill your glass with water, particularly if you are trying to avoid weight gain. If water isn’t exciting enough, try a delicious and festive glass of sparkling water infused with slices of pear and a cinnamon stick. Skipping alcoholic drinks may also help you avoid holiday weight gain. Studies show alcohol can turn on hunger signals in the brain. Also, be wary of the non-alcoholic holiday drinks. From eggnog to hot chocolate, many drinks can be deceivingly calorie dense. A glass of eggnog can set you back 500 calories; wine, beer, and mixed drinks range from 150 to 225 calories.
It’s also a time where routine and behavior around food can change as you may be off school, college or work. Food is usually a focus of this quality time especially on Christmas Day. Along with this, we are bombarded with food ads online and on tv showing tasty, indulgent foods that you can almost smell through the screen.
Take 10 before taking seconds. It takes a few minutes for your stomach’s “I’m getting full” signal to get to your brain. After finishing your first helping, take a 10-minute break. Make conversation. Drink some water. Then recheck your appetite. You might realize you are full or want only a small portion of seconds.
Distance helps the heart stay healthy. At a party, don’t stand next to the food table. That makes it harder to mindlessly reach for food as you talk. If you know you are prone to recreational eating, pop a mint or a stick of gum so you won’t keep reaching for the chips.
Don’t go out with an empty tank. Before setting out for a party, eat something so you don’t arrive famished. Excellent pre-party snacks combine complex carbohydrates with protein and unsaturated fat, like apple slices with peanut butter or a slice of turkey and cheese on whole-wheat pita bread.
Put on your dancing (or walking) shoes. Dancing is a great way to work off some holiday calories. If you are at a family gathering, suggest a walk before the feast or even between dinner and dessert.
Make room for veggies. At meals and parties, don’t ignore fruits and vegetables. They make great snacks and even better side or main dishes, unless they’re slathered with creamy sauces or butter.
Be buffet savvy. At a buffet, wander ’round the food table before putting anything on your plate. By checking out all of your options, you might be less inclined to pile on items one after another.
Cook from (and for) the heart. To show family and friends that you really care about them, be creative with recipes that use less butter, cream, lard, vegetable shortening, and other ingredients rich in saturated fats. Prepare turkey or fish instead of red meat.
Pay attention to what really matters. Although food is an integral part of the holidays, put the focus on family and friends, laughter and cheer. If balance and moderation are your usual guides, it’s okay to indulge or overeat once in a while.
Finally, remember Christmas is a special time of year, so it is important to be realistic about food choices and enjoy yourself. And if you feel you overdo it, don’t beat yourself up, it’s only 1 week of the year. Leave it in the past and focus on making positive changes in the future.
One of this week’s recipes is for a rice dish that can be a main course or use it as a healthy side dish. It is perfectly balanced with plenty of starch from the rice, beans for vegetables and nuts for protein. Also, there is some fruitiness that adds a bit of sweetness. An excellent feature of this Christmas rice recipe is that you can tweak it to your taste. The green beans can be substituted with green asparagus, broccoli, spinach or kale. If you want to be seasonal, substitute with sweet potatoes, which are fantastic for people who suffer with diabetes. Sweet potatoes have a low sugar content and they help regulate sugar spikes in our blood. Plus, it’ll make this Christmas rice even more colorful.
The nuts are fantastic sources of protein. Pecans and cashews have those good fats and oils that are very beneficial to the body and they fill you up. You can substitute these nuts with almonds, macadamia nuts, chestnuts or even pistachios.
Mixed spice, which is a combination of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves, is delicious with this Christmas rice. You can add generously or just add a hint of it. You are in control.
I think dried apricots would work extremely well with the savory flavors of the Christmas rice if you don’t like pomegranate. Golden raisins are another good add in.
The no bake white chocolate raspberry cookies need just 5 ingredients to make and yield perfect thick, soft, and chewy cookies. This recipe can also be tweaked to suit your taste.
Christmas Rice
Ingredients
1 lb. brown basmati and wild rice
6 cups vegetable stock
10oz fresh green beans, topped and tailed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp mixed spice (clove, cinnamon & nutmeg)
3oz pecan halves
3oz cashews, roasted and salted
3oz dried cranberries
1 pomegranate, seeds only
4 tbsp flat leaf parsley, washed and chopped
Directions
Boil the rice for 25 minutes in the stock. Drain and set aside. Boil the beans in salted water for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, in a large casserole dish, fry the onions in the oil until cooked and softened. Add the beans, rice and mixed spice to the onions and stir well. (At this point you can freeze the rice mixture in a large Pyrex container and freeze for later use. After thawing the dish can simply be placed in the oven and reheated.) Stir in the pecans, cashews and cranberries. Serve with pomegranate seeds and parsley sprinkled on top.
No Bake White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies
Servings 12 servings
Ingredients
1 cup coconut flour
2 cups cashew butter can use any nut or seed butter of choice
2/3 cup maple syrup
2-4 tablespoons White chocolate
1-2 tablespoons dried raspberries
Directions
Line a large baking tray or plate with baking paper and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, add the coconut flour and set aside. In a microwave-safe bowl or stovetop, combine the cashew butter with maple syrup and heat until melted and mix until incorporated. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir until fully combined. Fold through the chocolate pieces and dried raspberries and mix well. If the batter is a little too crumbly, add some milk of choice until a thick batter remains. Using your hands, form 12 balls and press down to a cookie shape on the baking tray. Using a fork, press down on it twice and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until firm. TO STORE: Store the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. I don’t recommend storing them at room temperature as they’re prone to becoming soft. TO FREEZE: Place the cookies in a freezer bag, separating them with parchment paper (to prevent sticking), and freeze for 6 months. Let the cookies thaw overnight in the fridge.
Variations include: Vegan. Use non-dairy milk and vegan white chocolate chips. Swap the fruit. Use freeze-dried blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, or a mix of berries. Add jam. For a softer, gooey cookie, add a spoonful of raspberry jam. If you go this route, reduce the milk by half. Extracts. To infuse more flavor into the cookies, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or almond extract. Garnish. Top the cookies with sea salt or brown sugar.
Nutrition: Serving: 1serving | Calories: 159kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 11g | Fiber: 9g | Vitamin A: 200IU | Vitamin C: 3.3mg | Calcium: 40mg | Iron: 0.7mg | NET CARBS: 5g