With the busyness of the holiday season and the wide array of foods, it can be a challenge to keep a commitment to eating healthy. Here’s some tips to promote healthy eating.
Place a smaller serving spoon in the higher fat foods. Serve vegetable appetizers such as stuffed tomatoes, marinated mushrooms or roasted vegetables.
Serve colorful fruit in a bowl or put fruit on a skewer to make it fun. Make fruit based desserts such as cinnamon apples, strawberry/blueberry shortcake or fruited gelatin. Grapes are a tasty and easy item to munch on.
Make low fat dips and serve with lots of sliced vegetables. Set out a bowl of whole grain cereal mixed with nuts and pretzels.
Add fruit to a bowl of sparkling water.
Make cookies that include fruit such as raisins, cranberries or dates.
You can make baked goods healthier using these substitutions:
Instead of: Use:
Full fat cream cheese Fat free cream cheese or greek yogurt
Sour cream Low fat greek yogurt
All purpose flour Whole wheat flour for half of the flour in the recipe
Whole milk Reduced fat or skim milk
Sugar You can decrease the amount of sugar by 25% in most recipes without affecting the overall recipe.
Boost flavor with spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger or vanilla.
Cut cakes into smaller pieces. Use a smaller cookie scoop when making cookies.
If you are making cookies to bring somewhere, don’t make more than you are going to take. You can freeze the uncooked cookie dough for later use.
Plan ahead: If there is a gathering later in the day, eat smaller, healthy meals during the day. Don’t skip meals and eat a healthy snack before a party to prevent yourself from overeating on unhealthy foods when you arrive at the gathering.
Use a smaller plate so it looks like you have more food. Eat slow and savor the holiday food flavors. Double up on vegetables.
Make the conversations you have with people the focus rather than the food. Think about what you are celebrating and concentrate on making memories!
Author: Shelley Sebring, RD, LDN
Title: Registered Dietitian