Nearing the end of another year, we often look back in retrospect. The refreshing part about a new year is the possibilities of change and hope of things new. Resolutions begin, and many resolve to change their health for the better.
But first, who cares, let’s eat! The Christmas and New Year’s season brings festivities and foods we may not normally indulge in throughout the year. When the buffet is over, the battle begins. Everyone wants to lose weight, get healthy and make “this year” the year to do it. In medical terms, to resolve is to return from a pathological to a normal condition. Sounds about right. In nutritional terms, that means ditch the junk food and start eating better.
Solution: Don’t let the holiday season sabotage your health goals. Just because 37.6 cousins, great aunts and neighbors may converge upon you is no reason to have to tolerate them with as many layers of phylo pastry and martini’s. What if we resolved to enter the season of full-fat and fudge with a solution rather than a resolution. What would happen if we changed the holiday menu? Hmm…let’s see…
Voila! Some ideas to make the season of indulgence a whole lot healthier to avoid the belt buckle body indents (“ouch”) in January:
Turkey is traditional and a lean protein. Instead of serving it with the usual white potato and gravy-butter volcano, consider grilled or baked sweet potatoes with cinnamon, nutmeg and maple syrup. Mash up some cooked cauliflower and add a little chicken broth, garlic, salt and pepper for “fake” potatoes. No one cares once the gravy is added. I’ll allow for gravy – but only for the day.
Stuffing is…stuffing! Replace the usual white/wheat bread with a blend of breads such as kamut, spelt, and fill it in with a little quinoa, roasted nuts and wild rice. Stuffing just turned into a protein pickup.
Kale is on everyone’s healthy list this year and it’s green . Green goes with anything this time of year, so add a fresh kale salad to your meal by chopping it fine and blending in some pumpkin and sunflower seeds tossed with dried cranberries and a light olive oil and citrus based dressing. If you find kale too strong a taste, blend it with some baby greens to lighten up the flavor.
Serve what I call “orange soup.” That is a blend of carrot, sweet potato, butternut and acorn squash as a cream soup (make it dairy free with coconut milk instead of milk). Cook with a few cored apples and add some maple syrup, cinnamon and cloves. Vitamin A never tasted so good. Everyone will love it and your family and guests will leave with a charged immune system ready for this year’s version of the illness formerly known as “the flu.” (Which has now successfully mutated into 3 months of body aching, bone-chilling, mucous hell!)
Veggies: platters, plates, raw and baked. Get creative with veggies and toss in some toasted walnuts, pecans and sliced brazil nuts. Dips are for hips, so lighten up with a dip made with fat-free yogurt. Broil or grill with olive, avocado or walnut oil rather than loading up on butter. Invited to a party? Bring a vegetable tray with hummus or an avocado dip. Avocados are only “weird” until you mash them up and add some fresh lime, cilantro and a dash of hot sauce. Then everyone loves an avocado – even if they don’t know how to eat one.
Fruit: Instead of a mile high chocolate, puffy cream thing for dessert, make up a mixed berry cobbler with an oatmeal topping made with oats, coconut, finely chopped nuts and a sprinkle of cinnamon. You can use frozen peaches instead of berries. Serve with a vanilla coconut milk or almond milk “ice cream”.
Or pile up colorful raw fruits and serve with a citrus yogurt dip. Melt some dark chocolate with a little coconut oil and let all kinds of fruit dance around it with dipping sticks. The antioxidants in this dessert are too many to tell. These types of desserts will ensure you don’t need to follow up dinner with 4 rolls of TUMS!
Oh, and don’t get hammered. Some wine with dinner, not dinner with your wine folks. Alcohol packs on pounds faster than grandma’s 7–layer magic bars! Now, isn’t that a nice Christmas dinner?
The solution is not to create a re-solution. Eat healthy, because your health is one of the greatest gifts for every season.
