Well believe it or not but Thanksgiving is here! The whole meaning behind Thanksgiving is to be “thankful”, so spend your holiday enjoying yourself with family and friends, and don’t consume your day obsessing about food! Change your mindset, instead of trying to lose weight during the holiday, aim to maintain. Keeping up your exercise routine is extremely important. Here are some other easy tips for that special day:
- Don’t sit next to the food table; you will munch your way to weight gain!
- Scope out the food line before you make your selections, if not your plate will be overflowing when you reach the end!
- Don’t drink your calories, with all the food options you will have, save them up!
- Don’t be a member of the “clean plate club”, stop eating when you are full. Why spend your afternoon being miserably full?
- If you are the hostess, cook up some healthier options and put out fruits and vegetables to snack on.
- If you are attending a party, bring a healthier option.
If you are cooking the feast or preparing a dish to bring, here are a few tips for those common holiday foods to help you cut back on calories and make your recipes healthier!
Sweet Potato Casserole: Use egg whites or egg beaters in place of whole eggs; reduce the amount of margarine or use lite margarine; add some apple sauce to the sweet potato mixture; Substitute orange juice for some of the melted margarine in the streusel topping
Stuffing: make with low fat margarine; replace whole eggs with egg whites or egg beaters; substitute chicken or turkey sausage for pork sausage; use fat free, low sodium chicken broth; choose whole grain bread
Mashed Potatoes: Make with low fat cream cheese or lite butter; replace some of the potato with steamed cauliflower; use 2% milk or low fat butter milk in place of heavy cream
Corn Bread: use low fat buttermilk, substitute egg whites or egg beaters for whole eggs; cut down on the oil, and add an extra splash of milk or some applesauce
Creamed Spinach: make with lite margarine; replace sour cream with low fat sour cream; substitute Neufchatel cheese for cream cheese; add half the amount of parmesan cheese called for in recipe
Macaroni and Cheese: Make with lite margarine, use low fat cottage cheese; choose low fat half and half, evaporated milk or skim milk; substitute egg beaters for whole eggs; select whole grain, lite bread for the topping; replace sour cream with low fat sour cream if recipe calls for it
Have a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!
Estelle L. Benoit, RD, LDN
Source: www.rd411.com