By Beth W. Orenstein
Turkey with stuffing and gravy, pumpkin pie, eggnog, potato pancakes — we often think we have to skip these favorite holiday dishes to avoid holiday weight gain. “But that’s actually not the case at all,” says Karen Ansel, MS, RD, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and co-author of The Calendar Diet: A Month by Month Guide to Losing Weight While Living Your Life. By making some smart substitutions and keeping an eye on portion control, you can enjoy your favorite holiday foods without expanding your waistline — or having to go on a diet in the new year.
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Here are some easy ways to turn your favorite seasonal dishes into healthy holiday recipes:
Trim the fat. Just about every recipe calls for much more oil and butter than you actually need, says Ansel. Cut the oil or butter in your holiday dishes by half, and you'll trim loads of fat and calories. “Nobody will even know the difference taste-wise,” she says.
Lighten up in little ways. Put your brownies on a diet by swapping half the fat with an equal volume of pureed black beans that have been thinned with a little water. “It works — seriously,” Ansel says. To easily lighten recipes that call for eggs: For every two eggs, use one whole egg and two more whites instead — you'll trim 5 grams of fat and 186 milligrams of cholesterol.
Think petite. Mini desserts are all the rage, so why not jump on the bandwagon? Cut brownies into quarters before serving. Make mini-sized cookies or individual pumpkin pies in muffin tins. One or two bites of your favorite holiday desserts are often enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, and you won't feel deprived if you have a mini serving rather than denying yourself completely. Just make sure not to use the mini size as an excuse to eat handfuls of treats.
Boost the fiber. You can give your baked goods a fiber boost by using whole-wheat pastry flour for half the flour. “Whole-wheat pastry flour is light and airy like traditional flour but packs 4 grams of fiber per quarter-cup, compared to less than a gram in all-purpose flour,” Ansel says. Other ways to boost fiber: Make your Thanksgiving stuffing from whole-wheat rather than white bread, suggests Judy Caplan, MS, RD, also a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and author of GoBeFull: Eight Keys to a Healthy Lifestyle. Use whole-grain cornmeal for rich-tasting cornbread and add chopped nuts to baked goods.
Sneak in fruits or vegetables. Make your holiday foods more nutritious and delicious. Start your holiday meal with a large leafy salad with a light vinaigrette dressing. Mix pureed cauliflower into your mashed potatoes or choose sweet potatoes rather than plain white. Mix tart dried cherries into cookies instead of chocolate chips and bake pumpkin, zucchini, or banana bread rather than flour-only loaves.
Choose leaner cuts of meat. “You don’t need a well-marbled roast for your Christmas dinner,” Caplan says. Buy a leaner cut and marinate it for tenderness, or consider a skinless turkey breast rather than the whole bird.
Bake rather than fry. Potato latkes or pancakes are a popular Hanukkah treat. Although the holiday tradition is to fry them in oil, Caplan says they can be just as tasty when they’re baked instead. You can sneak fiber and vegetables into your latkes, too. Make your latkes with zucchini, carrots, or sweet potatoes rather than white potatoes, she suggests.
Thin your gravy. “Everyone thinks they have to dump cornstarch and flour into gravy — not so,” Caplan says. A tip to ensure healthy cooking for the holidays: Skim the fat from meat- pan juices and put the juices in a saucepan. Add red or white wine and boil down the liquid. Serve it as an “au jus” instead of a heavy gravy.
Use low-fat dairy. Does your holiday dip recipe call for cream cheese or sour cream? Use the low-fat version or substitute fat-free Greek or another thick yogurt. Use evaporated fat-free milk to lighten up favorite holiday soups and casseroles that call for heavy cream. And try making eggnog with almond milk. “Almond milk isn’t nearly as high in fat as regular milk, and it’s just as creamy,” Caplan says. A word of caution: Unless you’re an experienced baker, it may be best not to try substitutes for heavy cream and other fats in baked goods, as the ratios of ingredients can be temperamental.
Make these holiday food substitutions and your friends and family aren’t likely to notice. In fact, your get-togethers will be just as much fun — and healthier, too.
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