Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, the day that we express thanks for all the wonderful things in our lives and remember the hardships of the pilgrims that landed in the New World. It is a time to reflect, take joy in family and friends… and eat really good food.
Here is a really quick and simple recipe for a cranberry sauce alternative. Whereas a store-bought or traditional serving of cranberry sauce/jelly racks up 25-45 grams of carbs, this recipe serving has 8.5 grams. And it is from whole foods, not a can.
This marmalade tastes great with turkey, by itself, or in a spoonful of your Thanksgiving mish-mash (you know how it is hard to keep Thanksgiving foods from touching each other?)
Remember to check your blood sugar before your meal, after your meal, and probably several times after that. Better to know how your body is responding to all the Thanksgiving foods, than to end up sick and trying to get your blood sugar back in range.
What are the smells and tastes that come to mind when you think of the winter holidays? Wood burning fires. Peppermint. Pine cones. Cider. Warm vanilla and spices. Evergreen. And of course, Cinnamon!
Cinnamon touches your senses with a little sweet and a little spicy. This time of year, cinnamon goes into baked goods, candles, perfumes, hot drinks, and every wintery, holiday specialty. So you’ll be happy to know that cinnamon might do more than just taste and smell nice!
Scientists have been oscillating back and forth about this extract from tree bark. But recently, they are looking a bit more closely, trying to organize larger studies on the cinnamon has on diabetes.
Although there are not enough studies or results to prove anything right now, cinnamon might have the following effects: “anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, cardiovascular, cholesterol-lowering, and immunomodulatory.” But, the property that might give grandma’s cinnamon whole wheat bread recipe a new life is that “cinnamon may act as an insulin mimetic (it might imitate insulin), to potentiate insulin activity or to stimulate cellular glucose metabolism” (it might help insulin work better or help your cells process glucose better).
I must admit, I used to be less than excited to eat fruits and vegetables in the colder months of the year. I associated spring and summer with juicy berries, ripe tomatoes, grilled zucchini and eggplant, and a bounty of colorful fruits and veggies. When I thought of vegetables in the winter, I thought…turnips.
But I was so wrong! There are tons of tasty, nutritional fruits and vegetables that are in season through the winter months.
Here is a list of what’s in season. Pick fruits and veggies from these lists and search for delicious recipes. Buy these foods for more affordable, in season produce. Add the variety and color to your plate for tons of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and good nutrition.
Several of these fruits and vegetables are complex carbohydrates and will help you control your blood sugars.
We are quickly approaching the holiday known as "feasting day" or Thanksgiving! I love this day not for the abundance of food, although there are many nutrient-rich foods available, but for the chance to create new, healthier traditions.
Whether it's adding healthier ingredients to your table or going on an after-meal walk, this year enjoy the day and your favorites without overloading on carbs and calories.
I've included some ideas to get you started!
Plan Ahead
First, decide on the foods you really want. Find out what’s on the menu, picture yourself filling your plate and what you will say when you are offered seconds or when Aunt Jane insists you take one of her homemade rolls! Remember, practice makes progress and the more prepared you are the better you will be at making healthier choices!
Add Activity to Your Priority List
Set time to get out for a walk, bike ride or do yard work before the festivities start. Being active helps blood glucose (also known as blood sugar) levels stay lower throughout the day and starts burning calories before you carve into your holiday meal! Find a Turkey-Day walk or run near you at and begin a healthy holiday tradition.
Halloween just passed by and Thanksgiving, holiday parties, Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Years are hot on its heels. Don’t get lured into the feast and famine mentality that can come with the food heavy parties and famines in between to “make up for it.” This up and down cycle is not good for your blood sugars, your weight, your metabolism or your mental health.
Start out this holiday season with the right mentality and game plan to maneuver through the parties, the holiday stress, and the ever-present temptations without high highs, dangerous lows, and an expanding waste line. You know it’s true.
The fad diets, the short starvation diets, the detox diets, the low carb diets, the liquid diets. None of them work long-term. None of them are healthy. And most of them make you feel terrible.
Set your mind to it now; plan a steady and healthy diet with enough flexibility that let’s you feel like it really is Christmas.
Make Your Own Halloween Treat and Curb Halloween Cravings with Your Own Recipe
Take a preemptive strike against mindless Halloween snacking by allowing yourself one of these sweet indulgences without loads of sugar and fat.
This recipe has the same amount of fat and carbohydrates as 2 fun size snickers bars. But one of these cookies will take longer to eat and will fill you up more than 2 little candy bars. Plus there is more nutritional content in these cookies than in candy! (Note: adding frosting will up the Calories, carbs, and fat on this cookies. Try the cookies without frosting first!)
Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients (makes 18 rolled out cookies)
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/2 cup solid pack pumpkin puree
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch salt
Directions
In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and orange zest. Stir in the pumpkin. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt; stir into the pumpkin mixture. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes and place onto an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven.
There are a lot of articles floating around these days claiming, “Eat More Food and Lose Weight” or “Eat More to Lose More.” Does this confuse you? Don’t worry. It’s misleading, so let me explain a bit more in depth what these authors are most likely getting at.
Some people think that they need to eat only salads to lose weight or that they can eat only one meal in a day in order to lose weight. These “weight loss strategies” are not healthy and not successful at all.
Those headlines are trying to let you know (however misleading and poorly conveyed) that it is better to eat several small meals throughout the day to lose weight. Also, several small meals throughout the day will make it easier for your pancreas to release insulin, helping control your blood sugar.
Do you find your good nutrition intentions thwarted by recipe ingredients like shortening, whole milk, butter, cream, and sugar? Cooking at home not only can save calories and money, it empowers you to know exactly what is going into your food. So don’t get frustrated by choosing a seemingly healthy recipe only to find out that it is not as wholesome as you thought. All you need are a few good substitutions in your back pocket to be the healthy, master chef or baker.
Here is a list of baking substitutions that will expand your recipe index. You can choose those recipes that you love and make them better for you with a few switches and swaps.
Use non-hydrogenated oils or trans-fat free margarines instead of butter
Use evaporated skim milk instead of heavy cream
Replace half the amount of cooking oil in a recipe with an equal amount of applesauce or pureed prunes or figs.
Swap half the amount of white flour for whole wheat flour
Grease your baking pans, molds, and sheets with cooking spray instead of butter and flour
Safely cut the original amount of sugar in half
If you like to use sugar substitutes, follow the label instructions for substitutions
Replace shortening with the same amount of butter
Cut the fat in half and replace the difference with buttermilk in quick breads
Use 2 egg whites in place of one whole egg
For recipes that use several eggs, swap half the number of eggs for the equivalent in egg substitute
Cut the amount of fruits or nuts in half and add to the top of cakes or breads instead of mixing in
Use skim milk or 1 percent over whole milk
Swap 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder for an ounce of unsweetened chocolate
Use non, fat plain yogurt or non-fat sour cream instead of regular sour cream
Use cake flour instead of white flour for crusts. This allows you to cut back on the butter slightly.
Cut out at least some of the salt
Use spices like cinnamon, all spice, and nutmeg or citrus zest to replace flavors
Replace cream cheese with skim ricotta cheese or half the cream cheese with low fat cream cheese
Whipped cream can be totally replaced by chilling a can of evaporated milk for 12 hours and adding 1 teaspoon lemon juice before whipping until stiff.
Evaporated milk in a recipe can be switched for evaporated skim milk
What are your best healthy substitutions and what have you successfully swapped out? Tell us your secrets and your recipes.
Remember, just because you are able to cut out some fat and sugar, does not mean that you get to have more. Portion size is just as important! Have fun concocting and making small changes to improve your health!
Next time, we’ll dish over some great cooking substitutions.
I admit it, I am guilty of jumping on the Halloween candy train because I don’t want to be the neighborhood house that passes out stalks of celery.
Does this happen to you too?
I end up tossing bags of candy into my shopping cart on a last minute whim, buying candy that I don’t even want in my house.
So, I decided to do some of the work beforehand by choosing carefully which candies I will buy.
Take a look at this list and choose for yourself which Halloween candy you can in good conscience pass out to kids (and yourself in small portion sizes).
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, the day that we express thanks for all the wonderful things in our lives and remember the hardships of the pilgrims that landed in the New World. It is a time to reflect, take joy in family and friends… and eat really good food.
