They holidays are synonymous with celebrations and parties filled with extra treats and sweets.  We can enjoy these festivities with fervor and flavor without all the added sugar that contributing to illnesses including diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome.  In fact one-third of our children are battling obesity, and it is projected that 1 in 4 children born in 2000 will develop diabetes.  This really hits home for me because my oldest daughter was born in 2000.  This means that unless people embrace the necessity to reduce refined sugars in their diets and make other lifestyle changes now, some of her closest friends are likely to develop diabetes.

Try out these tips on reducing the overall amount of sugar in your holiday treats and share recipes like this one — Decadent Vegan Truffles — with friends and family to serve holiday treats that are naturally sweet enough without added sugars for all to enjoy.

Avoid added sugars by choosing recipes that do not contain them.  Instead choose recipes that contain dried fruit like dates, bananas or applesauce that are naturally sweet.  Here’s a killer cookie recipe with no added sugar from my blog that is a crowd pleaser — Chocolate Almond Oatmeal Bites

Reduce added sugars – you can safely reduce the cane or other added sugar in most dessert recipes by 25% without affecting taste or texture.

Replace up to 1/4th of the refined sugars called for in your recipes with stevia or luo han guo. Stevia is a plant leaf you can grow in your garden or in a pot on your patio or balcony.  You can also buy it dried and ground into a powder that is 30 times sweeter than table sugar.  Some people perceive it to have a slightly bitter aftertaste which can be masked by the sugar remaining in the recipe.  Luo han go is a sweet fruit from China that is dried and used as a sugar substitute and medicinal herb.  Both plants are zero calorie sweeteners with low glycemic index which means they do not significantly produce a rise in blood sugar levels when eaten.

School is out for the holidays and your kids are looking for something fun to do while you are making all the holiday preparations. (Or you maybe you are trying to pull teenagers away from their cell phones and video games.)  Usher those little elves into the kitchen to help you prepare and serve your holiday meals.  They will have great fun hanging out with you in the kitchen preparing some of their holiday favorites.  Research shows that when kids help out with shopping and meal prep, they are much more likely to eat what is served because they helped prepare it!  Here are five tips on getting your children interested and engaged in cooking.

5 Tips for Family Fun in the Kitchen for the Holidays and Beyond

1. Include your kids in menu planning.  Have your kids help you build a menu of their holiday favorites surrounded by whole foods, rich in color and nutrients.  Remember to give them my “Four Color Challenge” to build meals including at least four different colors from whole plant foods to provide their bodies with a variety of micronutrients.
2. Gift each of your kids an apron, mixing spoon and cutting board.  Ownership of these basic kitchen tools welcomes a child into the kitchen and makes them feel more comfortable tackling the tasks you assign them.  Kids love to stir, blend, chop and decorate. Teach them kitchen safety, and age appropriate knife skills and let them help you chop vegetables and nuts, stir soups and sauces, and mix batters.
3. Give them ownership of one of the holiday menu items.  Younger kids can help arrange the veggie platter, while older kids can tackle making an appetizer, side dish or dessert. They will feel very accomplished sharing their creations with friends and family at the holiday table. Let them help serve up their creations and make sure everyone at the table know who made the dish.
4. Ask kids to be food critics – When cooking together, ask their opinions on how they think the foods tastes.  Does it need more salt, pepper, cinnamon, or cayenne pepper?  Kids like to have their opinions matter.
5. Encourage experimentation and reward creativity.  As kids spend more time in the kitchen, they will want to experiment with different cooking techniques and flavorings.  Give them recipes with choices to do so.

Click here for a recipe kids love to make and are surprised at how much they like the taste!  It is a simple appetizer that they can take ownership of serving to guests upon arrival before a holiday meal.

Mindful eating means you are deliberately paying attention to what you are eating, how you are eating it, where you are eating and why you are eating.  You are not distracted by outside influences like TV, smart phones, books or computers.  You are focused on only 1 task – eating, and you do so with an attitude of gratitude.

The holidays are a busy time of the year with extra events and racing around searching for the perfect gift.  Make an effort to take time out for meals and focus on eating foods packed with nutrition and flavor.  Practicing mindful eating techniques can provide you and your family with many healthful benefits like those listed here.

Benefits of Mindful Eating:

• Reduces indigestion
• Lowers blood pressure
• Tunes you into hunger/thirst cues
• Reduces weight gain and risk of obesity
• Increases enjoyment of eating
• Increases appreciation for those preparing your food

How to Eat Mindfully:

• Choose nutritious foods you enjoy eating
• When possible, involve yourself in preparing and serving your food to gain appreciation for the effort involved in making and serving a healthy meal
• Choose a calm environment where you can focus on your eating experience with minimum distractions – avoid radio, TV, disturbing conversations, or eating on the run
• Sit down and enjoy the visual, smell, feel and texture of foods before you start eating
• Take a deep breath before you begin eating, relax your body, and eat slowly while pausing periodically.  It helps to put your fork down on the table a couple of times during a meal to help slow down the process further
• Keep your thoughts on the food you are chewing now, not the next bite or what’s for dessert. (Try to chew each bite 10-15 times before swallowing) Do not focus on the next bite until you have swallowed the food currently in your mouth
• Honor yourself and your food experience with gratitude while enjoying this moment of eating
• Tune into your body cues of hunger, cravings, fullness, thirst and listen to your self-talk while eating. Change any negative or accusing thoughts to positive, empowering ones.   Keeping a log of when, where, why, and how long you are eating along with thoughts that arise before, during and after you eat can be very helpful to reflect upon when trying to change eating habits and patterns.

Tips for Eating Mindfully in a Social Setting like Holiday Gatherings

When amongst friends and family, we often feel pressured to eat and drink things we don’t normally or eat more food than we would like to.  Try these three tips below to remain mindful not to overdo it.

1. Eat a healthy snack before you arrive at the party, so you are not famished and eating the first food offered to you.  This is a good practice to teach your kids too.
2. Always ask for a glass of water before you indulge in an alcoholic beverage or glass of punch.  This will quench your thirst and allow you to enjoy sipping your special, and most likely, more caloric beverage slowly.
3. You have the option to enjoy a social opportunity without eating.   If someone tries to get you something to eat, tell them you would feel uncomfortable if you ate when you are not hungry.  Enjoy a beverage, and reassure the host/hostess that the food looks great and that you would be happy to take some home, and then ask for recipes.
4. When choosing foods to eat at a gathering, enjoy small tastes first to see what you would like to eat more of.
5. Practice the mindful eating techniques mentioned above.

As we decorate for the holidays, let us not forget how to plan our menus and adorn our plates with plenty of colorful, whole foods in season.  It’s easy when you start thinking of what to serve based on what is in season.  Let Mother Nature be your guide.  She provides us with foods in a variety of colors wrapped up in fiber and mineral rich packaging.  Most of these colorful foods are plants, and the deeper the color the more vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients you consume.

I challenge my clients to eat whole foods (foods that come out of the earth or the animals that eat these plants) of at least 4 different colors at each meal.  Why?  Because by design, Mother Nature already offers us foods in a variety of colors in season to help us eat for optimum health.  This is why all the citrus fruits come ripe this time of year.  Lemons, oranges, mandarins and grapefruits are packed with vitamin C to help ward of colds and flu this colder time of the year.  But I digress…

Back to punching up your holiday meals to infuse color and nutrition.  Here is an example of a holiday meal makeover doing just that.

Holiday Meal Makeover

BEFORE:

AFTER:

1. Visit your local farmers market.  They will be selling foods in season.
2. Grains are dried and therefore available all year round.  Fruits and vegetables in season at the supermarket are usually the ones on sale due to a larger supply that time of year (Check signage to make sure they are grown in the U.S. and not imported from Mexico or South America.)
3. Contact your state Department of Agriculture or look for your state in this online guide from Field to Plate  to find what’s in season in your part of the country.

And lastly, if you live somewhere where there is snow on the grown over the holidays, you will need to purchase fruits and veggies that have been shipped in from another state, frozen or canned.  The 4 color challenge still applies, and based on your budget you will want to choose as much fresh as you can with the balance coming mostly from frozen fruits and veggies versus canned because they retain more nutrient value.

Over the holidays, we enjoy the company of family and friends and often times meet up at restaurants to celebrate.  These gatherings often result in the average American packing on an extra 5-7 pounds!  Knowing how to navigate your way through all the deliciously tempting offerings to choose more nutritious and cost effective meals for you and your family is a skill that both your body and your wallet will appreciate. Try these nine tips that many of my clients find useful to reduce their calorie load and cost while boosting nutrition when dining out.

9 Tips for Boosting Nutrition, Battling the Bulge and Reducing the Bill

1. Research restaurants online before you arrive to review the menu and pre-plan choices based on family preferences, cost, etc., so when the server is standing over your shoulder, you are prepared to ask questions and make choices to include more nutrient dense foods and not unintentionally add costs to your bill.
2. Decline the kids menu.  Most options designed for kids are full of very yellow and brown looking choices lacking colorful nutrition and full of added sugar and salt. Instead, order an adult portion of a meal and have the kids share it.  Adult options often come with vegetables and salad options that are not available on the kids menu unless you pay an extra fee.
3. Stick to ordering water instead of sugary sodas and juices or alcoholic beverages that can add not only extra calories but extra $ to your bill – sometimes as much as 15-20%!    It is a party after all, so if you do indulge in a glass of wine or other alcoholic beverage, drink a glass of water beforehand to quench your thirst and keep you from downing your special beverage quickly and ordering another.  This extra water will also curb hunger and hydrate you to reduce chances of overeating.
4. Go family style! Order for you and your dining partner (or entire family) so everyone can enjoy a variety of foods including their favorites and other sides like fruits and veggies that are often times packed with more nutrition.  One person can order their meal with fries and others with a side salads or veggies, so everyone can have a little of everything.  This practice can also reduce your overall bill by 10-15% because you don’t have to order special side dishes.
5. Ask for substitutions. You’ll be surprised how accommodating the kitchen will be.  You can ask to swap out the white rice for brown, salad for french fries, or extra veggies instead of the twice baked potato.
6. Order dressings and sauces on the side so you, not the kitchen control how much you consume.
7. Ask for a take home container when you order your meal, so if you are not very hungry or a large portion arrives, you can set aside some of it to eat later before you begin your meal.  This helps deter overeating.
8. Skip the bread, crackers or corn chips offered to distract you while your meal is being prepared.  In fact, ask the server when you are being seated not to bring these “fillers” to the table.  Instead, occupy your time with your tablemates by playing games and/or engaging in conversation while waiting for food to arrive.  It is a party after all!  My family always has Uno, Tic-Tac-Toe and a dice game called Left-Right-Center in the car for just such occasions.
9. Order one dessert with several spoons.  When it’s time to order dessert, consider ordering one dessert (or two if you have a party of 4 or more) and a spoon for ever member to have a taste rather than everyone having their own.  This will significantly reduce your calories and refined sugar and again reduce your bill by another 10-25%!

I hope you find these tips as helpful.  Over 50% of the meals we eat in the U.S. are eaten away from home, so after the holidays are over, share these tips with your friends and family so they can continue to benefit all year long.

Green Tip:

Leave reusable containers in your car, so you can take home leftovers in them instead of using a Styrofoam container for 12-24 hours that will say in a landfill for an eternity.