Holiday eating can be healthy as well as delicious
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BY ERIN ANDERSEN/Lincoln Journal Star
You don’t have to have diabetes to benefit from a diabetic diet.
And if you have diabetes, you don’t have to eat differently from other people, says registered dietitian Brenda Ponichtera,
“The bottom line is everyone needs to eat more healthy,” she said in an interview from her Oregon home.
And diabetic-friendly foods are healthier than their full fat, high sodium, higher calorie counterparts.
What they are not is bland, boring, tasteless or even noticeably different from the traditional fare, Ponichtera said. You can eat healthy and indulge at the same time — especially during the holidays.
Recently, Janet Buck, a registered dietitian in Lincoln, presented a class through Open Harvest on diabetic-friendly alterations to holiday favorite foods.
For all the numerical savings in carbohydrates, fats, cholesterol and sugars — one could argue these made-over appetizers, side dishes and desserts actually had more flavor.
The big secret to healthy eating, is not a secret at all.
“When you look at all the science and studies it boils down to eating less, being more active, quit eating all the processed stuff with all the fats and sugars and salt, and try to eat the stuff that is closer to nature,” Buck said.
It also helps to pay attention, said Brian Wansick, author of “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think” and director of Cornell Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University.
“The secret solution to mindless eating is not mindful eating,” he said. “Most diets don’t work. Most people don’t want to go through life tallying up calories before they eat.
“The solution is to rearrange your environment so you mindlessly eat better,” Wansick said in a telephone interview from his New York home. “We need to reverse all the cues that cause us to eat too much or eat the wrong thing, so we naturally eat the right thing.”
Take Buck’s recipe for Spiced Mixed Nuts. Nuts are high in fat, but mostly good fat. What’s unhealthy about nut mixes is the butter and salt used to flavor them, Buck said. So for her recipe she cuts down the butter — or even substitutes olive oil — and adds the zesty taste through spices like chili powder, garlic salt (or powder) and cayenne pepper.
Instead of Idaho white potatoes, which are high in carbohydrates, she suggests cooking with sweet potatoes, which are rich in antioxidants. And to season these naturally sweeter potatoes she mixes into butter fresh herbs — rosemary, sage, thyme and parsley — which allows lots of flavor with much less fat.
And while wild rice cranberry and apple stuffing is filled with all the good stuff that satisfies hunger as well as appeases eager tastebuds, it is also significantly healthier if you use brown and wild rice and keep the skins on the apples for more dietary fiber.
“ We need to start cooking again,” Buck said. “Part of our problem is we eat stuff in cartons, boxes, jars and fast food. A lot of us are not eating real food anymore.
“But, if you make good food, it’s good for you,” Buck said.
And if you’re still worried about all the extra calories you’ll take in this holiday season, take some solace from Wansick.
“People like to make a big deal out of this time of the year,” he said. “If you look at Thanksgiving, yeah, people eat a whole lot. But if they they ate 10 less calories at every dinner for the rest of the year — the equivalent of three fewer Tic Tacs a day — you can erase all those calories eaten in those dinners.”
Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.
Healthy Diabetic Recipes
Roasted sweet potatoes with herb butter
Fresh sweet potatoes
Oil or butter
Wash and dry the potatoes; rub them with a little butter or oil (or leave dry for a crisper skin). Pierce them with a fork in a few places. Place on a cookie sheet or baking pan lined with foil.
Bake at 425 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour, depending on size, until the flesh is quite tender.
Mixed Herb Butter
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter
½ teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon dried sage
¼ teaspoon chopped dried rosemary
Soften the butter and then cream it in a small bowl with a fork or spatula. Add the herbs and mix thoroughly. Can chill before using. Also freezes well.
Another flavored butter to try on sweet potatoes:
Chili Lime Butter
6 tablespoons butter, salted
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons chili powder
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
In a small bowl, blend together the butter, lime juice and chili powder until thoroughly combined. Season with salt and pepper.
Recipe courtesy of Bonnie Bake
Spiced Mixed Nuts
2 tablespoon butter
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup whole almonds
1 cup dry-roasted unsalted peanuts
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Add butter to a 13x9x2-inch baking pan; set the pan in the oven to melt the butter. Remove the pan from the oven; add pecans, almonds, peanuts and Worcestershire sauce to the melted butter. Gently stir until well mixed. Bake the nut mixture until it is toasted, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Remove the nuts from the oven and sprinkle the mixture evenly with chili powder, garlic salt and cayenne pepper. Toss until well mixed. Transfer the warm nuts to a bowl and serve immediately, or let cool and store at room temperature in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Recipe from Southern U.S. Cuisine (www.southernfood.about.com/)
Wild rice, cranberry and apple stuffing
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
1 medium apple (about one cup), diced
2 stalks celery (about 2/3 cup), diced
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
Pinch of dried or fresh thyme (optional)
Pinch of dried sage (optional)
1 cup hot cooked wild rice
1 cup hot cooked white or brown rice
½ cup orange juice
¼ to ½ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup sliced green onions (green tops only)
Salt and black pepper to taste (optional)
Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Add apple, celery and garlic, if using. Cook and stir about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in thyme and sage, if using. Cook a few seconds and stir in wild rice, white or brown rice, orange juice and cranberries; cook one minute. Just before serving, stir in green onions and season with salt and pepper, if desired.
Tips: Leave skins on apples for the fiber. If you use fresh cranberries, cook them first and cool, and reduce amount of orange juice.
Makes 8 1/3 cup servings.
Recipe from Diabetic Cooking, Nov/Dec 2004
Fat-free flour gravy
1 cup cold, fat-free broth, divided (chicken, turkey or beef)
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
Seasonings to taste
Pour ¼ cup of broth in a covered container. Add flour and shake well to prevent lumps.
Stovetop: In a small saucepan, combine remainder of broth with flour mixture. Cook on medium until boiling, while stirring constantly with a wire whisk. Continue stirring until thickened.
For microwave: In a 4-cup glass measuring cup, combine remainder of broth with flour mixture. Heat on high for 2-3 minutes (stirring well with a wire whisk after each minute) or until thickened.
Note: Use 3½ tablespoons of flour for one 14.5 ounce can of broth.
Makes 1 cup.
Calories, 9; fat, 0 mg; cholesterol, 0 mg; sodium, 47 mg; carbohydrates, 2 grams; dietary fiber, 0 grams; sugars, 0 grams; protein, 1 gram
“Quick and Healthy Recipes and Ideas” by Brenda Ponichtera
Peppermint Mousse
1 small box (1 ounce) sugar-free instant white chocolate pudding
2 cups fat-free milk
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
3-4 drops red food coloring
2 cups fat-free whipped topping
5 crushed peppermint candies (optional), regular or sugar-free
In medium bowl, mix pudding with milk, peppermint extract and food coloring.
Stir constantly with a wire whisk for two minutes. Refrigerate for five minutes.
Add whipped topping and mix well. Spoon into five parfait glasses and serve as is or topped with crushed peppermint candies or candy cane.
Makes five ¾-cup servings.
Calories,102; fat, 0 grams; cholesterol, 2 mg; sodium, 313 mg; carbohydrates,19 grams; dietary fiber, 0 grams; sugars, 8 grams; protein, 3 grams
Chicken and biscuits
This recipe is also good for using leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Look for biscuits that are only 100 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and 1 gram of fiber for two biscuits.
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1¾ cups fat-free chicken broth, divided
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1 cup frozen peas or corn
8 ounces sliced mushrooms (about 3 cups)
1 jar (2 ounces) chopped pimiento, drained
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 can (7 ounces) buttermilk biscuits (10 biscuits per can)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small covered container, shake flour with ½ cup of broth.
In a medium skillet that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, add remaining broth and flour mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened. Reduce heat and add chicken, peas, mushrooms, pimiento, parsley and pepper. Return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for five minutes.
In a 2-quart casserole that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, add hot chicken mixture.
Place biscuits on top of the hot chicken mixture. Bake 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Let set for 5 minutes before serving. Serve in bowls.
“Quick & Healthy Recipes and Ideas” by Brenda J. Ponichtera
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