Nutrition, healthy eating and the upcoming holidays

Nutrition: Healthy Eating and the Upcoming Holidays
As we approach the holidays, Thanksgiving in particular, I would like to share some reminders and ideas for getting through this holiday season without over-eating, cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal while keeping it healthy for you and your loved ones. First off, portion control. We all know and have heard about portion control and practice it quite well between New Years and Thanksgiving. However, during the holidays we tend to forget all about portion control, or at least ignore what we practice the rest of the year. Remember, everything in moderation. It is ok to have a little of Aunt Sue's triple chocolate layered dessert that could be called Chocolate Overload, or Death By Chocolate, or a slice of Aunt Marie's simply decadent pumpkin roll, we must simply remember to use our heads and practice moderation.

Portion Control
Take a very small portion, much like you would serve a young child. This will allow you to enjoy the dish without blowing you diet out of the water. Take very small bites, chewing slowly and savoring the flavor. This will allow you the maximum enjoyment of your food while keeping the portion small. I would urge you to use this strategy on the entire meal as well. Ever been to a traditional family dinner over the holidays where you eat way too much and feel awful later? I know I have. Now I try really hard to remember portion control all year long including the holidays. I am not saying that it is easy, far from it. In fact, I am not sure there is a group out there that enjoys eating as much as chiropractors, at least the ones I know. Simply watching portion control is not the only answer to eating healthy during the holidays. Let's examine which foods to choose and how to prepare them in the healthiest way possible for yourself and all of your loved ones, while retaining the most nutritional value and traditional tastes of your dishes.First, lets examine the entrees for the traditional Thanksgiving feast.

Turkey

Turkey is low in fat and high in protein. It is an inexpensive source of iron, zinc, phosphorus, potassium and B vitamins. A serving of turkey is a 2 to 3-ounce cooked portion. This portion is roughly the size of an average adult’s palm and near the same thickness. Remember though, not everyone has "average" sized hands, some of us have hands that are much larger than normal. If you have smaller hands, you can gauge a "real good palm full", but alas, I do not fit in this category.The portions below represent 100 grams, approximately 3 1/2 ounces, of sliced meat from a whole roasted turkey. A 3 1/2-ounce portion of turkey is about the size and thickness of a deck of cards. The fat and calorie content varies because white meat has less fat and fewer calories than dark meat and skin. One gram of fat contains 9 calories and one gram of protein contains 4 calories.

Meat Type Calories Total Fat Protein

Breast with skin 194 8 grams 29 grams

Breast w/o skin 161 4 grams 30 grams

Wing w/skin 238 13 grams 27 grams

Leg w/skin 213 11 grams 28 grams

Dark meat w/skin 232 13 grams 27 grams

Dark meat w/o skin 192 8 grams 28 grams

Skin only 482 44 grams 19 grams

So we can easily see that a large portion of the caloric value of turkey is in the skin. While it is pretty simple to avoid the skin, we should also try to choose white or breast meat. If you are dead set on eating dark meat, make sure you skip the skin, keeping your caloric intake roughly the same of having white meat with the skin. BUT, this changes your fat content per portion from 4 grams to 8 grams. Remember that fats are very dense in caloric energy as compared to the proteins, so the body will metabolize the non-fats that you consume to free up space and move food through the digestive tract. The higher caloric density fats will be processed near the end because the amount of energy contained per gram is higher. Therefore the more dense will take longer to process, so the human digestive system puts a low priority on fats. Why is this important?The reasons to keep the fat content down are numerous. Lower fat intake reduces the risk of arterial and heart disease, reduces caloric intake, and last but certainly not least, reduces fat-soluble toxins. Fat soluble toxins can be stored in the body fat, including the skin. When we consume the skin, we are also consuming any toxins and impurities that the turkey had been exposed to and/ or ingested. Ask yourself, "Do I really need any extra toxins in my bloodstream?" I am going to have to assume your answer is "No" or you would not still be reading.So, ideally we would have only skinless turkey breast. My personal view here is to only buy non-processed, whole, organic turkey breasts. This costs slightly more, but is so much healthier for us that I feel the price difference is worth paying for. What happens to all of the dark meat out there that us health conscious people prefer to pass on? Who cares, the industry will use it for something, whether it ends up as processed lunchmeat or pet food. This makes no difference to me, as I will not purchase processed lunch meat for myself anyway.

As far as preparing the remainder of the dishes and desserts in the most healthy way possible, simply use your head when making your menu and shopping list. Avoid using excess butter. Stay away from margarine altogether, this stuff is horrible for you and should be avoided at all costs. Normal household insects will not even consume it or lay their eggs on margarine, showing very simply that there is little to no nutritional value in the product. Chemically, it is compound not far away from a plasticized polymer. Now you are going to ask why use butter instead of margarine? It is simply due to increased fat content in butter compared to margarine, right? It is simply the fact that real butter is much more easily digested by the human body and therefore less likely to become a "free-radical". Loose in the body, free radicals damage our internal organs more than something that can be broken down rapidly and utilized. Use the real butter, just use it in moderation.

Vegetables

Fresh vegetables in the raw state are the most nutritious form. So, ideally we start with fresh, raw vegetables for side dish preparation. Try steaming your vegetables for a short time. Do not overcook them or you will again lose most of the nutrients available. Right before serving, spritz with extra virgin olive oil, and if you like, a dash of salt.In recipes that are to finish with a "sweet" or "slightly sweet" quality, try replacing 1/2 of the butter called for in the recipe with an equal amount of an all-natural applesauce. The results are staggeringly close with a great reduction in fat, and therefore caloric content.

My grandmother used to make the best mashed potatoes ever, but I shudder to think how much butter she used in them. I can get pretty close to duplicating the taste in a low fat version. I start by completely eliminating butter at all. Skim milk and fat free sour cream make a wonderful mashed potato dish. Don't be afraid to add a few peeled cloves of fresh garlic to the pot as the potatoes are boiling, and as you are mashing, add some rosemary, 1 teaspoon, at a time until your taste buds are satisfied.Green bean casserole - pretty simple here, spend the few extra cents for the 98% fat-free version of your cream soups and pick the one with the lowest sodium content.

Cranberry sauce

Some people love the canned, jellied cranberry sauce. Personally, even for taste but definitely for healthy reasons, I would much rather have a cranberry sauce that is homemade from fresh or frozen cranberries. Cranberry sauce is incredibly easy to make. There are some great recipes available at www.allrecipes.com, just remember you can always modify a recipe. Try using only 1/2 the sugar called for or using Splenda instead of sugar. Cut the butter in a recipe by at least half, or, if it is not necessary, leave it out completely. Your guests who are less concerned about their health and food can add it before they eat it if they so choose.

We here at Be Healthy Chiropractic wish you happiness, health and safety for you Thanksgiving celebrations.

Rick Eckles, DC
Be Healthy Chiropractic
www.behealthychiropractic.com