How can you eat healthier over the holiday?
Jean M. Copeland, RDN, LD, a registered dietitian and nutritionist in Dartmouth Health's Heart and Vascular Center, suggests making her favorite Thanksgiving vegetable dish: a beet and kale cooked side dish, adapted from Tori Avey's Roasted Beet Salad: Kale, Maple Balsamic Bliss.
The magic, she says, is in the flavor of the maple syrup and balsamic vinegar sauce, which has a little cayenne pepper mixed in. The walnuts add texture and omega-3 fats, while the vegetables' red-and-green phytonutrients, plant products that provide anti-inflammatory benefits, make the dish festive.
Beet and Kale Cooked Side Dish
(Adapted from Tori Avey's Roasted Beet Salad: Kale, Maple Balsamic Bliss)
Serving Size :6
Salad Ingredients
-1 bag or large bunch of kale, finely chopped (feel free to use a food processor to make the kale into “confetti”).
-2 large beets cut into small cubes.
Instructions
- In a large pan, combine the raw beets and kale.
- Add ½ cup of water, cover the pan and let the vegetables cook for 40 minutes. Check occasionally and add more water if needed so they don’t burn.
- While the vegetables are cooking, make the dressing.
Dressing
-1/3 cup of maple syrup
-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
-1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
-¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
-1/16 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Instructions
- Combine the maple syrup with the balsamic vinegar, lemon or lime juice, oil, cayenne pepper, and chopped pecans or walnuts.
- Once the beets are tender, pour the dressing over the kale and beet mixture and combine well. Serve immediately or serve chilled.
Nutrient Analysis (based on 6 large servings): 240 calories, 1.9 g saturated fat, 24 g carbohydrate, 4 grams protein, 67 mg sodium 528 mg potassium, 3 g fiber.
To save time, she recommends using cut and quartered canned beets, draining and rinsing before adding them to the cooked kale—which reduces sodium and is better for the heart.
To make for an even healthier Thanksgiving, Copeland provides these added holiday meal tips.
- Try changing your portion sizes. Smaller serving spoons dish out “fun size” servings, and smaller plates hold less food.
- Thanksgiving dinners often include seven starches: stuffing, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, winter squash and pumpkin pie. Consider choosing just two favorites for yourself.
- Re-set your goal to “maintain” your current weight. Most of us gain weight at this time of year. Try to avoid that.
- Portion out the food gifts you receive into small baggies, label and freeze them to enjoy in upcoming months. You’ll enjoy them on Super Bowl Sunday, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Mother’s and Father’s Days.
- Go for a walk between the meal and dessert.
- Try “marble jars” used by life coaches to help overcome habits like eating out of anger or boredom. Start out with two jars. Fill one with marbles (or seashells or pebbles). When you feel an impulse to eat because of anger or boredom, pause, and give yourself the gift of 10 minutes and do a little task or hobby. If you can resist the urge to act on your unhealthy impulse, then put a marble into the empty jar. By the time you fill the jar, you will have maintained or perhaps even lost some weight!
- If you cannot resist a little fast food, Copeland advises that you check out Fast Food Nutrition. Here, you can choose your restaurant, filter for how many calories you want to spend, and then select any item to view the complete nutritional information, including calories, saturated fat and sodium. While she is not a fast-food proponent, she hopes people will try their best to eat healthier while there.