1. Focus On the “Stars”… Eating Healthy for the Holidays
Presented by: Barbara Ames
Wildcat District Extension Agent, Montgomery County

2. What do you enjoy most about holiday celebrations?
Are special holiday foods on your list?
What do you look forward to most/enjoy most about holiday celebrations?
Are special holiday foods on your list?
The holiday season brings many special celebrations with fun, family and food galore. Many families have traditions centered on fabulous foods and drinks that they get to enjoy only a few times each year.
Celebrations and traditions are an important part of life and should be enjoyed.
But here is something else to consider:
Americans typically gain one to three pounds (or even more) between Thanksgiving and the New Year. At face value, this is no big deal. The problem is that most of us don’t lose that excess weight, and it adds up over several years.
So, how do we balance enjoyment of the holiday season with healthful eating? That is today’s topic of discussion.

3. Educational Goals: See the effect of added sugar and fats.
Gain ideas to modify traditional favorites.
Get motivated to modify your own recipes.
We will have three basic objectives today as we discuss the topic of healthy eating and the holidays.
They include helping you to:
Better understand the effect of adding fat and sugar to foods.
Dietary Guidelines encourage us to cut back fats, sugars, salt to limit weight gain and reduce risk of chronic disease
Gain healthful ideas for modifying some traditional holiday favorite foods.
Get motivated to modify some of your own holiday favorites.

4. Healthy Holiday Cooking
Retain great flavor.
Enjoy some favorites.
Reconsider how you think about food.
“Healthy” and “holiday” don’t usually find themselves in the same sentence, especially when it comes to food.
Cooking healthy doesn’t have to mean taking out all the good stuff and suffering with food that has virtually no flavor.
Nor does it mean you can’t enjoy any of your favorite foods for the holidays.
It does mean that we may need to reconsider the way we think about our favorite holiday foods. For instance, consider this.

5. Focus on “Star” Ingredients!
The added fats and sugars cause the recipe to become unhealthy!
Each of our favorite holiday dishes – Yes those candied sweet potatoes, green bean casseroles, and pumpkin pies -- begin with a very healthy main ingredient. It’s the added fats and sugarsthat cause the recipe to become unhealthy!
So, what if we “Try concentrating on the star ingredient”?
Seasonal fruits and vegetables should be the centerpiece of our meals: sweet potatoes, pumpkins, apples, pears, cranberries, and citrus, nuts, fresh herbs all of these ingredients have really great flavors on their own; they don't need a lot of sugar or fat to make them taste good.
Here is an example:

6. Effect of Sugar Added to a “Star” Ingredient
Here is an example of what happens when we add sugar to a “Star” ingredient….the apple. Many brands of regular, sweetened applesauce have an extra 80 calories in every cup compared to the unsweetened version (usually hidden on the bottom grocery shelf).
Do apples really need that added sugar to make them taste great?
Note: a 160 lb. person would need to walk about 1 mile to burn off the additional 80 calories .
(If a hands-on activity is desired, here is a good place to let participants compare purchased brand of unsweetened and sweetened applesauce.)
With this thought in mind, let’s discuss some ideas for adding a healthy twist to some of our favorite holiday foods.
Source: Based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies

7. Ideas for Sweet Potatoes
Roast in oven.
Bake them whole.
Sweeten casseroles with pineapple or orange juice.
Splenda Brown Sugar Blend may be an option.
Instead of “Candied Sweet Potatoes”:
● Roast plain sweet potatos in the oven, microwave or slow cooker. Top with low-calorie spray butter and honey or non-caloric sweetener. Spicy flavors also complement the sweetness of sweet potatoes. Try a low-fat pepper jack cheese or cayenne pepper.
● Sweet Potato Coins: Try baking sweet potatoes whole. Once they are firm yet tender, remove the skin, if desired, and slice them. Spray or toss slices with olive oil and add fresh herbs and onions, place on cookie sheet and return to the oven.
-Or just mash them, add herbs such as thyme and eat.
● Replace some of all of the sugar in sweet potato casseroles with 100% orange juice. Sweeten with pineapple and include just a little brown sugar and butter.
Also good raw in a vegetable tray.
● A healthier substitution for brown sugar in candied sweet potatoes could be the Splenda Brown Sugar Blend. However, this product is considerably sweeter than regular brown sugar so use only half the amount.

8. Sweet Potato Comparison
Sweet Potatoes
Calories per ¾ cup
Fat per serving
Carbs per serving
Traditional
320
8 grams
57 grams
Pineapple
160
2 grams
34 grams
Citrus
120
0 grams
30 grams
Savings:
200
6 grams
23 grams
27 grams
Traditional Recipe – Made with brown sugar, marshmallows, and 6 tablespoons of butter.
The Leader’s Guide contains a recipe sweetened with pineapple that you might want to try.
The Citrus Sweet Potatoes here are also included in the Leader’s Guide. It uses 1/3 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup orange juice concentrate to sweeten.

9. Green Bean Casserole Ideas
Use green beans with no salt added.
Use low-fat mushroom soup.
Sauté fresh onions in non-stick skillet to use as topping.
Substitute a green bean sauté.
Traditional Green Bean Casserole Alternatives
Use canned green beans with no added salt or frozen green beans.
Use reduced fat cream of mushroom soup mixed with some non-fat milk.
For the onions on top, sauté onions in a non-stick skillet with cooking spray and put them on top instead of French-fried onions.
Or reduce the amount of French-fried onions.
The recipe for a green bean sauté in the Leader’s Guide is also a good choice.

10. Green Bean Casserole Comparison
Green Beans
Calories per ½ cup
Fat per serving
Carbs per serving
Traditional
180
12 grams
15 grams
Healthier
100
4 grams
Sauté 35
0 grams
6 grams
Savings: 80
145
8 grams
3 grams
9 grams
Traditional Green Bean Casserole – made with regular cream of mushroom soup and
1 1/3 cups of French-fried onions.
The Healthier Recipe makes just some simple modifications to the traditional recipe.
-Reduced-fat cream of mushroom soup, fat-free sour cream fat-free milk, ½ cup French-fried onions.
For an amazing alternative to the casserole, try the Green Bean Sauté in the Leader’s Guide using onions, mushrooms and minced garlic.
Be patient and let the onions begin to caramelize before adding the green beans.

11. Ideas for Mashed Potatoes
Season with onion powder or other herbs.
Use low-fat butter, fat-free half-and-half or reduced-fat sour cream.
Use nonfat yogurt to add calcium and a creamy, rich flavor.
Mashed potatoes can be another caloric pitfall
● Try seasoning them with pepper and herbs and instead of butter or sour cream, use low-fat butter, fat-free half-and-half or reduced-fat sour cream.
● Season them with onion powder instead of salt. It gives the mashed potatoes a great flavor without the added sodium. Also keep the skins on the mashed potatoes for added fiber!
● Using nonfat plain yogurt in your mashed potatoes in place of butter or cream will increase the calcium content while reducing fat.
Yogurt contributes a richer, creamier flavor and a nice mouth feel.
If gravy on mashed potatoes is important to your family, try using a fat-free low-sodium chicken broth thickened with cornstarch. Or purchasa a low-fat or fat-free version of canned or jarred gravies.

12. Mashed Potato Comparison
Mashed Potatoes
Calories per ½ cup
Fat per serving
Carbs per serving
Traditional
130
3 grams
23 grams
Light/Creamy 80
1 grams
15 grams
Yogurt 70
0 grams
16 grams
Savings:
Light/Cr. 50 60
2 grams
8 grams
7 grams
Traditional mashed potatoes - made with half and half cream and butter.
With a few simple modifications the Light n’ Creamy version reduces the calories to 80 calories for a savings of 50 calories along with saving 2 g fat and 8 g carb.
-Fat-free cream cheese, reduced-fat sour cream, fat-free milk, garlic powder, black pepper, chives.
If the recipe using yogurt works for your family, you can save 60 calories, 3 g fat and 7 grams of carbs per serving. And, get the benefit of some added calcium.
Saving 50 or 60 calories may not sound like a big deal. However, if you can make just simple modifications to several dishes, it all adds up.
A modification of 50 calories per serving made to 3 dishes in the meal can save you 150 calories.
Just 100 extra calories unburned per day can add up to a weight gain of 10 pounds per year? So just saving yourself 150 calories really can matter over time.

13. Pumpkin Pie Use low-fat ingredients.
Vary recipe to reduce the crust calories.
Try a crustless version.
Use fat-free evaporated milk in pumpkin pie filling to reduce fat.
Pumpkin pie is even healthier if one avoids eating the end piece of crust. Some may consider this to be the best part, but it also has a lot of calories! (Removing the crust from any type of pie is a quick and easy way to remove fat and calories.)
Because the regular crust of a one-crust pie is about 140 calories per serving (1/8 of a 9-inch pie).
Try baking pumpkin pie in a pie plate without the crust – turns out great and with fewer calories. Check the Leader’s Guide for a great recipe.
If having a pie crust is important to your family, try tasty crust alternatives such as using gingersnaps to make a crust instead of flour and oil. See the “Light Pupmpkin Pie” recipe in the Leader’s Guide.

14. Pumpkin Pie Comparison
Calories per 1/8 pie
Fat per piece
Carbs per piece
Traditional
300
12 grams
41 grams
Light
220
4.5 grams
39 grams
Crust Free
140
1.5 grams
28 grams
Savings: 80
160
7.5 grams
10.5 grams
2 grams
13 grams
Traditional pie – made with regular evaporated milk in pie filling, and flour and shortening crust.
Using ginger snaps in place of traditional pie crust reduces calories from 300 to 220 calories per slice.
Another thought: Cutting this pie in 10 instead of 8 decreases calories to 176 calories per slice.
Try the crust-free version for even more savings.
Dress it up with light whipped cream from can: 15 calories per 2 tablespoons.

15. Apple Pie Make apple crisp. Try baked apples. Apple Dessert Ideas:
Apple Crisp can be a healthy alternative to traditional apple pie. The recipe included in the Leader’s Guide is a crustless variation loaded with tart apples, raisins, and 100% apple juice. The topping is made of whole wheat flour, old-fashioned rolled oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, and only ¼ cup brown sugar and ¾ tablespoon butter.
Tastes AMAZING!
Try baked apples in a slow cooker.

16. Apple Dessert Comparison
Calories per 1/9 recipe
Fat per serving
Carbs per serving
Traditional Apple Pie
380
19 grams
51 grams
Apple Crisp
200
8 grams
33 grams
Baked Apples
110
0 grams
27 grams
Savings:
180
270
11 grams
18 grams 24 grams
Traditional apple pie - made with flour and shortening crust, and ¾ cup sugar in pie filling.
As mentioned. regular crust on a one crust pie is around 140 calories per serving (1/8 of 9” pie) (Varies from 80 – 140 and 5-9 grams of fat)
The savings for a double crust pie is even more!
Both of our alternative recipes eliminate the crust. However, this apple crisp is so tasty I’m not sure you will miss the crust too much. And the calorie savings of 180 calories per serving might easily make it worthwhile!!
We have also included a recipe for baked apples that saves a whopping 270 calories per serving and is also pretty tasty.
Presentation options:
-Prepare a recipe to bring for tasting. Or have several people bring different prepared recipes to sample.
-Have participants bring a favorite recipe of their own and discuss how to modify.
-Discuss favorite herbs and spices people use to replace fat, sugar and salt.
-Challenge paraticipants to try 1 0r 2 of these recipe options at their next holiday gathering and report back on the results.

17. Tasty, Healthier Holiday Foods ARE POSSIBLE!!
Celebrate your health while you celebrate the holidays!
Holiday celebrations and traditions are an important part of life to be enjoyed including favorite holiday foods. And we don’t have to stress over the extra calories.
Tasty, Healthier Foods ARE POSSIBLE!!
Some of the modified recipes may still have more calories, fat, carbohydrates, or sodium than the average person should eat for everyday meals.
However, these recipes do save calories compared to the traditional recipes, and they are healthier alternatives.
The point is, saving a few calories here and there (along with being a little more physically active for good measure) can add up to little or no holiday weight gain and a more healthful lifestyle for you!!!
Hope this lesson has stimulated your thinking about simple changes that might fit into your lifestyle
So you can Celebrate your Health While You Celebrate the Holidays!!!

18. What Questions Do You Have?
Focus On the “Stars”…
Eating Healthy for the Holidays
QUESTIONS???
EVALUATION!!!!!
Thank you!
Presented by: Barbara Ames
Wildcat District Extension Agent, Montgomery County