The holiday season is fast approaching, and fears of weight gain start to rise to the surface. It’s time to face the holiday weight gain fears head on. Be proactive and don’t leave yourself vulnerable. Here’s some great alternatives to high fat holiday foods.
When you’re sitting around waiting for dinner, snacking on appetizers is the thing to do. The dips are often full-fat sour cream. An ounce of sour cream has 60 calories and is mostly fat! If you substitute low-fat or nonfat plain yogurt you’re going to make a significant difference. Nonfat plain yogurt is only 3% fat. Work with your seasonings to create something delicious and feel good you’ve reduced the fat to nearly zero!
Candied yams are a holiday favorite but have 215 calories per half-cup. Ouch! Those calories are going to add up quick. Instead, try oven-roasted sweet potatoes. There’s only 100 calories in a ¾ cup serving. With sweet potatoes you get more per serving with less than half the calories. Find a good recipe using seasoning instead of sugars.
If you’re used to buying cranberry sauce at the store, you should rethink this purchase decision. Store bought cranberry sauce is full of sugar. Nutritionally, it’s mostly carbohydrates, but the source of the carbohydrate is almost entirely sugar. Yuck! That’s like substituting red licorice for the berries. You wouldn’t do that! Make your own cranberry sauce and stick with the natural flavors. Cut back on the number of sweeteners. 1/3 cup of cranberry sauce made with a sugar substitute has only 25 calories! No sugar buzz there!
White turkey meat or dark turkey meat? It’s an age-old controversy, which is better. The dark meat in your turkey has about twice the fat of the turkey breast. Three ounces of white turkey meet has about 115 calories and no saturated fat. The same three ounces of dark turkey meat has 160 calories and 2 grams of saturated fat. You get about the same amount of protein from white and dark meat but why not save on those fat calories?
You’re going to want to put gravy on the turkey and mashed potatoes. Gravies are usually thickened with white flour or cornstarch. Some gravies contain milk, cheese, or cream for a rich texture. Gravies can be filled with 30% to 50% fat calories! It tastes good for a few seconds but it’s going to deliver some serious fat calories to the bottom line. Seasoned yogurt, cream of chicken soup, and tapioca flour are good alternatives to thicken your gravies for the holidays.
Last but not certainly not least, there are calories from alcohol. A shot of whiskey, gin, rum, or vodka contains about 100 calories. It’s easy to have a few shots over the course of the evening and the calories add up quick. A 12oz beer has 150 calories. Again, it’s easy to drink a few beers over the course of the festivities. You’re adding 500 calories or more to the total. A 5oz glass of red wine has 120 calories. A glass of wine before, during and after dinner is going to make you happy until you see the caloric total. Alternate club soda or other low calorie drink for one of your alcohol drinks. For example, start with a glass of club soda instead of an alcohol drink. Have red wine with dinner and then another club soda. If you can substitute even one alcohol drink for a low calorie alternative you’re going to make a dent in your overall holiday calorie total. You just must learn to laugh and smile more when you’re drinking club soda!
The holidays don’t have to trigger weight gain. Think about the alternatives to high fat, high calorie food and make a few changes. If you keep your consistent exercise routine, you should come out of the holidays as lean and mean as ever!
