10 Holiday Food Bombs to Avoid
December 15, 2014Recently I went to a holiday party and had a big "duh" moment. Just because I focus on healthy ingredients when I cook doesn't mean that everyone does. The host couple are very health conscious and run marathons. So I assumed their holiday dishes would be healthy. As I found out later, I ate some holiday food bombs because of that assumption. After asking for some of the recipes and seeing I'd indulged in some big holiday food bombs, I'm sharing some holiday food bombs so you can navigate holiday faves and not fall into the same assumption that I did.
10 Holiday Food Bombs to Avoid
1. Spinach Artichoke Dip - Spinach and artichokes are healthy so what's a little dip to those two nutrition packed ingredients? Lots of calories with a great big side of fat grams. Most recipes for this holiday favorite include a combo of cream cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream and Parmesan cheese making this a holiday food bomb to avoid.
2. Broccoli Casserole - It is wrong to take a healthy ingredient, such as broccoli, and casserole it with full fat milk, full fat cheddar cheese, butter and flour. Pass up the casserole'd broccoli and go for the steamed broccoli.
3. Crusted Sweet Potato - In this holiday fave, recipes call for sugar, brown sugar, butter, marshmallows and pecans for a crust to top off the innocent sweet potato. Sweet potatoes have a natural sweetness. Why do we have to make this nutritional gem sweeter?
4. Eggnog - Even the non-alcohol version of eggnog is a bomb waiting to detonate on your hips and thighs. While it may be thought of as the drink of the holidays, when you mix up egg yolks, sugar, milk, heavy cream, and nutmeg, it is calorie bomb explosion that will last into the New Year. If that isn't enough to have you speed walking to the sparkling water, add in the empty calories of alcohol to this concoction and you have a double whammy.
5. Fried Turkey - As if fried Twinkies and Snickers aren't bad enough, we take the healthy lean protein of turkey and fry it up? Enough said.
6. Cranberry Sauce - Cranberries are a fruit so why not save space on your plate for them, right? Not if that cranberry sauce contains sugar, corn sweetener and other sugary additions, oh yeah and add cranberries to that sugar sauce.
7. Vegetable Platter and Dip - Fill up on those delicious vegetables on that platter but skip the dip. Most dips are nothing more than a base of fattening sour cream, mayonnaise (or both!) and seasonings.
8. Green Bean Casserole - The casserole part of this dish has green beans trapped in a creamy based soup sauce and add milk then choke them off with french fried onions on the top. Free the green bean by steaming them and top with slivered almonds.
9. Turkey Gravy - Turkey gravy doesn't have to be a holiday food bomb but most times it is. Homemade turkey gravy is a pool of the fatty parts of your turkey, butter, meat fat and flour with herbs and spices.
10. Pecan Pie - Pecan pie is a big holiday food bomb with a short fuse. Pecan pie does have pecans which, in moderation, such as sprinkled in a healthy salad, have a healthy nutrition punch. Take that same pecan and make it into a pie consisting of the crust (butter, flour, sugar and shortening) then add the filling of butter and sugar three ways...brown sugar, corn syrup, and molasses, it is a whopping holiday food bomb you may be wearing well into the New Year and beyond.
You can choose to indulge in holiday classics as part of your festivities. Since I made incorrect assumptions, I cheated myself on the choice of what to eat and what to pass up. I won't assume the vegetable dip is made with Greek yogurt as its base again! The take-away for me is knowing about the holiday food bombs so I can make the choices and not be surprised.
There are many ways to enjoy your holiday meals yet avoid these holiday food bombs. There are healthier versions and alternatives of your favorite holiday dishes (well....with the exception of the pecan pie!) that you can prepare and include in your holiday meals. Check out the OH Recipe board for other OH members' recipes and share some of your own.
I hope you have a happy healthy holiday! Share below your favorite holiday dishes that you've made over to be healthy.
Photo Credit: Corey Seeman cc
 | ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cathy Wilson, PCC, BCC, had RNY surgery in 2001 and lost 147 pounds. Cathy is a regular contributor to the OH Blog and authored the "Mind Matters" column in ObesityHelp Magazine. Cathy is a licensed pilot and loves flying. She is a member of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC).Read more articles by Cathy! |
