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Healthy Holiday Eating: Keep a Food Journal

FitSugar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:00:22 PST

If the thought of decadent holiday food is stressing you out already, take control and try keeping track of your holiday eating with a food journal. It seems simple, but by writing down what you're eating throughout the day, you'll develop a real awareness of what you're putting in your body. A treat here and there, if you're not keeping track, can feel like it's no big deal, but writing it down will give you a real record of what you've eaten and make it easier to judge if you really do want dessert.

As a trial, test out how food journaling works for you over Thanksgiving, and if it seems to boost your healthy eating habits, keep it going through Christmas and the New Year. Plus, you can make it even easier to keep track by using your phone to journal, or if you decide to get into it, pick up one of these inconspicuous little journals or try an iPhone app. You might just find that this is a health trick you want to stick with.

Holiday Diet Tip: Don't Skip Breakfast Before a Big Dinner

FitSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:00:54 PST

Christmas is almost here, and many of you are gearing up for gifts, time with the fam, and that enormous Christmas dinner. It may seem like a great idea to forgo breakfast to save room for your decadent evening meal, but it's not a good strategy for a few reasons. Not only will you feel exhausted and too crabby to socialize, but avoiding breakfast will also slow down your metabolism. To compensate for the calories you didn't consume, your body will conserve them, so you'll actually end up burning fewer calories. If you skip your first meal, you'll be starving by the time dinner rolls around, so you could end up devouring way more calories than you otherwise would.

Research also shows that eating breakfast reduces your risk of heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and heart failure. So do your body good by enjoying a hearty meal first thing in the morning. Choose foods that are high in protein, low in saturated fat, and full of fiber. Yogurt, high fiber cereal, oatmeal, and vegetable omelets are great choices.

Source

Healthy Holiday Recipe: Sweet Potato and Carrot Latkes

FitSugar — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:00:00 PST

Since many of you are celebrating Hanukkah this week, I wanted to share a twist on my favorite latke recipe. I know oil is a huge part of the tradition, but drenching potatoes in a ton of oil isn't exactly the healthiest thing for you, so check out this recipe. It doesn't involve any deep-frying, and mixes grated carrots with sweet potatoes.

To see how I make a healthier version of this Hanukkah favorite

Sweet Potato and Carrot Latkes
A variation on my Grandmother's

Ingredients

2 regular potatoes, peeled
1 sweet potato, peeled
1 carrot or 1/2 cup of carrot matchsticks
2 eggs
3 tablespoons wheat flour
Olive or canola oil
Salt and pepper
Ketchup or applesauce

Directions

Grate the potatoes and the carrot in a big bowl.
Use your hands to press the mixture flat against the bowl and pour out the extra liquid.
Place a pan on the stove on medium heat. Pour two to four tablespoons of oil in the pan.
While the pan is heating up, add the egg, flour, and a little salt and pepper to the grated veggies and mix well.
Now you're ready to cook the latkes. Using a big slotted spoon, scoop out about two tablespoons of the mixture and drop onto the pan. Use the back of the spoon to flatten them so they're about 1/4 inch thick.
Allow the latkes to cook for five to eight minutes, or until the bottom is golden brown. Check the bottoms constantly with a spatula and flip them when they're ready.
Let them cook for another five to eight minutes, or until golden brown.
Place a paper towel on a plate, and then put the cooked latkes on top so the extra oil can be absorbed.
Serve warm with ketchup or applesauce.

Print recipe with images | without images

Do you have a healthy snack or recipe to share? Then share it in the Lite'n it Up - Healthy Recipe Group and I might just post it on FitSugar.

A Reader Recipe: Challah French Toast With Warm Maple-Apple Compote

Fit Community — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:53:42 PDT

FitSugar reader Whipped has just the thing for this weekend's brunch: a less indulgent recipe for French toast, which she shared in our Healthy Recipe group.

This challah French toast with maple-apple compote is killer. Think warm, sweet challah-bread french toast topped with warm, cinnamon sugar-sautéed apple slices and dripping in even more thick, syrupy cinnamon sugar. These kind of remind me of eating a warm apple pancake (you know, one of those big ones you bake in the oven?).

And the best part about this recipe is that it's a delicious holiday recipe you don't have to feel guilty indulging in. Two thick slices of this French toast with 2/3 cup of maple-apple compote is about 370 calories . . . Now compare this number to Barefoot Contessa's challah French toast recipe, which has over 500 calories and 17 grams of fat! Not a bad swap, huh?

Enjoy!

Read on for the recipe.

Fitness Tips: Healthy Eating For the Holidays

Zelana Montminy — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:59:20 PST

‘Tis the season for holidays parties, and with the festivities come a myriad of tasty treats. But you don't have to resist every temptation to keep a healthy diet. With just five fit tips, we'll show you how to eat smart while you celebrate. Eat a healthy snack before a party, be choosy with your sweets, and B.Y.O.B: Bring Your Own Broccoli! When making your contribution to a party, opt for a veggie platter rather than a cookie tray. But no matter your strategy, enjoy yourself!

Don't Lick the Spoon! Holiday Baking Tips to Prevent Illness

Jenny Sugar — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:38:56 PST

It's holiday baking time! But before you whip up all those fruitcakes and homemade Christmas cookies, keep these tips in mind to prevent the stomachache of food-borne illness and the headache of chemicals in foods.

Don't Lick the Spoon
Spritz cookies with a side of salmonella? Sounds like the worst holiday ever. Prevent a horrible bout of food poisoning this season by resisting the gooey, sugary raw cookie dough. One in 10,000 eggs may be contaminated with salmonella inside the egg shell, so it's just not worth the health risk. The same goes for ready-to-bake dough purchased at the grocery store. Recent news linked the 2009 E. coli outbreak to consuming prepackaged cookie dough, reinforcing the importance of baking batter to kill unwanted pathogens.

Keep reading to find out two more tips to stay healthy while baking this holiday season.

3 Tips For Staying Healthy on a Relaxing Weekend Getaway

Leta Shy — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:59:28 PST

Whether you're just traveling one town over or you scheduled a sunny reprieve from your snowy Winter, this long holiday weekend can be a time to rest and relax. But finding time for R&R doesn't mean you have to give up any healthy goals you've made. Here's how to have a healthy getaway this weekend.

Pack something fitnessy: You don't have to devote all of your precious suitcase space to fitness equipment, but you should try to bring something that inspires or reminds you to maintain part of your regular workout routine. Here are some great ideas for space-saving fitness equipment to pack before you leave.

Keep reading for more tips.

5 Easy Ways to Clean Up Your Diet Now

Heather Dale — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:53:32 PST

What better time than the present to assess your diet and start making some healthy changes? Choosing to eat a cleaner diet can give you more energy, strengthen your immune system, and even help shed those pesky holiday pounds. Here are a handful of ways to get your diet back on track with a clean makeover.

Tell Us: Are You Going on a Detox?

Leta Shy — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:08:08 PST

I'll admit, I went a bit overboard during the holidays. Faced with table after table of homemade treats, it was hard to say no. So January has been a welcome reprieve from all the sugar I consumed during all of the festivities. Now, it's all about less refined sugars, lots of salads, and plenty of water.

For many of you, a new year may mean detoxing as well. That can be anything from making sure you are eating foods that help get your body back on track (if you're curious, here are 10 detoxing foods to introduce into your diet) to making sure you make this cleansing green drink recipe once a day. Whatever your healthy eating plan of choice, have you decided to detox this month? What ways are you using to cleanse?

5 Reasons to Go on a Cleanse

Leta Shy — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:05:31 PST

Feeling tired, bloated, and lethargic from the holidays? Many people think going on a cleanse in January is a good post-party solution for dropping unwanted pounds fast. But going on an elimination diet - where you remove certain foods, like anything with gluten, dairy, caffeine, and alcohol and focus on eating only fresh, whole foods - is more than about fitting into smaller jeans. While all-juice cleanses can be calorie restricting, a proper elimination diet ensures you eat enough of these nutritious foods to stay healthy (read more about what to expect on an elimination diet here). So if it's not about weight loss, why should you cleanse? Read on for reasons to try an elimination diet!