Fix a healthier Thanksgiving Dinner, 2009....

Today's Post: Friday, 11-20-2009

Here is my 2009 update on the version I posted on Monday, 11-24-2008.

There are two ways to a healthier Thanksgiving Dinner.

Today we talk about ways to prepare a healthier Thanksgiving Dinner.

Next week, we plan a post on how to stay healthier eating a Thanksgiving Dinner no matter how it’s fixed.

There’s no perfect way to do either. The focus at Thanksgiving & at Thanksgiving Dinner must be on enjoying the day. Enjoy the food. Enjoy the company. And, enjoy the time off work!

My Brother in Law once said at Thanksgiving Dinner that he did NOT want to hear anything about what he shouldn’t eat for Thanksgiving Dinner just in case I had any ideas of doing so.

I didn’t then; & I won’t this year. I agree with him. I believe as he does that the focus at Thanksgiving & at Thanksgiving Dinner must be on enjoying the day. Enjoy the food. Enjoy the company. And, do nothing to distract from that focus. If anything, help make an enjoyable stress free dinner happen instead!

That said, there’s a very large list of ways to make the dishes for the Thanksgiving Dinner either better for you or less bad for you -- for those dishes you make yourself.

If there is a family favorite that you’ve made forever that has not so great ingredients, make it anyway or move it just a bit in a healthier direction to make it a bit less bad for health. Do your best to make a version that people will still really like.

However, to the extent you can reduce or replace any of these with healthier alternatives, it’s a good idea.

1. Sugar.
2. High fructose corn syrup.
3. Refined grain.
4. Salt.
5. Saturated fat.
6. Transfats (aka as trans fats or partially hydrogenated oils).
7. Soft drinks.

1. Sugar.

Make or serve slightly smaller portions of foods with sugar. Even 10 % less will help. (More than 20 % less will likely cause a request for bigger portions or a second helping.)
Make enough for 1 and a half servings each instead of two or three.

Let people serve themselves that food. That way people who prefer to not eat the sugary food get no sugar from it all.

Use 10 to 25 % less sugar in the recipe.

Substitute raisins or sugared dried cranberries (You have to make dried or sweetened cranberries yourself such as using un-dried cranberries cut in half and then simmered in real maple syrup but only use the cranberries. The store bought dried and sweetened cranberries use high fructose corn syrup) or walnuts or pecans for part of the sugar if no one is allergic to the nuts. For some foods, bits of bittersweet dark chocolate might work. If it will work in the recipe OK, use flavored sugars, brown sugar, honey, or 100 % real maple syrup. The flavor will make up for the sugar reduction somewhat. If the recipe works with it, add cinnamon for the same reason. In addition, it helps your body handle the sugar you eat it with.

Or, use 25% less sugar but replace it with the natural but no calorie sweetener, erythritol. (Using more may not taste as good and will cause your body to crave more sugar.)

Or, replace up to half the sugar with agave nectar. It tastes good & used half and half with the other half being real maple syrup or brown sugar or half of each, it will be sweet enough but agave nectar has a lower glycemic index than sugar so the combination will also be a bit less hard on your body than straight sugar.

2. High fructose corn syrup. Currently, this means no store bought pies or other desserts. Too many of them still contain this. Do your best to get homemade with real sugar instead even if you have to trade favors with the cook if you don’t cook or haven’t time. Make a strong special effort to not serve or use jam or jelly unless you’ve read the label and it ONLY has real sugar. Over 90 % of store bought jams and jellies still have high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar. Similarly use real maple syrup in recipes that call for it instead of other kinds as over 90 % of those still have high fructose corn syrup while 100 % real maple syrup has only sugar. And, either substitute a bit of brown sugar or real maple syrup with a bit of a mild tasting or bland extra virgin olive oil instead of commercial marshmallows as I’ve read they also tend to have high fructose corn syrup. At least read the label first or cut the amount per serving in half.

(Since I wrote this it came out that about 30 % of all high fructose corn syrup including in name brand foods is contaminated with mercury. Has this been fixed since then? I very seriously doubt it.)

(Pretest such recipes before you cook the one for the Thanksgiving Dinner though, for best results!)


3. Refined grain.

Use organic, sprouted grain breads (such as Food For Life Ezekiel or Genesis Bread) for bread or toast crumbs for the stuffing. They contain sprouted whole grains and are higher in fiber and protein than refined grain breads. Even many diabetics find these breads do NOT spike their blood sugar like refined grain breads do.

If you’ll serve rolls, do your best to find whole wheat rolls or serve one or make available one and a half each instead of two rolls.

Experiment with gravy made with lightly toasted whole wheat flour &/or canned black eyed peas that have been run through a blender for refined grain flour in the gravy. It also works to add button mushrooms or diced onion that has been sautéed in extra virgin olive oil.

Use whole wheat flour for pie crusts and make pies with a bottom crust only instead of one on top as well.

Also try to avoid commercially baked pies if you can. With the possible exception of those from Whole Foods Markets, or a custom, to-order bakery, they all contain refined grains.

Even worse, most to almost all commercial pie crusts use shortening or other hydrogenated vegetable oil and trans fats. That stuff is heart attack starter. So do NOT us or eat commercial pie crust except those that only use butter or use slightly healthier oils as the special pie crust shells at Whole Foods do. (Since I discovered that, if I’m served commercial pie, I eat the filling only and leave the crust.)

4. Salt. Try to use no packaged or commercial foods as they virtually all have added salt and two or three times as much as they should or have the salt when it’s not needed. If you can, make it yourself instead &/or use fresh or frozen vegetables instead of canned. And, use a bit less in recipes that otherwise would be a bit salty. (Unless you are making a dish just for someone who cannot have ANY salt, leave in at least a quarter teaspoon or so per serving or two as a recipe that normally has salt tastes “off” with none at all. And, or, use sea salt as it has salts of other minerals besides sodium in it. Of course, in many dishes, you can substitute a bit of minced raw garlic or a very small bit of cayenne pepper for some of the salt for a dish that still tastes good. (Pretest this before you cook the one for the Thanksgiving Dinner though, for best results!)

5. Saturated fat.

Cook the stuffing on the stove top instead of inside the turkey. (Inside the turkey stuffing soaks up a lot of saturated fat.)

Serve a small pat of butter or two on top of a dish after it’s cooked and still pretty hot instead of using more in the recipe.

Where you can, substitute extra virgin olive oil. For example you can strain out the fattiest bits out of the turkey drippings and mix that half and half with extra virgin olive oil for the gravy. Or you do 2/3 turkey drippings and 1/3 extra virgin olive oil. If you include lightly toasted whole wheat flour &/or button mushrooms or diced onion that has been sautéed in extra virgin olive oil or a bit of minced, fresh garlic, the extra flavor makes up for less turkey broth.

Also consider adding dried and pitted (& checked for being pitted) dried sour cherries to the gravy and the stuffing. They add a tasty, festive touch AND help your body process the saturated fat

To the extent you can, let the turkey drippings drip out of the turkey before it’s served.

Minimize cheese dishes or make small portions.

Precut butter into small pats instead of serving it by the quarter pound.

Lastly, to the extent you can, include onion and fresh minced, garlic in the foods unless one of the guests will dislike them or be allergic. They help your body process the saturated fat.

If you can reliably get a truly pasture raised turkey to cook, it will have less saturated fat and omega 6 oils even before it’s cooked than a grain fed turkey will.

Use whole wheat flour for pie crusts and make pies with a bottom crust only instead of one on top as well. Also try to avoid commercially baked pies if you can. With the possible exception of those from Whole Foods Markets, or a custom, to-order bakery, they almost all use Crisco which has trans fats or partially hydrogenated oils. Use butter instead. It’s better for you than Crisco. You just make pies with only a bottom crust so there’s a bit less butter in them.

6. Transfats (aka as trans fats or partially hydrogenated oils).

Avoid buying commercially baked cookies or biscuits as most still have this junk. And, either substitute a bit of brown sugar or real maple syrup with a bit of a mild tasting or bland extra virgin olive oil instead of commercial marshmallows as I’ve read they also tend to. At least read the label first or cut the amount per serving in half.

Use whole wheat flour for pie crusts and make pies with a bottom crust only instead of one on top as well. Also try to avoid commercially baked pies if you can. With the possible exception of those from Whole Foods Markets, or a custom, to-order bakery, they almost all use Crisco which has trans fats or partially hydrogenated oils. Use butter instead. It’s better for you than Crisco.

To repeat, most to almost all commercial pie crusts use shortening or other hydrogenated vegetable oil and trans fats. That stuff is heart attack starter. So do NOT us or eat commercial pie crust except those that only use butter or use slightly healthier oils as the special pie crust shells at Whole Foods do. (Since I discovered that, if I’m served commercial pie, I eat the filling only and leave the crust.)


7. Soft drinks.

Serve Martinelli’s sparkling apple juice, their sparkling cranberry, apple juice blend or a similar combination and 100 % real fruit juice instead.

Club soda and iced tea also work.

In very careful moderation, Champagne or a Sparkling Burgundy or Sparkling Pinot Noir also works.

Do your very best to avoid serving regular or diet soft drinks unless you know your guests will be unhappy. Or if only one or two guests want soft drinks, politely request they bring their own. At least you won’t help enable their bad habit. If this will cause a problem for them in enjoying the dinner, don’t do it. And no matter what, don’t talk about it at the dinner.

But the evidence now is that drinking abundant amounts of regular or diet soft drinks is about as bad for you as smoking. It just makes you fat and tends to cause type 2 diabetes & heart disease -- instead of directly causing cardiovascular disease and cancers as smoking does.

8. Add some good for you foods that help people fill up without the extra amounts of less good for you food components.

Be sure to include good tasting vegetable dishes and a salad or two served without dressing that people can add their own serving of dressing to; and provide a couple or three almost OK kinds in various flavors.

For example, my wife and I also now bring the relish dish. We include raw organic broccoli florets, radishes, pitted olives, carrot sticks from peeled carrots, and sometimes celery sticks or raw chunks of cauliflower. We take real sour cream with curry powder; guacamole, and a health OK Ranch dressing from Whole Foods for dips.

9. As we discuss next week in how to enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner no matter how its fixed, in your own eating, eat a bit more of the protein foods and a lot more of the healthier vegetable dishes and smaller servings of the less healthy stuff that you actually like and virtually none of the less healthy stuff that you find OK but not great. That way you’ll certainly be full enough to feel like you’ve been to a feast and eat foods you enjoy -- but with minimum damage!

Do the best you can.

Then focus as much as you can on enjoying the food and the people. It won’t be perfect; but it can be better. Let yourself enjoy it; & focus on the parts that ARE going well.