It's that time of year again. You know, the time where overindulgence is rampant and the spread of goodies just lying around is anything but resistible. It's the time of the year when we stuff ourselves until we have to loosen our belts and undo the top button just to sit comfortably. Then comes the guilt. On top of the feeling that your stomach is about to burst, you feel guilty for eating those cookies, cakes, fudge, candies and three helpings of turkey dinner.
Well, I can relate to all of the above, most definitely. I have been trying all year long to eat healthier, smaller portions, and the holidays seem to negate all of my hard work. But it doesn't have to erase it ALL. For the past year, I have been baking a lot of my own goodies for my kids and myself, and I have been really trying to make them healthier. If the fact that holiday treats are loaded with empty carbs and white sugar, not to mention butter, butter and more butter stresses you out, then I think I may have some solutions for you.
Some things I think can help is to try and avoid the all or nothing technique, and to make my Christmas goodies just a little bit healthier so the guilt factor goes down. In my experience, if I try to stay away from Christmas treats, I end up craving them and binging on them. I have decided that I am not going to ban myself from eating them. I just need to exercise some self control and stop at one or two instead of five or six. That way, I am not denying myself things that I love, but I am still not packing on the pounds. I have worked far too hard to lose weight in the past year, and I'm not willing to let any of it back just because I want to eat that extra piece of fudge.
When baking and creating delicious treats, there are also options to make them healthier. One thing I have done in all my baking is to replace white flour with whole wheat flour. By adding whole grains into my chocolate chip cookies, ginger molasses cookies and countless other lovely treats, I am upping the fiber factor by a good percentage, so I can feel a little less guilty for eating a few. Another option is to reduce or replace white, refined sugar. The regular white and brown sugar you buy in the store are both refined and bleached. Brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses added to it. In most baking, because sugar plays such an integral part in the chemical makeup of the finished product as well as the taste and texture, you can only reduce it by so much. I believe it can be reduced by about a quarter without affecting taste and texture. If you want to replace it, there are actually many options to choose from. Something I have used is natural, raw sugar. It is more coarse, so something to make sure you do is to mix it with your wet ingredients and let it sit a few minutes so it dissolves fully in your mixture before adding the dry ingredients. Another option is to use products like cane sugar instead of white sugar, and sucanat for brown sugar, which is another name for whole cane sugar. Sucanat retains its molasses content, so it can be used instead of regular brown sugar with the same taste and effect. You can also find sugar replacements like Stevia (which I haven't used), or artificial sweeteners, which I also haven't tried. I don't actually like them very much, and because I have spent the majority of the last two years either pregnant or breastfeeding, I have stayed away from them because of their chemical properties. One more thing I have done a lot in my baking is to replace oils and some butters with unsweetened apple sauce. This can be done in cakes, brownies, muffins and quick breads like banana bread. It's a great option for reducing fat and calorie content in your baking.
The main thing I am thinking of is the fact that holiday food doesn't have to throw my healthy eating habits out the window. I plan on loading up on veggies and turkey at our family dinners and minimizing my gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and bread. Another good trick is to grab a smaller plate and fill it really full, so you still feel like you are eating a large meal, but you are actually eating a smaller, more realistic portion. (This is a practice I actually do every day, at every meal.) I can still enjoy smaller portions of high fat and calorie foods, but the important part is that I don't want to fill my plate with more bad than good. I will also do a lot of healthier baking, and when I allow myself to eat those treats, I don't feel the need to eat an entire pan of fudge or caramel. Holidays don't have to be scary. They are there so we can celebrate our families and have a wonderful time. So, if we can go into it with a resolve to treat our bodies well and not deny ourselves some treats, I think we can make it through without gaining ten pounds and feeling an immense amount of guilt.
Happy holiday eating everyone!
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