Small steps to make your holiday meals healthier

Dietitian Debbie Petitpain wants you to savor your holiday meals. “Not only should you enjoy your favorite foods during the holidays, but it’s actually encouraged.”

That sounds good, right? But she is a dietitian, so she encourages you to try a few changes to make your meals a little healthier. After all, she says: “There are 40 days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. And to put on a pound in that time means only eating an extra 90 calories a day.” 

First thing to keep in mind? Petitpain, who’s with Sodexo at the Medical University of South Carolina and works in MUSC’s Office of Health Promotion, says to remember that holiday feasts originated with celebrating the bounty of the season. 

“That mostly was an abundance of fruits and vegetables. So continue to make those the stars of the show. This is the last hurrah for things like green beans and peas and okra. It’s when pumpkins and winter squashes start. It’s when apples and citrus fruits are at their peak.”

Fruit can also help you cut back on oil in baked goods. “You can replace usually about half of the oil in a baked food with a mashed fruit like applesauce or mashed bananas. The fruits still add the sweetness. Often what the oil is doing is trying to keep your baked good moist, so it adds the moisture.”

And you can use half the amount of sugar your baked goods recipes call for, she says. “It will still taste just as sweet.”