10 Tips for a Healthier Holiday Meal

We're in the final stretch! With just one more week until the big day, we have brought you a round-up of our newest waist-watching tips. Making these changes and substitutions in your holiday dining will go a long way in helping you have a healthier season. Plus, when you find out how easy these tactics are, why not make them permanent changes? These are the kinds of changes we can stick to, and if we do, we'll reap significant results in the long run. Good luck and happy holidays!

1. Grains are Good
   Go for whole grains. Choose whole wheat breading, rolls, and bread for sandwiches; choose wild rice instead of using the old standby, white rice. Any type of white bread is high in refined sugar (which means more calories); if you still crave it, choose a "lite" or diet version. Choosing wheat instead of white may even help you feel fuller longer, because white bread actually digests faster than whole grain breads, which leads you to feeling hungry earlier.
2. Getting Steamy
   Serve steamed vegetables instead of heavy casseroles. Use herbs and spices as seasonings instead of loading them with butter, oil or cheese. Reduce the amount of oil you use if you sauté them. Serve raw veggies and low-fat dip as appetizers instead of meat and cheese crackers or finger sandwiches.
3. Fruit is Fab Fare
   Instead of a cornucopia of pies and cakes lining your dessert table, offer fruit-based finishers like fondue, fruit cocktail, yogurt parfaits, and fresh fruit. Not only will this reduce the fat and calorie content of your meal's finale, guests will also find fruit more refreshing than sweets. After all, usually by dessert, you're eating out of sheer habit anyway, not from hunger, so why "waist" the calories?
4. Trim Up that Turkey
   If you're the one preparing the turkey, why not cook the stuffing separate from the turkey? You will reduce its fat content by preventing the fat from the turkey soaking into the dressing. Use less butter or margarine when you're preparing the stuffing. Don't forget to skim the fat off of the gravy with a gravy separator or by refrigerating it. After you've tucked that napkin into your shirt collar, be sure to trim the skin off your turkey and you'll spare yourself some fat. Let your uncles fight over that drumstick; choose light meat rather than dark meat and you'll save quite a few calories.
5. Powder Your ... Dessert?
   Got milk? Trade it in for the powdered variety and save yourself lots of fats and calories in your baking. A site visitor once wrote in to suggest that using evaporated skim milk in her favorite recipes instead of cream or milk has been one of the changes that has led her to an 80 pound weight loss! Add equal parts water to replace milk or use it straight from the can as a substitute in recipes calling for heavy cream.