Healthy Holiday Tips

The holiday season is upon us!  Many of us will be getting together with loved ones we cherish.  We will share traditions and memories.  We'll reflect on the last year and the new things we have experienced.  We will also share over meals.  Maybe several; maybe even celebrate at office parties!

What do we do?

How do we keep eating food that makes us feel  wonderful  instead of pain or even worse symptoms?

Here are a few simple ideas and suggestions that you can work into your festivities this Holiday season.

Tip 1.

If you eat until you’re well satisfied and nourished days before and days after the celebrations, you will be less apt to feel deprived and veer off into temptations.  So stay well satisfied and always make sure you are regularly eating foods you really enjoy.  Have nourishing soups (soup recipe, below) on the days before and days immediately after the party.  Have steaming, comforting bowls of food made with onions, peppers or garlic - any combination or all three together.   These ingredients will boost your Vitamin C and have anti-flu and cold benefits.

Tip 2.

At the party, eat only very tiny amounts of any starches such as sweet potato side dishes, breads and sweet desserts.   Keep a mental running total in your head.  Decide ahead of time what you’ve felt is a safe limit and stick to that.   Gently remind yourself that if you cheat too much you might feel bad soon afterwards and you want to feel great to keep up your good health now that you’ve finally regained it.

Tip 3.

Eat lots of butter on meats and non-starchy dishes which will be the bulk of what you eat at the event.  I even advocate B. Y.O. B. (Bring your own BUTTER!).  There are two good reasons for doing this step. One, some families consider using real butter a bit of a luxury (when it isn’t when you know its value, but that’s another discussion for another blog post).  The second reason is that some people will present a substance thought to be butter when in fact it isn’t anything remotely like the real McCoy!   This happens more often then I care to acknowledge!

Tip 4.

Take some kind of anti-fungal or herbal immune booster.  Take it the night before, the morning of, the evening of AND even the next morning (if you sense any symptoms or signs of illness) of the party.

Wellness Formula (click on link below!)

http://iherb.com/p/4562?rcode=joq664

Tip 5.

During the Holiday season make sure you take time for yourself so you don’t feel over-rushed or weighed down with endless responsibilities and to-dos. 

Take time to be good to yourself –

Do fun things for no reason –

Go to a good movie or meet with a friend to talk and drink tea or coffee.

Tip 6.

Go right back to eating well immediately the day after a party.   If you carefully cheat only one day and eat no sugars or starches afterwards you are less apt to get sick or even feel bad.

So there you go.  A few tips some of which (probably all)  I have learned over the years to make sure you have a wonderful, tasty, fun Holidays.  Days with great friends and family and wonderful health and life!

Here’s some soup that comforts and nourishes your soul between celebrations.

Sprouted Bean Trio Soup with Sausage                       Serves 6

2 medium red onions, sliced

2 medium carrots, sliced

1 cup celery, chopped

3 garlic, minced (I use roasted garlic I’ve roasted inside a roast chicken, previously)

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons virgin olive oil

Or

Skip butter and oil and use 4 Tablespoons lard (full of Vitamin D)

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

½ teaspoon thyme

2 bay leaves

Few grinds of fusion hot pepper blend (optional)

6-8 cups water with fumet or chicken stock
1/2 lb. ground beef

1 lb. beef sausage like Kielbasa, cubed

1 cup sprouted bean trio, TruRoots brand at Costco or make homemade

Sea salt , to taste

Heat butter and oil in large cast iron Dutch oven pan or large saucepot over medium heat.  Add onion, celery and carrots.  Cook till soft and translucent about 5 minutes,  Add thyme, bay leaves, garlic, ground beef and sausage and cook for 3 more minutes.  Let the flavors really develop and let everything get a little brown.  This makes the soup very similar to a good gumbo despite the fact there is no brown roux.  (Yes, I do know how to make a true Southern Louisiana Gumbo, even though I grew up far north from our southern borders, trust me on this, especially if you are a Cajun.)

Add stock and beans and cook at least 15 minutes.   Don’t let it boil over, turn heat to medium low if it threatens to do so.  Test the beans to see if they are tender enough and add salt to taste and more ground black pepper if needed.

Serve!