Healthy tips for holiday dinners!

Two years ago, we wrote a blog on preventing and managing problems that may arise from eating too many holiday meals. This year, we would like to remind you of some of the healthy tips and provide you with some delicious recipes that are low in fat and low in carbohydrates!

Healthy tips for holiday meals: 

1. When you are putting the turkey or roast beef on your plate, make sure you leave lots of room for vegetables (raw or cooked). If you can choose, try to pick lean meat (like chicken breast) or fish for your meal. 

2.  Eat slowly. When you eat too fast, your body cannot produce digestive enzymes fast enough and that can lead to indigestion. Furthermore, it takes at least 20 minutes of eating for our brain to register a satiated signal that tells us we are "full". So if we eat slowly, we will feel full without eating too much.

3. During your meal, choose a vegetable or fish broth soup over drinking alcohol or soda pop. Consuming alcohol and soda pop can disrupt our blood sugar level and the excess sugar is converted into fat inside our body. 

4. After having a holiday meal, try not to go straight to bed or lie down on a sofa to watch TV. Although you should not do intense exercise after a meal, a leisure walk or other low intensity activities can help with digestion and burn off some calories from your meal. 

Here is a delicious and low fat, low carbohydrates recipe using Walden Farms, zero calories, zero carbohydrates, Sesame Ginger Dressing. This recipe is from "My Ideal Recipes" by Chef Daniel Verati, a book of recipes that we share with our weight loss patients to help them maintain their weight after a successful diet. 

Turkey Teriyaki & Cauliflower rice

1 1/2 pounds turkey breast 4 pieces

4 cups soybean sprouts

2 cups green peppers

2 cups green onions

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons garlic

2 teaspoons ginger (chopped fine)

1/4 cup walden farms Seasame Ginger Dressing

1 tablespoon seasame oil

1 clove garlic minced

• Combine lemon juice, dressing and sesame oil. Use 1/2 to marinade turkey (30 mins to 2 hours). Set aside
• Broil cutlets (4 to 6 mins per side) brushing often with reserved marinade. 
• Saute ginger and garlic in olive oil. Add peppers and onions. Cook for 3 mins.
• Add soybean sprouts and reserved marinade and saute 5 mins. 
• Serve turkey on soybean sprouts

Per serving: 398 calories, 19 g fat, 44 g protein, 17 g carbohydrates

Cauliflower Rice (as an alternative to rice)

• 1 head of cauliflower, cut into slices and put into blender/chopper to make rice-size bits
• In a hot non-stick pan with grape seed oil, add cauliflower; let cook. pour into bowl and set aside

Custom Care Pharmacy will be having a 

healthy cooking demonstration event 

with the famous weight loss chef, Daniel Verati! 

Date: Sunday, Jan 31st 2015

Time: 2pm to 4pm

Location: Custom Care Pharmacy

Call 905-305-0111 to reserve your seat. 

Don't forget to bring your friends and family!