Red and Green Alert!!!

Or blue and white depending on which way your religion swings.

It is that time of year again. One station on your radio dial is all holiday music all the time. Your neighbor lit up his decorations the day after Thanksgiving complete with lights that are timed to flicker on and off with the music on his outdoor sound system. In the back of your mind you may be wondering when you need to break out the holiday fat pants. You know, the ones that only come out once a year typically right around New Years Day.

You think to yourself, "this year will be different." It's post Thanksgiving and you've already made it to the gym (once). Your healthy eating is back on track (after you finish off that last bit of pie tonight).

You know what? This year can, and will, be different. Go ahead and keep those holiday fat pants in the closet. (You may even re-name them New Years Day Recovery pants.) I have a few helpful tips to help you maintain your weight, and maybe even your sanity, this holiday season.

About Bob
This is the new name of your neighbor, the one really excited about his decorations. Why let him have all the fun? Why don't you get outside and get moving. Start hanging those lights and decking the halls. For a 140 pound person, one hour of decorating can burn almost 300 calories.* You may be curious as to how many calories would be burned by kicking Bob's behind. Naughty Nutrition does not condone violence against Bob and hopes that you will head to the gym for a kickboxing class to release some of that aggression (which it would be over 600 calories for an hour of that particular class).

Snow Day
Remember how exciting it was to have a snow day? Revive that excitement, after clearing off your driveway and sidewalk. Grab a sled, skis, skates, or crampons. Who says you need to go to a gym to get your heart rate up? Get outside and enjoy what the cold weather has to offer before you are too bitter about it to do something.

If not for you, do it for the kids. Outdoor winter activities are a great way for families to bond over the holiday break. When family battles start to heat up in the kitchen now is the perfect time to exit with your kids/ nieces and nephews/ cousins into the snow. This may gain you the joy of being duty-free in the kitchen for post-meal cleanup for getting the little rascals out.

Added bonus: If you are able to execute the perfect snowball hit, preferably in front of a window where people are known to be congregating, on the perfect snowball target, preferably not on one of little darlings, you might cause such a laughter that people may forget what they were even fighting about. Hit the little darling, however, and you just made a target of yourself. At that point, take up winter camping.

Give More
Christmas is known for one thing. Presents. It's also well recognized for giving back. Most people tend to give donations of food and money to organizations to help less-fortunate families have a nice holiday. How about giving your time this year instead? Wrap presents, help out at a food bank, maybe prepare holiday meals. There are various ways to volunteer during the holidays. It will help you appreciate what you have and keep you active in your community. This also keeps your hands off of cookie plates and silences your inner Grinch.


Like the Grinch, I stole this from tvguide.com.

Pre-Game
It's the morning before your big office party or family gathering. You know that tonight will be the mother load of holiday goodies. First things first, do NOT skip meals to "save calories" for that night. We are not hibernating bears. Our bodies do not automatically use fat stores for energy, instead valuable muscle tissue is used. If anything you will be hungrier at dinner and will be more likely to overeat. As an alternative, have a couple light meals rather than none at all.

Attempt to eat foods you know you are less likely to be eating later. If you know that you won't be having fruit as an appetizer or at dinner, make it part of your breakfast and lunch. Remember if you eat something earlier, you won't need it later. Have a fruit and low-fat yogurt parfait to curb how much high-fat cheese you may eat later and still get your calcium.

Communal Fondue
The office party. The one potluck a year people actually try to make something appetizing. This may be the one time a year your manager shows a little appreciation and rents out a venue complete with hors d'oeuvres and a full bar. Either way the twinkling lights that were hung to look festive are looking more like an alarm system. All your hard work seems to be slipping away as the fondue pot catches your eye. As you make your way over to it you notice not only do they have cheese... they have chocolate too! Gasp! Happy holidays to you!

Before you plunge your skewer into that ham cube and twirl it around in that creamy vat of cheese, take a step back and look around. Assess all of your options before you start filling your plate with random odds and ends. Chances are a few things always look good, but when you bite in you are reminded about why you only have it once a year (hint, hint: it rhymes with ducks). Like many holiday treats fondue is okay to have, in small amounts. Go ahead a have a little, but try to dip fruits and vegetables over the ham and marshmallows. Like MyPlate suggests, make half of your plate fruits and vegetables.

Holiday Spirits
The holiday season also offers holiday cocktails. These may have been created to help ease tense family situations back in the day. The most common suggestion is to forgo alcohol all together. However, this is the real world and like many holiday foods, these beverages don't come around every day. You have a few holiday options. Instead of a brandy alexander, try egg nog or tom and jerry with a dash of brandy and/ or rum instead. You may also try either of these drinks sans alcohol.


















From epicurious.com I give you the Brandy Alexander.


If you would rather cut the calories from your drink mix rather than your alcohol, you have a couple options. If you normally prefer a brandy alexander, substitute whipping cream for imitation whipping cream (which is made with non-fat milk). There are plenty of low-fat egg nog recipes available online. I found this one from the Food Network.

Low-Fat Egg Nog

What you need:
2 cups nonfat milk
2 large strips orange and/or lemon zest
1 vanilla bean
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/3 cup sugar (You may try Splenda here; adjust the amount accordingly)
1 teaspoon cornstarch
White rum, bourbon, or brandy (optional)
Ground nutmeg, for garnish

What to do:
Combine 1 1/2 cups milk and the citrus zest in a medium saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds; add the seeds and pod to the saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl until light yellow.

Gradually pour the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, then pour back into the pan. Place over medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon in a figure-eight motion until the eggnog begins to thicken, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the remaining 1/2 cup milk to stop the cooking. Transfer the eggnog to a large bowl and place over a larger bowl of ice to cool, chill until ready to serve.

Remove the zest and vanilla pod. Spike the eggnog with liquor, if desired, and garnish with nutmeg.

Nutritional Info (per 1/2 cup serving):
Calories: 90
Fat: 2 g
Saturated: 1 g
Cholesterol: 96 mg
Carbohydrate: 13 g
Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 5 g

If these holiday drinks aren't your style, you're already a head in the calorie count. To cut down wine calories, make it a wine spritzer with club soda. Not drinking but don't want to feel left out? Try cranberry juice with diet tonic water. You could also have a Mock-mosa with orange juice and diet lemon-lime soda.

Tis the season for festive eating. Now that you are armed with some holiday activity and nutritional advice, go have yourself a merry little time.

*This estimate was based off of calories typically burned while gardening. Close enough to running around the yard hanging lights, right?

Cranberry and Brie Crostinis

Happy Post Thanksgiving! If you are like most Americans, your insides might still be suffering from post-Thanksgiving traumatic stress. Whether it be from the multiple kinds of pie you just had to try or your uncle's graphic rendition of his kidney stone passing. Either way, it wasn't terribly pretty.

As an alternative to bringing something to go along with the plethora of sides already on the Thanksgiving day menu, I made an appetizer. This may be the best way to ensure that you won't have left overs, since this is put out when people are tired of starving themselves for dinner. These crostinis don't just go well with Thanksgiving, they are perfect with any holiday meal or potluck. I suggest making the Cranberry-Apple Sauce ahead of time to ensure it has enough time to thicken.

What you need:
1 Loaf of French Bread
Small Round of Brie
Cranberry-Apple Sauce (recipe below)



Cranberry-Apple Sauce
(Recipe taken from Clean Eating.)

What you need:
12 oz cranberries, fresh or frozen and defrosted
1 apple, cored and chopped into 1/3-inch pieces
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 T fresh ginger, finely minced
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1/8 tsp salt

What to do:
Add all ingredients to a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and, stirring often, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until cranberries break down, apples soften and mixture thickens. The sauce will continue to thicken slightly as it chills.

Transfer to a storage container, cover and chill for 3 hours.

Crostini Assembly:

Turn the oven on to the "broiler" setting. Cut the french bread loaf into half-inch slices, discarding the ends, and laying the slices on a baking sheet. Top each slice with a piece of brie about a quarter of an inch thick and an inch long. Place in the oven for about 7 minutes or until the bread is toasted and the brie has begun to melt. Immediately remove from the oven and place the crostinis on a serving tray. Top each crostini with about a tablespoon of the Cranberry-Apple sauce. If you prefer, reheat the Cranberry-Apple Sauce prior to assembling the crostinis.

If The Kids Only Knew

Last week I had the opportunity to work with the Edmond Public School District. I had worked with school districts before, but this was the first time I was able to serve lunch and observe the students. At EPS the cooks make most of the food from scratch, only a few years ago did they stop making their own bread. In case you aren't familiar with the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), I'll give you a little background.

The NSLP is a federally funded program that provides nutritionally balanced, free and reduced-cost meals to non-profit private and public schools and childcare centers. Many people scoff at the idea that these meals are nutritionally balanced. Nutritionally balanced is defined as following the Dietary Guidelines for Americans on recommendations such as no more than 30% of calories can come from fat and less than 10% come from saturated fat. The lunch must also provide one-third (since theoretically we eat 3 meals a day) of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, and Calcium. These lunches must meet the Federal requirements, but it is up to the local school food authorities to decide what is actually served.

In December of 2010 the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) was passed into law. With this act came a few more nutrition related requirements for NSLP, such as more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk. An example menu comparing how lunches used to look to how they can look with new act is located here.


This image was taken from the Houston Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association.

HHFKA does not go into effect until October 2012, but in Edmond they are getting a head start. For example, EPS recently switched to a whole grain pizza crust. I had to opportunity to try it and their pizza was far superior to the pizza that triggered my hunger protest in second grade. They also typically use turkey for their ground meat rather than beef. This is noted on all school menus so parents and students should be aware of this. I say should because the day I served lunch was Frito Chili Pie. A very popular day I might add and the meat in the chili was turkey. This didn't stop the kids from saying how much they liked their beef in the excitement of chili pie day. I would also like to note here that the Fritos were more of an after thought. The students only received an ounce of Fritos, which equates to about 6 corn chips. Hands down the healthiest Frito Chili Pie I have ever seen.

Back to the NSLP reimbursement, schools currently receive $2.77 for a free meal, $2.27 for a reduced-price meal, and $0.26 for a meal paid in full. With HHFKA comes an additional $0.06 for each reimbursement. Yes, that six in the right spot. Six additional cents to help schools provide more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk. Last time I was at the grocery store I didn't see one piece of produce that I could have purchased for 6 cents. Think about it, when is the last time you had a meal covering all of those specifications for $2.83?

Congress agrees with this sentiment that this isn't nearly enough to help fund school lunches. Being the rational people that we the people have voted for, they doing what makes the most sense. They are counting pizza as a vegetable. The two tablespoons of tomato paste on your pizza makes it a vegetable. Never mind that the USDA guideline for a serving of vegetables is a half cup of fresh, frozen, cooked vegetables or vegetable juice. Congress would also like to do away with limiting how often potatoes can be offered, the use of whole grains, and a sodium restriction. It's almost as if Congress doesn't have their constituents interests at heart. Oh wait, is the potato industry in your pants, Representative, or are you just happy to see me?