Thanksgiving-There Will Be No Unbuttoning

I wouldn't suggest searching for an "unbottoning pants" photo ew.

About a month ago, my mom called me . My sister usually hosts Thanksgiving but my mom worried it was too much this year;  she thought it would be nice to take the pressure off and go out to a restaurant. I wasn’t happy. Out came my inner brat: I told her it wasn’t the same, that part of Thanksgiving was spending time together- not just at a table, I even offered to host and then mid-rant I realized how silly I was being. My Thanksgiving day usually goes something like this: wake up and rush out the office (on the parade route) for the parade, rush home and start chopping Brussels sprouts, parsnips and string beans (I make the sides) until my hand starts cramping and then rush up to my sister’s house in Westchester smelling like shallots and parsley and completely exhausted. I looked at the menu online, this year I’ll be having Artisan Greens and Hudson Valley Apple Salad, Sea Bass, a Poached Pear and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Shush don’t say anything but I’m sort of excited.

As for you, I’ve spent years trying to strike a balance for my clients between strategy and satiety, special and silly. Many of you already know the “good” items on the Thanksgiving table: white-meat turkey, cranberry sauce (not this kind),

sweet potatoes (later, marshmallows), and non-bastardized vegetables. The killers – and yes, in large volumes they are killers – include stuffing (so good, yet soooo bad), turkey skin, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and any creamed vegetables or those given the casserole treatment. What you may not know is that the difference between a good plate and a bad plate can be enormous. A good meal will hover around 400 to 600 calories – including wine and extras. The killer? Multiply that number by three or four.

To temper Thanksgiving tendencies:

Just Say No To  “Whores”

I recently wrote about Ina Garten. While her recipes are top notch, you may be surprised that I stole one of my favorite weight-related tips from her. A couple years ago, I was watching Ina, on the Food Network, fielding Thanksgiving-related questions. One question was what to serve before sitting down to Thanksgiving Dinner. Ina said keep it simple before the meal and advised not serving guests too much. I couldn’t agree more (maybe for different reasons). If you are hosting, shrimp cocktail, crudité and a dip and olives are all nice, lighter choices. If you are a guest, minimize your nibbles; you can easily eat a typical dinner’s worth of calories in hors (d’oeuvres).

Workout Twice

If you’re going to eat a sweet and fatty feast, get moving. Many spin studios and gyms are open on Thanksgiving and many cities have Turkey Trots or similar races. Walk, dance, run, swim, spin, or practice yoga. Exercise is a prerequisite that will help your mindset. Of today, tomorrow and Friday I need two workouts over the three days.

Observe the One Plate Rule. Review the offerings and formulate your strategy.

• Reserve ¼ of your plate for carbs including sweet potatoes, stuffing, corn, bread or regular potatoes.
• Then you’ve got ¼ of your plate for turkey or another protein.
• Half of your plate should include vegetables (the green kind), or salad – even if you have to steal the garnish from something. Eat your vegetables first; this fills you up on fiber. 

• Savor this plate of Thanksgiving goodness because there are no second helpings at dinner on this plan. Seconds and thirds lead to unbuttoning your pants in inappropriate places – not to mention serious regrets. The One Plate Rule leaves you feeling lighter and self-righteous.

You’ve Already Had Dessert

So you’ve worked out, eaten your virtuous one plate, and are feeling good. Then the pies, crumbles, tarts, and tortes arrive. I can hear you negotiating (my clients try to negotiate, I’m used to it).   I really believe that you’ve already had your pie before dessert.  Think about it, maybe you’ve had sweet potatoes topped with candy or Jell-O disguised as sauce or sweet soup. If we’re being adults about this – you really don’t need the pie. Now, if you’ll cry or die without pie, then you need to pick your poison/pleasure. Choose mostly “goods” at mealtime, and then you can have your (tiny sliver of) pie and eat it, too.

Blacklist on Black Friday- Thanksgiving is one day, Thursday, not Thursday until you go back to work on Monday. If you are a leftover person, stick to turkey, veggies and soup. Stuffing is a holiday food and Friday is not a holiday. I have one client who has pretty containers and makes care packages for guests to bring home. I am fine with stuffing your guests, I only care about you.

Now, aren’t you thankful for Foodtraining?

What are your favorite Thanksgiving Day treats? Does the plan above sound reasonable? Anything need negotiating? Let’s hear it.

Holiday Eating: Food Pushers, Gymlessness and the urge to ProcratinEat

At sundown today, Rosh Hashanah begins; Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year (do not click away if you aren’t Jewish, if you celebrate any holidays or attend any group food events, read on).  Many Rosh Hashanah foods are sweet as they signify the hope for a sweet New Year. This is a lovely tradition but a challenge from a food perspective. There have been countless articles written about holiday eating and the calories in holiday foods. To me, the often overlooked aspects of holiday eating are the extra time spent with family (glass of wine for me please), the travel involved in getting to wherever you are going and associations with traditional, special and often home-cooked food.

It’s more about the dynamics at work than the food itself.  Here are some of the potential pitfalls, see if they strike a chord.

Problem: The Food Pusher, I tend to think every family has one. Food pushers have been known to ask, “is that all you’re eating?” or “how come you didn’t try the potatoes?” or worst of all food pushers plate the food for you.

Solution: There are several strategies to handle a food pusher. My first thought is that the food pusher often wants you to try things but doesn’t necessarily mind if you don’t finish them. So put the kugel or cake on your plate and only eat what you wish to.

The second, more aggressive route is to be honest and polite but push back “it’s so delicious but I think I’ve had enough.” It’s always good to throw in a compliment while refusing food.

Problem: Slim (healthy) Pickins - It’s hard to believe in 2011 someone can compose a menu with zero regard for health but it happens and happens a lot for holiday meals. Even my mother uses by grandmothers stick-of-butter recipes and justifies it as “traditional.”

Solution: Help green the menu. By this, I don’t mean green as in better for the environment,  I mean literally green. Many holiday menus lack clean vegetable options so offer to bring something. Yes, there may be an ounce of selfishness here but say “can I bring a beautiful crudité and dip?” Or, “I saw a great Brussels sprouts recipe.” Even if the host declines your offer it may send a message that potatoes shouldn’t be the only vegetable on the table.

Problem: Gymlessness-you’re away from home, at your parents or in-laws far away from your usual gym or spin class.

Solution: Don’t be an exercise snob. Bring your sneakers and even if it’s cold or not as good a workout, commit to walking the day of the holiday AND the day after. Throw in some crunches and push-ups and you may have burned off those potatoes.

Problem: ProcrastinEATING. ProcrastinEATING happens when you feel as if you had a large, holiday meal and that you’ve blown it as far as your food plan goes. The procrastineater says “on Monday I will be good.” Or, “when I get home I will get back on track.”

Solution: nip it in the bud. It’s often not the holiday meals that do people in. It’s the leftovers and couple of days following the meal and the towel getting thrown in. If you are off track regroup at the next meal and plan your food for the day following Rosh Hashanah, Thanksgiving or Christmas etc. It’s not just about the holiday meal.

Aside from potential pitfalls, there are so many interesting food traditions tied to holidays.  For Rosh Hashanah there is the notion of “new fruit”. This is a fruit that is recently in season; pomegranate is commonly used. There is a blessing that’s said. The implication is to be grateful for the fruits of the earth and the opportunity to enjoy them. Religion aside, this is something we can all do.

What do you find to be the biggest challenges with holiday eating? Have you ever been a procrastineater? What “new fruits” have you been enjoying?

Culinary Jew

Let's play a little game. If you're atoning chances are you will not be reading this post anyway. When I say religion, what's the first thing you think of? If church, temple or services came to mind, you and I are different (and that's ok). If matzoh balls, Christmas cookies or kugel popped into your head, give me a virtual high five. For us, religion is pretty much all about the food. We're secular but connected to our roots enough to carry on, in my opinion, the most important traditions of all and that's the food. I grew up in a house devoid of organized religion. Though I didn't think it possible, I married someone even less religious and on this day of atonement, my boys are playing ice hockey.  I read a fantastic post on my friend Rebecca's blog that summed up all of this in a far more eloquent manner that I ever could have. Read  "finding my religion in a bowl of matzoh ball soup" and enjoy or don't enjoy because today is solemn. She's deserves the credit for "Culinary Jew" though I don't think this is limited to any one religion.
On another related note, I spoke to many clients this week who will fast and then break fast at the end of the day. These are not Culinary Jews what I"ll call Level 2 (or above) Jews. Anyway,  it's easy to go overboard after not eating all day. I asked one client about this meal and he said "I think it defeats the purpose to gorge at break fast." I asked him to explain and he said, and I paraphrase, after spending the day reflecting on my sins, some of which have to do with my health, it makes no sense to splurge in an unhealthy manner the second it is over. Just a little food for thought today, this type of food is allowed, I think.

In Session: Tradition

I have to admit, I am not a very religious person. My dad grew up Jewish in Italy and we somehow celebrate Christmas Eve. My mother is the most secular Jew around. I married someone even less religious and he brought a Swedish mother in law and a Jewish father to the diluted religious mix. When we met with a rabbi before our wedding, Marc said and I quote “if religion is like hot sauce with variations of spiciness, I am very, very mild.” Regardless of our lack of temple or church going we still have traditions, food associations with holidays and our grandmother’s recipes. I think most people do.

Last week, I was in a session with a client discussing Passover. For most holidays, I work with clients on creating a game plan for their holiday meals. Passover is especially tricky as matzoh and potatoes are not exactly superfoods. This particular client has older children so their Seder will be small. He and his wife were hosting and therefore in control of the menu. My client, we’ll call him T*, mentioned that in addition to brisket he was considering serving fish as an entrée. T rattled off the other menu items: matzoh ball soup, kugel and matzoh stuffing. I made some suggestions, first I offered up the idea that some sort of a salad or vegetable should possibly be added and second I said “since you have matzoh and matzoh balls, maybe the matzoh stuffing isn’t necessary.” T replied “the matzoh stuffing is my mother’s recipe, it’s a tradition.”

Many of our traditional foods have a great deal to do with what our grandparents and their grandparents had to work with. If you have Eastern European lineage many recipes are high in fat, calories, carbs and cholesterol. Part of this has to do with what was available and part of this has to do with not knowing better. I think there are two schools of thought regarding holidays and nutrition. Some people fall into the “I eat well most days of the year; on holidays I throw caution to the wind.” Others embrace the symbolism of the holiday but try to adapt their holiday meals to their eating habits. I fall somewhere in between. I think traditions and food traditions are very important particularly for children. I like regular, simple stuffing on Thanksgiving and Papa’s Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve (I’m actually not such a cookie person but like the ritual of making and having these cookies around). I don’t however think my grandmother would object to skimming the fat off of the soup or adding a green to her kugel. If Passover celebrates emancipation, can we not emancipate ourselves from egg, potato and matzoh rule and let some other ingredients in? After all, we no longer need extra fat to survive.

I think another issue with traditional recipes is “I'm afraid to change the recipe; it may not come out right!" I completely understand this one. If the whole family likes dense, doughy matzoh balls how will a light and fluffy recipe work? And to this I say, make small changes as these are often undetectable. And you may not want to make an altered version of a recipe the day of the Seder. Another client was working with a healthier macaroon recipe and planned a dry run a few days prior. Or keep one dish, such as the matzoh stuffing in T’s meal, and add in some healthier options around it.

If you think about it, Passover has the potential to be a diet-friendly holiday. For the carb-phobic or gluten intolerant it is a time to abstain from bread (leavened wheat) and also barley, spelt, rye, and oats. In addition, Ashkenazic Jews do not eat rice, millet, corn, or legumes, and there is a concern about eating any type of food that swells when cooked. The more religious turn their houses over keeping only kosher for Passover food. I had to look this up but this symbolizes removing the “chametz.” On one hand chametz refers to non-kosher for Passover foods. On the other hand it refers to removing wrong actions or unhealthy thoughts in order to begin spring with a clean slate. Hmn, now we’re talking.

On Passover part of the Seder is asking of The Four Questions, I have my own 4 questions:
1. Where do you fall on the tradition spectrum, do you feel family recipes should be adapted or adhered to?
2. What are your favorite traditional or family recipes?
3. Do you feel it’s sacrilegious to tweak a recipe?
4. And finally, why are there so many spellings for matzoh (matza, matza)?
Please comment, or I’ll have to ask Elijah.

*Although I use examples from client sessions, client’s privacy protected.