Have a Stress-Free and Healthy Thanksgiving

Have a Stress-Free and Healthy Thanksgiving

Quick tips for a happy holiday

If you are overwhelmed by the thought of buying, cooking, baking and cleaning for the upcoming holiday, HealthSource has some shortcuts that might help.

• Make a list of what needs to be done. If you have family, get them on board to help and delegate the tasks.

• Do the basic housecleaning ahead of time – but remember that your house will need more cleaning after the holiday. On the big day, make sure the bathrooms are neat and supplied, and the rooms are clutter-free. Save the real clean up for afterward.
• Decide on your menu and make a shopping list. Get your coupons in order ahead of time.
• Set the table and decide what serving dishes you plan to use the day before. Put sticky notes with the name of each dish to make things even easier when serving time comes.
• Make desserts ahead of time and freeze if possible.
• Prepare your turkey the night before and store it in the fridge. Just make sure it sits out at room temperature for two hours before cooking.
• If doing the whole dinner is too overwhelming given your amount of time, then ask people to bring a dish. Most people have Thanksgiving favorites anyway, so ask them to bring their favorite.
• Grocery stores have Thanksgiving dinners to go also. Enjoying the holiday is more important than making dinner from scratch. If buying Thanksgiving causes less stress then it is worth it.

Leigh Ann Seaman, RD, LDN, clinical dietitian at Mayo Clinic offers ideas for healthy shortcuts with Thanksgiving:

• Cook a turkey breast instead of the whole turkey. “You can even cook it in a crock pot,” says Seaman.
• Cranberry sauce. “Canned cranberry sauce works fine, but you can also make a quick one with fresh cranberries, a little orange, sweetener, ginger and cinnamon. Mix the ingredients in a food processor,” says Seaman.
• Stuffing. “Boxed stuffing mix tends to be higher in salt,” says Seaman. She suggests browning whole grain bread pieces in olive oil, mixing them with pre-chopped veggies from the store, adding some butter substitute, and mixing with low sodium chicken broth.
• Potatoes. Buy the small red or creamer potatoes that you don’t have to cut up. Just boil, strain, mash and add seasoning.
• Veggies. Try steaming your vegetables in the microwave instead of baking heavy vegetable casseroles. This is healthier, faster and means fewer dirty dishes!
• Gravy. Mix broth and flour together on the stove top.
• Desserts. Either make ahead of time or try something different. Seaman suggests a pumpkin parfait that is made by mixing pudding and pumpkin together.

Whatever shortcuts you may take to make your Thanksgiving less stressful and more meaningful, give yourself permission to cut corners and don’t feel guilty. You deserve a happy and healthy holiday.