Season’s Eatings: Tips From an RD
Linda York is registered dietitian at UConn Health. (Kristin Wallace/UConn Health Photo) [Click image to hear podcast]
(Linda York, Chris DeFrancesco, November 2023)
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Transcript
Chris: It’s that time of year: You’re trying to be good, but one day a coworker brings in a plate of holiday cookies, and the next day is the office holiday potluck, and a few days after that comes another party or happy hour. Today on The Pulse, we talk about how to try to still eat right when holiday temptation surrounds us.
This is the UConn Health Pulse, a podcast to help you get to know UConn Health and its people a little better, and ideally leave you with some health information you’ll find useful.
I’m Chris DeFrancesco. So many celebrations, large and small, are centered around food. There may be the requisite vegetable plate, but often that’s outnumbered by many other offerings, and it’s easy to overdo it, especially this time of year. So to help us navigate the holiday eating season is Linda York, a registered dietitian at UConn Health. Welcome, Linda. Thank you for joining us.
Linda York: Hi, Chris. Thanks for having me.
Chris: It seems we’re never too far from a party with an abundance of food and drink, especially this time of year. What are some strategies we can employ to check ourselves?
Linda York: Oh, well, that’s a good question. I think what’s important is, don’t go to the party or the event hungry, cause when you do, you tend to go for the things that tend to be higher in calories, fat. But if you eat a salad with some protein in it, or maybe you’ll have a yogurt with some fruit, you’ll feel full, so you’ll be able to make a decision on what to choose.
I think another good thing that I do is, I bring my own drink a lot of times. I really like diet orange dry, or my wine, or maybe it’s a nonalcoholic wine or a type of beer you like. So you’re not forced to drink what’s there. I mean, there’s always water, but sometimes you want to bring something different.
Fruit and vegetable platters, you can buy at the store. I always take them out and put them in a basket, present them nicely. I think a lot of people go for the apps before they do the meal. And I think it’s really important to take a look at the whole buffet. Decide what are you going to have. And if you can kind of have like a balanced meal, that’s pretty good. Go for the veggies, go for the salad, then get some protein, and then maybe you’re gonna have the potatoes, or the rice, or the whatever. That would be better than going for the brie cheese and the crackers and all those apps that have more calories than that whole meal, and you’ll feel more satisfied.
But remember the holidays are not that many. It’s what we do in between the holidays.
Chris: Yes.
Linda York: That’s why we gain weight. We leave that food around. We eat them every night, right? We forget about exercise. You’ve still got to keep that up. Usually in the morning’s better because we’re more tired this time of year. There are a lot of deadlines and work, so try to get it in in the morning because it’s going to be harder later. Keep that up, a half an hour walk. You’ll feel better, too. And get some sleep. Don’t forfeit your sleep. You’ll end up eating more. So those are just some things, but give yourself some grace, too. It’s the holidays, so, it’s really what you do in between, like I said.
Chris: Right, right. So you have Thanksgiving. And then you have, for those who celebrate Christmas basically one month after, but it’s that 30 days in between that can really get you when you’ve got all the different potlucks and happy hours and holiday parties.
Linda York: All the way to, what, we have Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, whatever holiday you celebrate. And then we have Super Bowl Sunday and don’t forget about the playoffs before then Easter maybe. I mean, it just never ends.
Chris: Let’s talk about portion control a little bit. I mean, there are probably some tricks that you can maybe like fool yourself into thinking maybe you’re, you’re not as hungry as you might think you are, whether it’s the size of your plate or timing when you’re having that Greek yogurt before showing up at the party. So how do we do that?
Linda York: It’s a good question. Portion control, keep in mind that plate. Like I always talk about that sectioned off plastic plate at the supermarket, you’ll see half of it is large. That’s for the veggies. And then you’ll see two small sections. One is for the protein. One is for the carbs.
It sounds boring, but people, when I educate them on that, they always think of that plate when they go for a meal. So drink two cups of water before. Or seltzer.
Chris: There you go. There’s another.
Linda York: That’s number one. Number two is, go to a lot of those veggies, the half-sized portion of the plate. Eat a lot of those. Now you’re feeling pretty full. Check in with yourself on one to five, I’m pretty satisfied. Now I can eat my protein, I can have my stuffing and, but I probably won’t eat that much because I’m already pretty full, right? So that’s a good way to do it. First the water, second a lot of the veggies, then go to the protein and the carbs.
If you want a dessert, have a dessert. Watch out for what you drink as well. Think of desserts and drinks sort of in the same category — eggnog, probably the same as cheesecake, right? And all alcohol is different. I brought my stemless glass here and I measured it with water. It’s one and three quarters cup water that fills it up. Now a lot of people will fill up their wine glass to pretty much the top of that. So you’re getting a cup of wine, which is 200 calories right there. Whereas people think, “Oh, that’s just my one serving of wine.” No, it’s not five ounces. It’s five times three. Same thing, the IPAs, people, especially younger, they have gained a lot of weight with IPAs. I ask specifically about IPAs now because they can go up to 300 calories for 12 ounces. If you don’t care about it that much, get the Michelob Ultra, a light beer, you’d still, and it’s all relative, right? Just try to do better. But portions, I think by eating a lot of the veggies and having the fluids, the fluids and the fiber and all the veggies will fill you up. So then you don’t attack all the appetizers and too much protein and too much carb.
Chris: All right, Linda York, we’re back at the party now.
Linda York: Yeah, we’re back at the party. We’re braving the buffet.
Chris: That’s right, braving the buffet. So the food hasn’t come out yet. I want to be social. I want to have a drink. I want to have maybe a second drink. Are there, you mentioned like the IPAs and the eggnog and things like that, is there any kind of advantage to a clear liquor versus a dark liquor? And part of it like having to do with what you’re mixing with, I’m sure too, right? Whether you’re doing club soda or something sugary like a tonic water or a white Russian and you’re putting the cream in it? So there are probably some better choices to make along those lines, too.
Linda York: Yeah. If it’s a creamy drink, think of it as a dessert. It’s probably going to be 300 to 500 calories, such as a white Russian, right, or an eggnog. If it’s clear, it’s calories, really. A jigger or a shot of tequila might be about 100 calories. Five ounces of wine, like a half a cup, that’s about 100 calories. A light beer, Michelob ultra or whatever, that’s about 90 calories, OK? So, you can kind of think of those three, alright?
Maybe limit to two. Make sure you have a designated driver, too, because a lot of people don’t realize, the average woman, she has two drinks, she’s gonna be over the limit if she gets, you know, from that party.
Chris: Especially if she exhibits portion control and doesn’t have a lot of food to absorb it, right?
Linda York: Exactly, exactly.
Chris: Which is what we want.
Linda York: That’s what we want, right. It does matter what you drink, and a lot of my patients who are trying to lose weight, they say, “I don’t eat anything.” But what they drink, sodas and juices, it’s like having an IV going all day long. Why would you be hungry? And so I show them what the calories are and what they drink and they can’t believe it, and the calories they need to lose weight.
So think about what you drink as well. And think about the fats that you put on foods, those topical fats, those have a lot of calories and foods that have a lot of fats, even if they’re heart-healthy fats, like olive oil and things like that. Be aware of that.
Chris: Alright. Now we’re at the office party. There’s no alcohol, but everybody has to bring a dish. So inevitably, maybe somebody will bring a crock pot of meatballs and somebody might bring pork sliders or someone makes Mac and cheese. Now you need to be polite. You’ve got to try everything because all your co workers went through all this trouble. And inevitably the biggest, most voluminous table is the one with the desserts. Now here are the cookies and here are the brownies, right? And here are the, and then my personal weakness, those little peanut butter balls with the chocolate around them. But someone’s going to bring that, now it’s like, “Well, you went through the trouble of doing that. I need to at least try some, otherwise I’m insulting you.” And I don’t want that on my conscience around the holidays. So it’s gotta be just portion control there. Right?
Linda York: Yeah. I would try everything, just little bit, really a thumbful of this, a thumbful of that or, yeah, try it all. And then, you do the best you can. Sometimes doing the best you can is the best thing to do.
Chris: And if I am trying to be cognizant of that when it’s my turn to decide what I am going to bring to the party.
Linda York: Yeah. That’s a good question.
Chris: Obviously, mac and cheese can be very dense and very fatty, right? And they’re so, well, what maybe, other than the veggie plate, because that’s an easy one, but like, are there other, are there other ones?
Linda York: I like the meatball idea. Because it’s a good source of protein. It’s good. You could even do chicken wings, not fried and not with all the sauce on them if they wanted that. The mac and cheese, everyone loves, but it is high in calories, but it’s a party. You don’t do it all the time, right? Boboli pizzas, I like that if you can heat them up, those thin crusts. And then I just put tomatoes and part-skim mozzarella and fresh basil and all that. I cut it before I put it in the oven. It’s only 10 minutes. And then you’ve got this great appetizer. You can switch it up. So what are some other things you like? I am having a hard time picking out the top of my head.
Chris: There’s a potluck I go to every year where someone always brings a spiral ham.
Linda York: Oh, that’s perfect, spiral ham. And everyone loves spiral ham.
Chris: That’s an easy one to portion off.
Linda York: Oh, yeah. And it’s delicious. And that with a small roll. That’s a nice, a ham sandwich with a small roll, maybe a piece of cheese, but you feel pretty satisfied after that because you got the carb, you got the protein. Just watch out about the mayo. Just always a smear of a topical fat like mayo or olive oil or butter. Just a smear. OK?
Chris: There are plenty of other options coming later that you can get that from. You don’t want to kind of waste it on the butter, right? If you can kind of go easy on that.
Linda York: Yeah, I do love the spiral ham.
Chris: So we’re actually almost out of time, but I wanted to ask you one thing. One of the other parts about the holidays is traveling, right? You find yourself stuck in an airport for eight hours, or there’s a layover, or you’re on a plane, and you know what they’re bringing on the plane very seldom is kind of consistent with what we’re trying to convey here today. So, you have any tips for kind of like insulating yourself against the bad food choices that surround you, like at the airport, or at rest stops, or truck stops, and gas stations, and all that?
Linda York: Well, if you’re flying, you can’t bring the food on, right? You have to buy the food there. So I make sure I eat before I go. I eat a nice meal. Even if it’s early in the morning, I have a sandwich and all, right? I bring my water bottle, empty so I can fill that up. A lot of times the airport food is just not worth it to me.
Chris: Especially what they charge for it.
Linda York: And they charge so much. So I might get a yogurt or something like that because I’ve already eaten. But if you have to eat a meal, you do the best you can. You try not to get the fast food. The other thing is, I walk a lot in the airport, especially if you have to wait for a while. I’m like walking, walking, walking. I might walk an hour.
Chris: Yeah, a lot of times you have an hour before you check in and when they board, you might as well.
Linda York: Yeah. So I do that. I might listen to a podcast or something. When you travel, in your hotel room I really like to have a refrigerator, right? And the breakfast is a buffet, but that doesn’t mean for 10 days you have eggs and bacon and sausage. It gets boring after a while anyway. So you might have that one day. But then go for the oatmeal and the fruit, and have your coffee. You don’t need to do all that. I always take some fruit with me for the rest of the day. Lunch, it might be out, or sometimes I don’t feel like I need to eat too much lunch. But I have that snack of the fruit or whatever. Put things in the fridge that are going to be good snacks. So traveling can definitely be a problem. Make maybe your only special meal the dinner meal. Try to make breakfast and lunch a little bit more normal. If you can maintain your weight on a vacation, that’s a pretty good thing.
Chris: All right. We can’t let you go, Linda, until you tell us, because you’re always good for at least one of these. Give us one recipe variation that makes something a little better for you. Like a substitution, I know you used to tell me about something with sweet potatoes and baking.
Linda York: Yeah, oh yeah, the sweet potatoes. And I just did this one time. I took the brownie mix and it had a cup of oil, in the brownie mix. And I mean, this is over a thousand calories in a cup of oil. So I had mashed sweet potatoes in the fridge, and I just took a cup of mashed sweet potatoes and put it in there. Now, when I baked it, it was denser, but it still tasted really good.
You can use applesauce the same way, one to one ratio, whenever you want to take out the fat, the oil, or the butter. Remember, one of those little things on that butter stick, that tablespoon is like 100 calories, right?
Chris: And none of that’s the good fat either.
Linda York: No. And even the good fat. Remember, olive oil, about 120 calories in a tablespoon. Use the sprays. But I always substitute, you can at least take half away. But I find applesauce is a good substitute for a lot of desserts. Or instead of the apple pie, make the apple crisp, right? You’re not going to get all that pie dough, which is really where all the fat calories come from. Baked apples — bake any fruit if you want. But the fat substitutes are really good. I have a cookbook that I’ve had for years, Secrets of Fat-Free Baking, and I find it a really helpful cookbook, and it’s still relevant, everything they say. And I don’t use a lot of artificial sweeteners, to be honest. I’d rather cut back and just find another food which has less calories. And remember, it’s not always taking away, it’s adding more fiber, because fiber fills you up.
Chris: There you go.
Linda York: Use whole wheat flour, right? So, that’s all I can think of at the top of my head. I mean, you’re asking me these things off the top.
Chris: I did ambush you with that last one. But I knew you’d have something ready for me because we’ve had this conversation in the past. Linda York, thank you so much for joining us.
Linda York: OK, Chris.
Chris: You are a registered dietitian at UConn Health. That is our time for today. For Linda York, I’m Chris DeFrancesco. Thank you for listening to the UConn Health. Pulse. Now be sure to subscribe, so you can catch us next time, and please share with a friend.