Celebrating The Holidays With Healthy Food For Kids

Before you can blink, Halloween will be here.  Hey, the Halloween candy has already been in stores for weeks!  Then it's time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Family, fun and lots of food.   Is there a way to make those holiday foods still taste good so kids eat them but keep it healthy too?  Yes

These healthy holiday food suggestions are courtesy of a book called 'Eat This, Not That.'  According to the book's authors David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, Americans eat more calories on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year.    Healthy eating doesn't mean sacrificing taste.  Rather, it means picking foods that aren't packed with fat, sodium and calories.  Here's what they suggest for Thanksgiving.    Skip the dark meat and opt for the white turkey meat.  Pumpkin pie with low fat whipped cream is a better choice than calorie and fat laden pecan pie.  Green bean casserole is a better veggie choice than corn, and mashed potatoes are also a healthier choice than stuffing and candied sweet potatoes.    Skip the 22 grams of sugar in the cranberry sauce and opt for the dinner roll instead.

How about Christmas?  Beef tenderloin is a healthier choice for your Christmas feast than glazed honey baked ham.   Beef is filled with zinc and iron, which kids often don't get enough of.    Roasted potatoes, green beans with almonds, and dinner roll and chocolate covered cherries. are the way to go.  Besides skipping the ham, avoid  cheesecake, cornbread, salad with croutons and dressing and the mashed potatoes with gravy.  Why?  That meal has more sodium than six large orders of fries at McDonald's.

I love pigging out on Thanksgiving and Christmas but this year I'm going to try and follow their guidelines for kids and see what happens.