Healthy Holiday Eating Tips

The holidays are here, and with them come festive gatherings, family meals and treats at every turn! In this special holiday edition, Dr. Falquier helps you navigate the holiday season with tips for staying on track with your health goals while still enjoying the season’s flavors and celebrations. Plus, she shares a delicious, festive recipe that’s easy to make and packed with nutrients to keep you feeling good throughout the holidays (written recipe in show notes).

In this episode you’ll hear:
1:50 - What to put on your plate
2:20 – Managing alcohol consumption & keeping hydrated
3:25 – Pillars of lifestyle medicine
5:50 – Self-care
6:25 – Recipe: Roasted vegetables with a green sauce & festive topping  

As referenced in the episode:  

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Roasted Vegetables with Green Sauce Recipe
Recipe by: Sabrina A. Falquier, MD, CCMS, DipABLM
Physician, Professor, Culinary Instructor, Speaker, Consultant, Podcast Host
Culinary Medicine, Lifestyle Medicine, Internal Medicine
Founder & Owner, Sensations Salud®

Yield: 4 cups roasted vegetables, and 1 cup green sauce
Servings: 4, Portion: 1 cup Vegetables and 1-4 Tbsp green sauce

Ingredients:
For Roasted Vegetables
•  4 cups roughly chopped vegetables of your choice. These are examples, yet choices are endless.
   •  brussel sprouts: cut off tough end and cut in half
   •  bell peppers: cut into chosen pieces; discard pith and seeds
   •  cauliflower: cut into 1/2 inch slices - OK if you have small pieces and larger pieces and even crumbs
   •  carrots: cut on diagonal about 1/2 inch slices
   •  tomatoes: cut in half if large and put flat side down, if cherry - leave whole
   •  purple cabbage: cut off tough end only and slice roughly 1/2 inch slices
   •  onions: any color, stem and root end removed, quartered and peeled
   •  summer and winter squash, peeled if needed and 1/2 inch slices
•  1/4 - 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
•  1/4 tsp pepper
•  1 - 2 tsp Olive Oil

For Green Sauce:
•  4 pressed cups washed greens and hard stems/veins removed (cilantro, kale, parsley, spinach, arugula as examples.
•  3/4 cup olive oil
•  2 tsp lemon zest (from about 2 lemon)
•  2 Tbsp lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
•  1 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar
•  1/4 - 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

For topping (optional)
•  1/2 cup Pomegranate seeds

Method:

1. Heat oven to 425F
2. Place all vegetables in a large bowl. 
3. Drizzle vegetables with measured Olive Oil and rub with hands to make sure well coated. 
4. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt and pepper.  

For roasting:

1. Place vegetables on baking sheets lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper, single layer 
2. Roast for 10 minutes, and then set timer at 5-minute intervals until desired doneness (goal is some brown bits/caramelization, and heartier vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, winter squash and brussel sprouts to be fork tender on inside.) Roast times will vary depending on vegetable.
3. Optional to flip vegetables at 5-minute interval.

For green sauce:

1. In food processor or blender - place your chosen greens, 3/4 cups olive oil, 2 tsp lemon zest, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar, and 1/4 tsp salt.
2. Pulse to desired consistency from textured to smooth. 
3. Taste and adjust by adding additional lemon zest, lemon juice, vinegar or salt (1/8 tsp at a time).

For plating:

1. Choose your serving platter.
2. Place vegetables in attractive manner on platter - warm or room temperature.
3. Top with dollops of green sauce.
4. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds (if using). 
5. ENJOY!

notes:
Vegetables can be eaten cold, room temperature or warm.
Double or triple green sauce recipe and freeze, for up to 3 months, in small containers or freezer trays, to easily thaw for later use.
Store in airtight container in fridge up to 7 days.

More Resources:  
Episode 4, Healthy Eating Plate: Your Guide to Balanced Meals  
Episode 7, Why It’s Important for Your Body to be Hydrated  
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everyone, Welcome to the last episode of season one
of Culinary Medicine Recipe. I have great news. Season two
is happening and will premiere this coming January twenty twenty five.
So if you don't already follow the show on Spotify, Apple,
or wherever you listen to your podcast, please follow Culinary
Medicine Recipe because we have an exciting new episode lined up.

(00:22):
I can't wait today. I'm going to help you get
through the holidays. Did you know that the average American
consumes between one hundred and one hundred and fifty pounds
of sugar a year, and sixty six pounds of that
are from added sugar. The holidays are a large percentage
of increased consumption from baked goods and desserts to sweetened

(00:43):
alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages. And we've come to the
holiday season a time that feels like we're living at
two time speed. Before we get into the tips of
the holidays, I have a giveaway to let you know
about if you don't already know. I love cooking the spices,
both for their taste and their health properties. I love
burlap and barrel spices, and they have agreed to send

(01:05):
a lucky audience winner in a spicet. So in order
to enter, all you have to do is sign up
for the Alternative Food Network newsletter on Alternative Foodnetwork dot
com before the next issue of the newsletter comes out,
which will be in mid November. When the newsletter comes out,
please enter for your chance to win. This will be
for US customers only, and burlap and barrel are wonderful spices. Also,

(01:29):
there's a newsletter subscription link in the show notes. And
now I invite you to listen and no actionable steps
you can take during this time of year to enjoy
the holidays and feel it yourself without endless over indulgence
and feeling at your limits from Thanksgiving through New Year's
I will finish this episode with a simple recipe that
can be your go to for holiday potlucks. Now for

(01:50):
tip number one in navigating the holidays, what to put
on your plate. No matter where you're filling your plate,
remember that the goal is to add more from the
plank kingdom regularly and especially with the holidays when this
often is what gets taken off the plate. So remember
that the goal is to have half your plate with
fruits and vegetables, a quarter plate with whole grains and

(02:11):
a quarter plate with well thought up proteins. And if
you make that a plant based protein, that again adds
from the plant kingdom. Tet Number two is hydration, and
this one comes in a lot during the holidays. It's
eye opening that one cup of eggnog has more sugar
than eating two chocolate chip cookies. Now, how to manage

(02:31):
the holidays when alcohol consumption doubles for most adults in
North America. So to navigate the holidays, hydrate before an event.
A good option is to fill up a water bottle
and drink on the way to and from the event.
Also getting in the habit of drinking one to two
glasses of water when you first wake up in the morning. Also,
be aware of what is in your chosen alcoholic beverage

(02:55):
and how many you're consuming throughout the evening. Sometimes it
helps to decide ahead of time wanting to drink, and
sometimes what helps with this is to remember what are
your plans for the next day? Are there many deliverables
that you have for your day, and also remembering your
goals for after the holidays. Another great tip as far
as hydration is making a habit of making herbal teas,

(03:15):
especially if you live in a cold climate. We're hydrating
with water may not be as appealing during the cold months. Now,
the next tip is incorporating the six pillars of lifestyle medicine,
and as a reminder, those six tips are number one,
eating whole foods and plant based so again more from that,
playing kingdom and trying to do this as much as possible,

(03:36):
especially during the holiday season. The next one of those
pillars is physical activity, so getting those walks in after dinner,
looking at the holiday lights that might be in our neighborhood,
Parking a little bit farther away when we are doing
those errands. If we're going shopping and there's no spot
near the entrance, take advantage of that and park farther
away and getting some movement in that way. The third

(03:58):
pillar is stress management or mindfulness, So what do we
do for ourselves that helps fill our bucket and slow
down a little bit during this chaotic time. The next
pillar is restorative sleep, so being aware of how much
sleep our body needs, and it's okay to walk away
from a social event a little bit earlier than we
might have expected, especially knowing and reminding ourselves what time

(04:20):
we need to wake up the next morning. The next
pillar of lifestyle medicine is social connection. Often during the holidays,
those connections can be more than we may desire. So
being aware are there events that you don't necessarily want
to go to or need to go to that you
feel like they're going to drain your energy rather than
give you energy, and giving yourself the time how much

(04:43):
time do I want to spend at this event. The
last pillar and sixth pillar of lifestyle medicine is avoidance
of risky substances. I mentioned how alcohol consumption goes up
extensively during the holiday season, so checking in with ourselves
with the alcohol, but also I think of risky substances

(05:04):
or behaviors that are our tipping points. So that again
could be if we end up watching movies late into
the night, or being on social media longer and comparing
ourselves to others, or having less energy and not having
sleep but rather spending it doing something mindless where we
need that restorative sleep. So again, those are the six
pillars of lifestyle medicine, and one of the great tips

(05:26):
to get through the holidays is to remind ourselves and
to recap it's plant based eating or adding more from
the plank kingdom, physical activity, stress management, avoidance of risky substances,
restorative sleep, and social connection. Now I am about to
tell you that lovely recipe that's something that you can

(05:46):
bring to potlucks. But before that, my last tip before
I go into the recipe is to remind yourself to
give yourself grace. During the holiday season. It is a
chaotic time and it is a time where we feel
like those twenty four hours and day feel like it's
reduced about ten hours or life is just going a
mile a minute. So really aiming for about eighty percent

(06:07):
of trying to check in with ourselves again, what we're eating,
what we're drinking, are we touching base on these pillars
of wellness? And then the rest is living and realizing
that things will not be perfect and that's okay. So
those are my tips for the day. Now, the recipe
I'm going to give you is something that you can
have at home, but you can also easily bring to
potlucks or other social activities during the holiday season. So

(06:30):
this is roasted vegetables with a green sauce and then
topped with pomegranate seeds and you will have access to
this recipe in the show notes. Now, the green sauce
may feel like a lot of work, it's actually quite
simple and I will go into the recipe shortly. And
the goal is you can make a big batch of
this and then freeze it into smaller containers, so then

(06:51):
as you're heading off to work in the morning, you
can take one out to thaw or in preparation for
a potluck where you might need to bring a dish.
Remember that the pomegranate seeds are optional. They may not
be available where you live or may feel like too
much work. You can often get the pomegranate seeds pre
seeded so that work is behind you. Be aware that
pomegranate seeds are fantastic. Not only is it a festive color,

(07:15):
but it's also high in antioxidants. So for the roasting
of the vegetables, what you want to do is rough
chopped vegetables of your choice, and this is a beauty.
It can be any vegetables that sound delicious to you,
so it can be any sweet peppers like red, yellow,
or orange, Brussels sprouts, or cauliflower of any color, carrots, tomatoes, squash,

(07:36):
both summer and winter squash. These are all examples. Yet
the choices are endless. You're going to use half a
teaspoon of salt and about a quarter teaspoon of pepper.
And now this is where the spices come in that
you can really make it your own. You can use
dried herbs like rosemary or thyme. You can use spices
like sweet or smoke peprika, you can use granulated garlic.

(07:58):
All of these are fantastic options, and you can also
go different directions, so using Indian spices if you like
that flavor profile, or more Mexican spices. And then the
last thing you're going to use is some olive oil.
Now to finish our ingredients for the green sauce, you're
going to use two cups of washed dark greens or herbs.
So this could be cilantro, kale, parsley, spinach, arugula, and

(08:21):
again these are examples, but you can take any leafy
green or herb that you want. Three quarter cups of
olive oil, two teaspoons of lemons zest, and you definitely
want to zest your lemon before you juice it, otherwise
it makes it the process really tricky. So this will
be about two lemons that you'll use for zesting, and
then you'll juice those lemons to give you about two

(08:41):
to three tablespoons of lemon juice. Now for your method,
you're going to heat your oven to four hundred degrees
fahrenheit and you're going to add those vegetables that you're
rough chopped onto a baking sheet. It makes life a
lot easier if you put over that baking sheet some
parchmint paper or limil. Cleanup is much easier that way.

(09:02):
And you're gonna drizzle your vegetables with the olive oil
and your spices of choice, your salt and your pepper,
and you're gonna put those in the oven and it's
going to be a put the timer for about fifteen minutes,
and then you're going to set it every five minutes afterwards.
And the reason I give you this leeway is because
depending on what vegetable you're roasting, the time may be

(09:26):
more or less. Your goal is to have some brown
bits caramelization, and you also want to make sure that
they have not turned into volcanic ash. So you're going
for a little brown bits which are flavor and nice
and tender for the vegetables. Once they're at that stage
where you like the browning on them, take them out
of the oven and you can put them on your countertop.

(09:47):
Either eat them right away or you can store them
up to seven days in your refrigerator in a well
sealed container. And then for your green sauce separately, using
a food processor or your blender, you're going to put
your greens, your olive oil, your lemon zest, as well
as your lemon juice. You can also add, if you desire,
some red wine vinegar, but again that's optional, and a

(10:09):
quarter teaspoon salt. You're going to blend and taste and
adjust your flavor by adding more lemon zest or juice,
vinegar or salt. Back green sauce you can now put
either in small containers and put in the freezer, or
you can even put in ice trays if you want
a much smaller portion to be able to take out later.
To plate it, you're going to choose your platter or

(10:31):
dish of choice. You're going to place your roasted vegetables,
which can be eaten room temperature, and your green sauce
stallops over it, and then sprinkle it with those pomegranate
seeds and that's it. It's so simple, and it's such
a comforting dish that again adds those flavors of spice
and the comfort of roasting vegetables. Is really perfect for

(10:52):
the holiday season. To finish up, I am so grateful
that you've been a part of the colinary Medicine recipe
community and wish you a happy and healthy holiday season.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
I hope you feel motivated by this episode.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Please leave us a rating and a review, and mention
our show to others who you think could use this information.
That could be your doctor, it could be somebody who
works in the food service industry who's interested in the
health components.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
It could be a friend that is working on their
health journey. If you want to hear more, please remember
to follow a culinary medicine recipe on your favorite podcast
listening platform. Until next time, Sandu and Bona Petti, All
content provided or opinions expressed in this episode are for
informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional

(11:40):
medical advice. Please take advice from your doctor or other
qualified healthcare professional.