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>> John Sonnega: Welcome everybody
to the "Tis the Season" MHealthy
webinar series. I'm John Sonnega
Stress Manager here at MHealthy.
Along with Erica Owen. A dietician
here. We're gonna wait a second
cause people are coming into
the webinar. [GARBLED]
[LONG PAUSE]
[CONTINUING LONG PAUSE]
We're gonna go ahead and start.
So I'm sitting here in Erica's
office by the heater. Notice the
lovely screen there, has a lot of
snow out. We had frost this
morning. And so we're gonna
talk a little bit about what the
season is to start out for. And
kick it off here. We have a number
of webinars coming up. So, what
is the season. Tis the season to
give holiday greetings. We're
talking about basically, November
through January. Which ends up
being 2 to 3 months. So it's a
lengthy period of time. And
it's a time of celebrations and
ceremony. I think Dawali is
underway right now. The festival
of lights. And we have Thanksgiving
coming up. Winter solstice,
Hanukkah, Christmas of course,
Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, New Years Day,
Feast of the Epiphany, Eastern
Orthodox Christmas and Sankranti.
And there are other activities
throughout this season. Now if
you'll look at that slide you'll
see candles. A lot of these
festivals, including Diwali, is
the festival of lights. Hanukkah
we light...there's a lot of
candles and things lit during this
period for a number of reasons.
But I like you to focus on the
flame, cause one of the things we
want you to do is to take a
moment and pause. And reflect.
We would like you to slow down
a little bit through this season,
and enjoy.
[PAUSE]]
So, good tidings. I want you
to take a moment and think.
The holidays are a time for,..
what? What comes to mind? I
mean after this webinar is over
you can take a moment and think.
So some of the things that come
to mind are comfort and joy.
The song comes with good tidings.
Family and friends. A picture of
a family there. Getting together.
Good things. Being hectic and
busy, also comes to mind. And,
you've gotta make your lists.
You gotta plan for your meals.
There's the stress of making lists.
And also stress and worry. We
worry that things go well.
We worry about doing the right
things. I know Black Friday's
coming up as well. A lot of
people are making shopping plans.
Somebody asked me that today.
"Have I made my plans?" And I
have not. So there's both good
and bad during the holiday season.
We want you to acknowledge both
the pressures and the pleasures
of the season. We don't deny that
there are both. We want you to
think and take account of them.
So when I think of the holidays,
the first word that comes to mind
for me is expectations. Expectations
and intentions. Think again for
a moment. What are your hopes for
the holiday season? Think a minute.
Perhaps after this is over, you
can write them down. What are
we really expecting? What are
we hoping for? Are you hoping to
survive? This gauntlet of a
season of parties and holidays and
plans and friends and families and
work as well. Are you hoping to
flourish? "It's going to go
wonderfully. I'm going to have
one of my best seasons ever".
Are you hoping to renew yourself?
Sometimes we're able to pause and
reflect, and to find that sense of
peace. Are you hoping to be
healthy? To maintain your health
behaviors? To come up with new
health behaviors. What are you
hoping for? So this webinar
series we would like you,...during
the holiday season we hope to help
you make positive, healthy and
intentional choices.
We want you to be intentional. To
plan. We're starting here in early
November. And we're thinking about
all the things that are coming up.
We want you to be intentional. We
want you to plan to be happy and
healthy during the coming months.
I want you to look forward and
be optimistic. And one of the first
things coming up is Thanksgiving.
There's a lot of food during all
those celebrations. And a lot of
food to be had during the coming
2 to 3 months. I'm gonna turn it
over to our dietician Erica. Here
to talk a little bit about planning
for Thanksgiving. It's one of the
first things we do during this
series.
>> Erica Owen: Hello and good
afternoon everyone. I see that
we actually have a question coming
in here, and I just wanta mention
that you're definitely free to
ask questions through out. But
sometimes it's a lot easier in
webinar format to answer your
questions at the end. So I just
want to let you know that I will
be with you at the end of the
session, to answer any of those
outstanding questions. So as
John mentioned were going to be
preparing for Thanksgiving meal.
And I guess you want to think about,...
it might be one meal. That might
be 2 meals. That might be 4 meals.
It might be 1 day. It might be 2
days. So, it's not just 1 item
in and of it 'self. You might have
to think a little further ahead
about how you can piece all of
those together and,...be helpful
through out maybe many different
occasions. Making traditional
recipes more healthful is one way
you can do that. We're gonna talk
about a couple of different ways
to make some of those recipes more
healthful as well as watching maybe
some portion sizes through out this
time period. Well we want to
continue to look forward this season.
In no way am I saying to look down
on this at all. There are many things
that you can do to make this very
enjoyable and delightful for you
family and friends.
So one of the first tools that I
wanted to share with you today was the
My Plate. And this My Plate is oh,..
a graphic that you can use to help
you with your portion control and
looking at what foods to have
more of. What foods to have less
of. And,...when you go out to
many different meals through out
this holiday season, you have lot's
of points to make the best choice.
We don't always make the best choice,
and no one is ever expected to make the
best choice, but how many times can
you make a better choice than not?
One of the things we want to think
about is, increasing our fruits
and vegetables. As you can see on
this plate we have half of the
plate as fruits and vegetables.
So [GARBLED] I guess I should have
used a different colored high lighter.
But on the fruits and vegetables
we're noticing that half of the plate
is [GARBLED] fruits and vegetables.
Because we do tend to eat too little
of those. So you can fill them
up on your plate like this or
you can use them as snacks through
out the day. Maybe you meals
won't be filled with the fruits
and vegetables. One of the other
things that you don't notice on
this plate are fats and sugars.
And that's because we do tend to
over eat those foods as a society.
And especially during the holiday
season. There a lot more of those
things around. So we do tend to
have more. We want to be very
mindful of how often you're eating
those sorts of foods and how much
of those foods that you're eating.
It is also one of the joys of the
season is enjoying the different
maybe punches and desserts that
go along with family and friends
and social gatherings. But you
do want to be mindful of how much
you're taking in. [PAUSE]
So, as I mentioned we would like
to talk about some of the ways
that maybe you can make some of
your recipes a little more
healthful. Because I think in
this next week, maybe even this
weekend, you'll be planning. And
maybe even preparing some of your
dishes for ...for Thanksgiving
anyway, because I actually heard
this on the radio this morning,
that you can make a lot of your
foods over this weekend. And then
maybe make them like half way and
then bake them off at the end on
Thursday morning. So you do want
to maybe think of these things
as you go forward. Let's see...
here are some substitutions that
are pretty common. And you can
find a lot of these things online
as well as maybe a little more
explanation for what we're talking
about here today. So I might
suggest something, you know like,
"huh, I wonder how that works", you
may want to go on to one of the
recipes, maybe, one of the
website's, maybe like allrecipes.com.
Because they have a lot more
explanation, exactly what the
substitutions are and for a lot
more items than what I've presented
here today. One of the things
you can use, I have apple sauces
on here. And applesauce can be used
for a lot of the light bake goods.
Like white cakes and that sort of
thing. And prunes, pureed prunes
can be used in a lot of the
chocolate items. I know it sounds
a little odd, but it definitely,...
it does work. It,..try it out
on a small batch of something.
You might be surprised what you
find out. Cooking spray can be
used to grease pans. Now probably...
you may use that one, we'll put it
that way. You could also take
some,..maybe a little bit,..a little
bit of butter. Less than you would
use. Or put a little bit of oil
in the pan. And then actually
spread it with a paper towel or
something like that. So you're
not using quite as much in the pan.
Here we go...you can always decrease
the fat in a recipe by about a third
without noticing too much of a
difference in the product. And
that goes along,...same thing with
the egg whites and egg substitutes.
And this is ...we're giving you the
,...the actual substitution out.
So you can make that. A lot of
people say there's a difference
in the end product of a bake good
in like the texture of it. By
using egg white or a whole egg.
Now I think Light cream cheeses are
a definitely something that you
can switch out for regular. Because
a lot of times you'll find a lot of
different spices, herbs, flavors
in there. And you don't really
notice the taste of the cream
cheese or something like that.
Your noticing more of the texture
and the spread ability. So you can
take the fat content down a little
bit. And then we mentioned Splenda
here but it can be any one of the
artificial sweeteners. In place
of sugar. They all do have different
measure out than this did. So
Splenda is a nice one because
you have 1 cup to 1 cup.
Isn't that a pretty picture,
[LAUGHING AS SHE TALKS] Anyway,
another way to lighten up some
of your traditional favorites.
Are things like green bean casseroles.
Anybody have that one. Um, green
bean casseroles, you traditionally
may have seen. Some fried onions.
You can try making them a little
different way. You know,..tell
your family that "hey we're just
trying something else, I'm helping
out to keep your healthful ways
going", or "I'm just trying to
kick off my new year a little early".
So some fresh green beans sauteed in
a little heart healthy olive oil.
Or even steam it and then put
some of the spices on afterwards.
Yams or sweet potatoes. [GARBLED]
call it something different.
Technically they're,...they're
about the same. I think you
could use either word, you'd be
ok. But instead of using the
marshmallows, and that added
sugar component. Maybe having
some apple juice which is a
naturally occuring sugar. And
some cinnamon to spice it up would
be a little more healthful as well.
We talked about using skim or 1%
milk instead of whole milk. And
here is an example of that. And
it's interesting. I actually did
this last night. Parmesan cheese
on my potatoes. It was pretty
darn good. So you could try that
one out instead of using that
really, really rich butter and
whole milk using like a dry
cheese like a parmesan. Less fat.
And then salads. So we talked about
at the beginning was that choose
my plate have lots of vegetables
on there. Right, so you can
bulk up your meal with salads
or a vegetable of some sort. If
there's a way to have the same
volume of food. Have a full plate
of food. That's just,...everybody
likes a full plate of food but in a
a lot lower calories, lower fat, lower
sugar way. And then making your
own salad dressing. So it's not
a cream base, doesn't have maybe
all the preservatives in it. Maybe
doesn't have all the sodium in it.
Trying some new flavors out. It
can be fun. I know it sounds
a little ridiculous but it can
be fun to find new recipes and
try them out and see what the
family thinks. They may hate it,
have an extra,...extra bottle of
another dressing in the refrigerator
just in case. [RUSTLING PAPER]
You know as John said, you know,
don't sweat it, things are gonna
go the way they're gonna go.
>> John: That's right.
>> Erica: [LAUGHS] So, just let
it be. Take the stress off.
Everything will be ok.
>> John: Lighten up.
>> Erica: Lighten up! There you go!
Lighten up. [BOTH LAUGHING]
This actually,...this one [GARBLED]
but, umm...this one is talking
about the food it 'self. Turkey,...
[GARBLED] these others,...Turkey
can be helpful, but it also can
be not quite so helpful. So,
looking at the differences and
what by,...just using a different
cut of the meat. Even taking the
skin off of dark Turkey. That
saves you 4 1/2 grams of fat.
And that's for every 3 to 4 ounces.
So it really is a small change
for a really large benefit. That
you'd be getting out of that.
And then you know what? Have
the turkey breast without skin and
then just have a small piece of turkey.
If you need to have it. You can
indulge in moderation.
>> John: Then you can have dessert
later.
>> Erica: Oh, and dessert later.
Make,...choose.
>> John: Choose. Be intentional.
>> Erica: Be intentional. Yes.
Gravy. Just add,...I have done this
mainly to mix soup with it. You
mainly do it with soup. You take
soup and you put it in the refrigerator.
And like the next day take the soup
out of the refrigerator. And you've
got a hardened layer on the top.
That is the saturated fat that has
now risen to the top. So if you
are going to make your gravy, you
can make it the day before even.
And put it in the refrigerator
and take that fat off and you've
got a lot of the saturated fats
that way. [PAUSE] Now bread.
Bread we all know that we can
over indulge in bread. And
sometimes you get,...you don't
notice that until you're almost
to the end of your meal. "Oh
man, I can't fit anymore of this
food in". And your,..."I had
like 3 pieces bread". So you
can think about taking less bread.
Not having the bread or cutting
the bread into smaller pieces.
Because you might like having,...
there might be 3 different jams
on the table that you want to
have. And you want to have a
few different pieces of bread to
go with it. But taking smaller
pieces will start you off on a
more balanced foot.
[PA USE] I was flying through there.
I was flying through there cause
I was not looking at the time and
thinking I was not flying through
here. So, [LAUGHS] um..we also
wanted to talk about taking care
of you and yours. That really is
what this entire series is about.
And I'm actually gonna have John
chime in here a little bit about
some of these take home points,
and things that we can be thinking
about. Especially in the next
week before we see you or you
hear us again.
>> John: Well one of the first
points,...take home points is.
Be optimistic. Easier said than
done. This goes along with being
intentional. We want to assume
that things are going well. And
if you plan that is more likely.
[PAUSE] [ERICA LAUGHS]
>> Erica: One of the ways that
we talked about to be intentional
is to think of the My Plate graphic
when you are making your meals.
How are you putting the food on
your plate? What are the portions
you're using? What types of foods
are you choosing? And as John
has said, you know, if you make
the choice to have less bread.
Maybe you can have, you know, the
dessert later on. Making the
choices.
>> John: And I'm not the dietician
here. So I always struggle with
portion size. And My Plate is
helpful. That I just remind myself,
"half the plate, fruit and vegetables".
Which is a beautiful color. I say
enjoy the colors. If I tell myself
just to fill half that plate,
then I don't worry about what goes
on the other half. I just make
sure that I have my vegetables and
my fruit taking up half of my
plate. It's very helpful to me.
Struggles with portion size.
>> Erica: And that's a very good
point. And one of the things I
mentioned was having a full plate.
And people like a full plate.
There's a lot of research stating
that we eat based on how much food
we have on the plate. So sometimes
people even wanta have a smaller
plate. If you really are thinking,
"I really want to be mindful of my
portions". That's one of you goals
this season. You can think about
actually having a smaller plate.
Or, you know, you're going to have,
you know,...at Thanksgiving time
I always have 2 plates. Well you can
think about having 2 smaller plates
instead of 2 traditional sized
plates. Then you would be taking
in less food overall.
And, this is really a big one
through out the year as well as
this time. Eliminating added
sugars and saturated fats.
I don't know who out there might
be some baked good. Might have
some extra candy left over from
Halloween. There are a lot of
extras that tend to be at work.
Out,...out, when we're out eating
at our friends homes. Back home
in our pantry, cause your at the
grocery store, and "wow that looks
great". And now it's in your
pantry for the next week and you've
gotta think about that. So
limiting them, I don't say, don't
have them, but limiting them and
thinking about,...back to what
John said, of just being very
intentional about your choices.
>> John: Right, I try to savour
those pleasurable things. To,...
back to the season, remind
yourself that the season is a time
to slow down and be mindful.
Light that candle. Enjoy that
special food. Savour it.
>> Erica: Ok. So I do see that
we have about 6 questions here.
So we are gonna move on to
answering those. Um, I also
wanted to, ... while we're looking
at the questions,...at the questions,
just remind you of some of the
other seminars and things that are
going on around. Tomorrow actually
is the great American Smoke Out.
And the "Being Tobacco-Freefor a
Day" webinar will also be occuring
at noon tomorrow. That registration
is also on our website as well.
Along with next weeks event.
"Parties and Events". And on the
28th. "Being Active into the
New Year". The 5th, "Being
Indulgent without Overdoing it".
The 12th, "Being Generous this
Season". And the 19th, "Being
Content this Season". So, we
hope that you can tune into
any of these or all of these.
As your schedules permit. So,
I,...like I said, I'm going to
check out some questions here.
And, I'm going to actually just
read the questions, and answer
them verbally. Someone said
can you get pureed prunes in the
grocery store or do you put prunes
in the food processor to puree them?"
Well you,... I guess you could do
both. You can go to, actually,
the baby food isle. The best
place to get pureed prunes, and
also you can look at,...in the
baking isle. The also have them.
Another question is, "Do the gravy
separators on the market work as
well as the refrigerator method"?
Well, yea I think that the gravy
separators are a good idea.
Especially in the moment. Cause
a lot of people aren't gonna
make their gravy before hand and
put them in the refrigerator and
then de-fat it. A lot of times
you're making it at the same time.
On,..on Thanksgiving. Or you're
actually making it in a super
hurry on the way to the table.
The more you let your gravy cool,
the more fat you will be able to
get off of them though. "How 'bout
you, do you have any ideas for
hors d'oeuvres or things that I can have
available for my guest to eat while
they are watching,...waiting for the
meal, or watching a football game"?
Um, there are lots of ideas and we
have lots of ideas on our website.
As well as I can email you a few
of those ideas on top of that.
>> John: That's a good question.
I'll be watching a football game
and...
>> Erica: [LAUGHING]
>> John: [GARBLED] ...about eating.
So, ...
>> Erica: Yep.
>> John: I'll have to plan.
>> Erica: Ok, well we'll definitely
get some of,...get a few recipes out
to people. Within the next,..I'll
say by tomorrow at this time we
should get you some recipes as
well. "Would you count mashed
potatoes as part of the vegetable
portion or carbs and grains"?
That's...the answer's yes. It's
both. It is a [LAUGHS]...it is a
starchy vegetable. It is,...hmm,..
on that My Plate is a grain.
And the reason is, is that it has
calories most similar to a piece
of bread or a standard grain
product. So if you're looking at
making half of your plate vegetables,
they are talking about the
non-starchy vegetables.
>> John: So, mashed potatoes and
stuffing don't count for my
vegetables?
>> Erica: Yes, [BOTH TALKING]
You've got that right.
>> John: I've got that right? Good.
>> Erica: Yea,...yea just like
corn,...so like if I have corn
and potatoes and peas, and those
actually count as a grain. So,
you can see how people over do.
Grains, especially a traditional
um,...
>> John: Holidays.
>> Erica: Holidays. because a
lot of those things are very
grain and carb heavy. Can you,..
another one is, "Can you tell me
what a saturated fat is? What
foods have saturated fat? I
keep hearing that olive oil is
ok". Saturated fat is,...most
typically comes from animal
products, and are most typically
in your dairy and in your meat.
And so your beef,..it's in all
animal. So beef, pork, that's
the difference between the dark
turkey and the white turkey, is
...is it's heavier in fat and
the saturated fat. And the reason
that olive oil is healthier than
a saturated fat, is olive oil
does not contain the type of fat
that clogs your arteries. And
saturated fats do tend to work
towards clogging your arteries.
So you want to look at decreasing
the saturated fat. A little bit
along the way. We have one more
question here. And this time
actually I have maybe a few.
So I'm gonna keep going.
"What about alcohol? My family
really drinks". Well you know
I think that alcohol is one of
those things. It's just like
foods. You have to plan for.
You have to think about them maybe
in a moderate way. And,...and
plan for your tactics as well.
Just like we had the My Plate for
food portioning. You might want
to think about what you are
planning to do as for your alcohol
intake as well. What do you think
John?
>> John: Well I think that's a
really good question, cause it's
acknowledging the pressures and
the pleasures. And there's
pressure with drinking and,..and
some stress when people imbibe
a little bit too much. But there's
a lot pleasure. Sometimes people
look forward to that during the
meal. I think coming up we have
a section of,...a webinar, "Being
Indulgent without Overdoing it".
And, you do have to plan. With
an eye towards having the pleasure
as well. So it's a very good
question. You start to think about
both, who's drinking and dynamics
and all the other things that
come during the holidays. Some
of those pressures. So we'll
talk a little bit about those.
>> Erica: Thank you. Another
question that came in was, "I don't
care so much for the taste of
olive oil. What is the next best
oil to use for general cooking"?
Ok, so a couple of things you might
want to think about. If you
use extra light olive oil, it
has an extra light taste. So there
isn't as much taste as your
standard extra *** olive oil.
So that's one way you might
wanta think about it. Another
thing is canola oil, is,..has
fairly similar make up as the
olive oil does. So you could
definitely switch to the canola
oil with the same benefits.
I think that we have gotten through
our questions and we have a
minute left. I think we did a
pretty good job with timing there
John. [LAUGHS]
>> John: Well, I'm looking forward.
I'm hoping folks come back in the
coming weeks. Look at our
schedule. Don't forget tomorrow
if you know somebody who smokes.
It's the Great American Smoke Out
day. It's a very important day.
Sometimes it's a great time to
quit. To renew yourself during
the holiday season where you might
have support. So give a gift to
yourself. Tune into that one
please.
>> Erica: Well thank you all
for attending today. And like you
said, I hope that we have a
chance to speak with you again.
Have a wonderful day.
>> John: Bye bye.