Upgrade Your Ingredients: Easy Swaps for a Healthier Holiday Season
The following article was written by Heinen’s Chief Dietitian, Melanie Jatsek RD, LD.
People can be flexible when it comes to food but try to take away someone’s favorite food and you’ll likely be met with resistance. This is especially true when it comes to holiday food traditions. Let’s face it, we like what we like!
If you’re tempted to increase the nutritional value of your Thanksgiving feast, consider upgrading your ingredients rather than eliminating dishes altogether. This strategy will preserve your traditions without changing the taste, appearance, or texture of the dishes your family loves!
Try one of the ingredient swaps below and lookout for my favorite holiday-inspired Fx™-approved recipe ideas. They’re guaranteed crowd pleasers!
Fx™-Approved Oil Swaps
Instead of seed oils like sunflower, canola, soybean, and corn, which are high in omega-6 fats and prone to oxidation, choose these oils for healthier cooking and baking:
- Heinen’s organic coconut oil
- Heinen’s extra virgin olive oil
- Heinen’s avocado oil
Recipe Idea: Give apples a seat at the dessert table with this Healthy Apple Crisp featuring fresh honeycrisp apples and a quick homemade cinnamon, walnut, and oat topping made with Heinen’s coconut oil.
Fx™-Approved Spice and Seasoning Swaps
Salt
Did you know that traditional table salt contains additives and sugar in the form of dextrose? Swap out processed iodized salt for:
- Heinen’s pink Himalayan salt
- Redmond real salt
These unrefined salts are free of artificial additives and retain important trace minerals, the way nature made them.
Seasonings
Replace salted spices with the delicious flavors of fresh herbs from Heinen’s Produce Department such as:
- Heinen’s organic parsley
- Great Lakes Growers rosemary, thyme, and sage
The power of herbs lies in their wealth of protective polyphenols — plant compounds with potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Recipe Idea: Fresh herbs are responsible for the amazing flavor of this Sprouted Stuffing with Gravy.
Fx™-Approved Salad Dressing Swaps
Common ingredients in many bottled salad dressings are seed oils (sunflower, canola, corn, and soybean) and added sugar. Dress your holiday salads with one of these healthier alternatives made from extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil:
- Bella Sun Luci dressings
- Bragg dressings
- Brianna’s avocado oil dairy-free garden ranch dressing
- Primal Kitchen dressings and marinades
- Stonewall Kitchen olive oil & balsamic dressing
Recipe Idea: Making your own salad dressing is easy. Try my favorite five-minute Simple Vinaigrette Dressing and see for yourself!
Fx™-Approved Soup and Stock Swaps
Creamy Soups
Most brands of canned mushroom soup have ingredients that your body does not need such as canola oil, MSG (monosodium glutamate), and soy protein concentrate! Skip these ingredients and upgrade your green bean casserole with Amy’s Kitchen organic cream of mushroom soup.
Stocks
For stuffing and gravy, Heinen’s organic chicken bone broth is a step up from regular chicken stock. Bone broth is a beneficial “elixir” made from simmered animal bones. It’s considered a powerful detoxification agent because it helps the digestive system expel waste, promotes the liver’s ability to remove toxins, helps maintain tissue integrity, and improves the body’s use of antioxidants.
Recipe Idea: Serving soup before dinner is a great way to prevent overeating. Prepare this Turmeric Cauliflower Soup with Heinen’s chicken bone broth in place of vegetable broth.
Fx™-Approved Dairy Swaps
Opting for grass-fed butter, milk, cream, and cheese in your holiday recipes is a definite upgrade because milk from cows raised on pasture contains higher amounts of omega-3 fats. These anti-inflammatory essential fats are less abundant (but more important for your health) than omega-6 fats, which promote inflammation when consumed in excess. Choose these pasture-raised, grass-fed dairy products:
- Kerrygold grass-fed butter or Organic Valley grass-fed butter
- Origin A2 grass-fed milk
- Origin A2 grass-fed cream
- Organic Valley cream cheese
- Organic Valley shredded cheese
- Heinen’s A2 organic grass-fed cheese (in the Specialty Cheese Department)
- Heinen’s pasture-raised eggs (contain more omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, beta carotene, vitamin D and vitamin E than caged and cage-free eggs)
Recipe Idea: I brought this Creamy Root Vegetable Bake to Thanksgiving dinner last year and it was a big hit! Grass-fed butter and milk can be used in place of the plant-based ingredients in the cream sauce, if desired.
Fx™-Approved Baking Swaps
Whipped Topping
What’s pumpkin pie without whipped topping? Avoid the high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated vegetable oils in conventional whipped topping by swapping for a dollop of So Delicious Dairy Free CocoWhip (located in the Frozen Department).
Sugar
Opt for lower glycemic sweeteners to sweeten your traditional Thanksgiving desserts such as:
- Heinen’s pure organic maple syrup
- Heinen’s raw honey
- Big Tree Farms coconut sugar
Note: coconut sugar can be substituted 1:1 for regular sugar.
Recipe Idea: Heinen’s pure organic maple syrup is the sweetener of choice in these tasty Pumpkin Pie Energy Bites. Serve them next to the pumpkin pie for those wanting a lighter option.
Recipe Idea: Heinen’s 100% pure pumpkin is a staple for Thanksgiving pies and pumpkin rolls, but have you ever tried it in hummus? This simple homemade Creamy Pumpkin Hummus featuring Heinen’s chickpeas, canned pumpkin, tahini, and spices is the perfect nutritional dip for a colorful Rainbow Veggie Tray.
Key Takeaway
The most important thing about the holiday season is spending time with those you hold dear. I can’t think of a better way to do this than sharing a delicious meal. When you upgrade the ingredients in your traditional holiday recipes your family and friends will appreciate the extra attention you placed on their health. What a priceless gift!
Thank you for so many great alternative suggestions.
Good stuff. Thanks
The best. Right on!