5 Healthy Thanksgiving Dinner Tips

Thanksgiving officially kicks off the holiday season -- which means that healthy eating decisions become more difficult, as temptations for larger portions and holiday sweets increase. Let’s be honest, no one really wants to diet on Thanksgiving. However, skipping on a diet doesn’t have to mean an automatic weight gain. According to the New York Times, the average Thanksgiving dinner is about 2500 calories. To put this into perspective, check out the nutrition facts for this light Thanksgiving dinner:

 

¼ lb roasted turkey
1 cup mashed potatoes
3 tablespoons gravy
½ cup stuffing
3 tablespoons cranberry sauce
1 dinner roll
1 slice pumpkin pie

The average Thanksgiving dinner will contain much larger servings and more types of food than this meal. However, there are some simple things that you can do when preparing and eating dinner to make the dining experience healthier, but still tasty!

Definitely not to scale... Source: Esquire

1. Cut back on heavy gravies and sauces (or make them yourself)

It’s tempting to drown your plate in a thick, creamy gravy with cranberry sauce on top. Unfortunately, gravies and sauces are some of the biggest sources of empty calories on the Thanksgiving dinner plate. Most canned gravies contain large amounts of fat, while canned cranberry sauce is generally full of sugar. If you go for the homemade gravies and sauces, you can have a greater deal of control over both the nutritional quality and taste of these classic Thanksgiving condiments.


2. Add more greens to the Thanksgiving menu

Not every green vegetable on the Thanksgiving table has to be buried under butter, cream of mushroom soup, and onion rings (looking at you green bean casserole). A nice fall salad is a great addition to a Thanksgiving menu as a starter, and also much faster to make than most other appetizers. Here are some great fall salad recipes from Food52 for any Thanksgiving table!

Get the recipe for this amazing salad at Food52

3. Substitute white, granulated sugar for more natural sweeteners when baking

There are many natural sweeteners that can add a nutritional punch to baked goods without removing sweetness. For example, both maple syrup and honey contain many antioxidants in addition to their well documented sweetness. Other substitutions for sugar, like applesauce and pureed fruits, work well with baked goods like cookies, while cutting back on the amount of added sugars. Check out this great list from the Greatist with examples of sugar substitutions for different cooking situations! 

Don't rely on just these sugars to satisfy your sweet tooth! Source: Happy Herbivore 

4. Use healthier grains and flours when baking

It’s so easy to settle for all purpose flour when baking. However, there are so many grains that can be swapped in for tastier, healthier dishes. One basic swap is to use whole wheat flour for baked goods for more complex carbs, darker colors, and a fuller, earthy flavor. Different grains can fulfill different purposes, so find the ones that match your needs. If you want to add more protein, try soy flour instead of all-purpose flour in a recipe. If you want to lower the amount of carbs and add a nuttier flavor to your cookies, try almond meal. Need more fiber? Try some white bean flour.

Make sure the whole grains are the first ingredients on the labels! Source: Healthy Life

5. Eat Slowly!

This is a tip that merits consistent practice outside Thanksgiving day and can make a big difference on your overall pattern of consumption. Taking the time to sit down and slowly enjoy a meal gives your body the chance to consume just what it needs to feel satisfied, and avoids the risk of overeating. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to finally receive the feedback signals from your intestines that you are full, so slow down!


These tips can significantly improve the healthier food choices you make, so try practicing them beyond Thanksgiving dinner! Also if you’re interested in checking out nutrition facts for a Thanksgiving recipe, check out the Laveem Ingredient Parser. Simply copy and paste the ingredients of a recipe, indicate the number of servings, and we can tell you everything from calories to the amount of calcium in any food you’re thinking about putting on the Thanksgiving table this year.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Laveem Team!

Calculate Nutrition Facts For Any Thanksgiving Recipe

As you prepare your official Thanksgiving menu these next few days, check out our Ingredient Parser to calculate nutrition facts, allergen info, and more for any recipe! Just copy and paste the ingredients of a recipe, indicate the number of servings, and we can tell you everything from calories to the amount of calcium in any food you’re thinking about putting on the Thanksgiving table this year! Check out what it looks like below with a great squash and pasta recipe I recently made for dinner:

Serves 6

 

2 cups butternut squash
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sage leaves
1 pound pasta
3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
4 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese

Click “View Details” to get more nutrition information and to personalize the Daily Value percentages to your specific body type and age!

If you’d like to add this to your blog, simply sign up for Laveem Label. Join the growing number of awesome food bloggers who are using Laveem Labels to add nutrition information to their recipes! Also, don’t forget to hit us up on Twitter and Facebook and let us know if you find some great, healthy recipes for Thanksgiving!

Kitchen Hacks: Defrosting A Turkey

Defrosting a turkey is a Thanksgiving chore that you absolutely should not leave until the last minute. If it’s Thanksgiving morning and you’re just now reading this with a frozen turkey in one hand and a smartphone in the other, all hope is not lost! Below are 3 methods for defrosting a turkey that you can do depending on how close to the big day you are. If you love any of the people that you’re feeding this Thanksgiving, please avoid leaving your turkey out overnight in a room temperature environment. Your bird is more likely to get contaminated with bacteria and your guests could spend Black Friday hooked up to IV drips.

They're waiting for you... Source

Super prepared and letting everybody know it -- The Refrigerator Method

Time required: 3-6 days depending on the size of the turkey
Equipment: Refrigerator and a big pan

Congratulations! You’ve clearly got this Thanksgiving thing under control! Take your frozen turkey and place it in a large pan to prevent any juices from contaminating other foods. Now place it in your fridge! The general rule for thawing is to allot 24 hours for every 5 pounds of bird. Therefore, your standard 20 pound turkey will take about 4 days to defrost. Here’s a handy chart from the USDA on defrosting times:

Turkey weight	Days to thaw
4-12 lbs	1-3 days
12-16 lbs	3-4 days
16-20 lbs	4-5 days
20-24 lbs	5-6 days

Just grabbed groceries the night before Turkey Day -- The Cold Water Thaw

Time required: 6-12 hours depending on the size of the turkey

Equipment: large leak-proof plastic bag, huge pot or sink, timer

At least it’s not officially Thursday morning yet! Unfortunately, this thawing method is a bit more hands-on. Place the turkey in a large plastic bag that won’t leak -- to avoid cross contamination and a gross, soggy turkey. Submerge the sealed turkey in cold tap water in either a large pot or a sink. You’re going to have to replace the water every 30 minutes though, so keep a timer or gullible family member on hand to help with this. Also, when you’re done thawing, you should preheat your oven and start cooking! Check out the times for thawing below:

Turkey weight	Hours to thaw
4-12 lbs	2-6 hours
12-16 lbs	6-8 hours
16-20 lbs	8-10 hours
20-24 lbs	10-12 hours

Look at that flawless execution! Source

My cousins are pulling into the driveway now -- The Microwave Thaw AKA The Bird Nuke

Time required: 0.5-3 hours depending on the size of the turkey
Equipment: Large microwave, large microwave-safe plate

The Macy’s Day Parade has already started and a giant balloon Spongebob seems to be mocking you from the other side of the television screen as you rush to defrost this turkey. All you have to do is microwave your bird on low-to-medium for about 6 minutes per pound. You’re going to have to rotate the bird several times to ensure that the whole thing gets zapped. There’s also a good chance that the microwave will cook some parts of the turkey, so have your oven ready as soon as you’ve finished defrosting. Unfortunately, microwaving your turkey to defrost it means a likely loss of moisture too, so prepare yourself for extra chewing and awkward glances from in-laws at the table if you don’t do some military grading basting. Avoid this method!

Turkey weight	Time to microwave on low-medium
4-12 lbs	24 min - 72 min
12-16 lbs	72 min - 96 min
16-20 lbs	96 min - 2 hours
20-24 lbs	2 hours - 2 hours 24 min

A fourth defrosting method. No comment on its effectiveness. Source

Verdict: Plan ahead and get that turkey in the fridge! All the other methods are more hands-on, require that you start cooking immediately after defrosting, and can affect the taste and texture of your turkey. Don’t be the subject of turkey related puns at the next gathering of family and friends!

Healthy Swaps: Kale vs. Spinach

At Laveem, we are dedicated to providing the world with tools that encourage healthier food decisions. Developing the technology that powers Laveem Label and SweeterSpoon has taught us a lot about the nutritional content of many common ingredients. Our Healthy Swaps series on this blog will highlight some easy ingredient substitutions that can make your favorite meals healthier and help you #GetFoodSmart. Here are our first contenders!

                                  Kale                                                                                Spinach     

Source: Aeris Kitchen

Source: Cooking Light

                         
                        VS







Next time you plan on making a spinach salad, or stirring in some spinach into a stew, you should definitely consider swapping the spinach for kale. While kale contains a bit more calories, it is super rich with vitamins (A and C) as well as fiber and potassium. For example, 1 cup of kale provides 206% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin A compared to only 56% for the same amount of spinach. Kale also provides 120% more of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C than spinach.

In addition, kale has a healthier breakdown of carbohydrates. There’s almost twice as much fiber in 1 cup of kale than there is in spinach, and about 80% of the carbs are high energy complex carbohydrates. Kale is also a great source of calcium and our body happens to absorb calcium from kale better than it does from more common sources like cow’s milk and even spinach.

Though kale is generally known for being a bit tougher than spinach, a little lime juice goes a long way in softening it up. Adding lime juice also makes it easier for our bodies to absorb the plant-based iron in kale, due to the vitamin C in the lime juice. Kale also keeps for a longer time than spinach -- I’ve enjoyed a crisp kale salad two days after making it but can’t say the same for spinach!

See how 1 cup of kale compares to 1 cup of spinach with our Laveem Labels. Click on “View Details” to personalize the data for your specific nutrient needs!

1 cup of kale	1 cup of spinach

Do you have any other Healthy Swaps that you like to make for your favorite recipes? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, or the comments below and we’ll share them with the rest of the Laveem community! Feeling inspired to add some kale to your plate? Check out these great kale recipes from some food blogs who have just started using Laveem Labels:

Baked Risotto with Sausage and Kale

Lentil Patties with Kale Salad

Miso Butter Kale

Japanese Breakfast Fried Rice

Check out www.laveem.com to add free Laveem Labels to your website! You can customize our Labels to match the look and feel of your website and can choose how much information your Label displays on your pages. Sign up today!

Healthier School Lunches Are A Great Start To A Healthier Country

In January, the USDA released new standards that required schools to align school meals with the USDA Dietary Guidelines in order to receive federal lunch aid. Part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, many of these standards include very common sense steps to a healthier diet including increasing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, while reducing saturated fat, sodium, and the overall amount of calorie consumption. Unfortunately, the only thing the news seems to be covering is the controversy over the new calorie limits for lunch that place a 650 calorie max for grade school students, 700 calorie max for middle school students, and 850 max for high school students.

Admittedly, responses to this new regulation on school lunches has been mixed. Prominent nutritionist and food advocate Marion Nestle has described these standards as, “setting examples that what kids eat matters just as much as what kids learn.” School systems like the San Diego Unified School District have embraced these standards with their Farm to School program which sources local and organic food to their school meal programs. Third graders are served chili bowls with beans that come from a local supply chain and locally made bread. Children are introduced to new vegetables with dips and spreads. Overall, they have done a great job of introducing these changes in ways that are more likely to build lifelong habits in their students. However, a rather unlikely coalition between some students and Republican members of the House Agriculture Committee is raising increased opposition against these new measures. Student boycotts of school lunch programs in Kansas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin continue to fuel the advancement of the new “No Hungry Kids Act” which decries the new standards as another example of a “nanny state” (coincidentally something we’ve also heard about the soda ban).

There are several problems with the negative responses to this school lunch controversy. First of all, the notion that the new calorie limit standards are causing students to be hungry is completely false. Before these standards were in place, high school students were typically offered about the same amount of calories in for lunch, and on average took 787 calories on their plates. A closer look at the complaints of students participating in these boycotts reveals that students often feel “hungry” because they simply refuse to eat the healthier offerings provided by their schools. A recent New York Times article on this issue quoted students calling vegetables “gross” and throwing out pears because they “only like apples.” As a result, many of these new requirements have led to increased waste as students are simply throwing out the food that isn’t pizza and French fries and later complaining that they’re hungry.

Source: Center for Science in the Public Interest

Second, these new standards are completely on track with recommended daily calorie intake for students. Depending on activity level and gender, calorie intake for students aged 14-18 fall between 1800-2200 calories. Considering that students can get extra servings of fruits vegetables, the new school lunch requirements provide enough room to accommodate the needs of all students. Finally, these standards actually represent the most proactive measure to making a change in the health and wellness of American children. At a time when 23 million children and teens are overweight or obese, it’s absolutely imperative that we look at opportunities for effecting positive change with regards to how we teach our children to eat. The transition to these new standards was never promised to be easy and it will take some time before students accept them. However, we need to remember that this is part of a long endgame that can make an impact in reducing health care costs in the future. Type 2 diabetes in children has risen 21% in a span of just 8 years and like many other preventable diseases, it can be traced back to modifiable behaviors like poor eating habits. If we are to slow down the growth of diabetes and the obesity epidemic in children, it requires that we change everyday practices for the better.

As someone who taught in an urban high school for a few years, I witnessed many examples of how school lunch offerings could have a powerful influence on student behavior and performance throughout the school day. Many of my students relied on the school lunch program as their major source of sustenance for the day and the changes in these programs significantly influenced their diets. The addition of a new salad bar in the latter half of last school year drew many grumbles and complaints from the students, but it was a step in the right direction that began to positively influence their decisions. Considering that the local corner stores offered nothing by way of fresh fruits and vegetables, it was very comforting to know that my students received the opportunity and encouragement to make that daily healthier decision. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is definitely a step in the right direction for promoting better nutrition and healthier food decisions for American children.

As a company, Laveem believes that the only way to stem the growing epidemic of diet related diseases is to empower people with the information to make better choices. However, the power of choice can only exist when options are available. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is crucial to making healthier options available for students who have to make daily lunch decisions. We believe that it is important that everyone is aware about how these changes make a difference, so show your support for the act on Twitter and Facebook with these model tweets and posts:

• New school lunch standards help students make healthier food decisions #getfoodsmart
• The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act helps students build healthy lifelong habits #getfoodsmart
• Teaching kids to eat healthy is an important step to tackling childhood obesity and diabetes #getfoodsmart

Tweet us your thoughts about school lunches with #getfoodsmart and we’ll share them with the rest of the community! Also check out some great resources to learn more about the new school lunch standards:

• Center for Science in the Public Interest: http://cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/back2school.html

• USDA - The School Day Just Got Healthier http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Healthierschoolday/default.htm

Ralph Bouquet is a co-founder at Laveem. Laveem is a company dedicated to providing the world with tools to make healthier food decisions. We believe that the only way to stem the growing epidemic of diet related disease is to empower people with the information to make better choices daily. At Laveem, our goal is to provide this information for every food, everywhere.

Where's the Beef? 7 Facts about American Beef Consumption

How much and what kinds of beef are Americans eating? (Source: Shop at Home Food Service)

In case you missed it, last Wednesday was the second most popular day of beef consumption in America. Independence Day trails Memorial Day as the second highest day of beef consumption in the year. Americans love beef on our national holidays, but our obsession with beef extends well into our eating preferences during the other days of the year. Below are some interesting facts about the beef we like to eat, how we eat it, and how healthy this beef is:

1. On average, Americans consume beef 77.8 millions times each day. This means that every second, beef is consumed 900 times around the United States!

2. In 2011, the average American consumed 57.4 pounds of beef. That’s the weight of a punching bag and nutritionally it’s approximately 66,000 calories, 5200 grams of fat, and 4500 grams of protein!

3. The amount of grain fed to a cow to make 1/4 pound of hamburger meat could also produce 107 slices of bread! It takes 6.7 pounds of grain and forage and 52.8 gallons of water to produce just 1 quarter pound hamburger patty.

4. While beef is often considered worse for your health than chicken, another one of the primary sources of protein, there are several cuts of beef that are actually leaner than a skinless chicken thigh! Below is a comparison between a skinless chicken thigh and several other cuts of beef with regards to total fat and saturated fat:

Meat (3 oz. cooked serving)	Total fat (g)	Saturated fat (g)	What you might cook with it (sample recipes)
skinless chicken thigh	9.2	2.6	tandoori chicken
top sirloin	6.1	2.4	sirloin steak
top round	4.2	1.4	beef roast
eye round	4.2	1.5	Italian beef

5. The majority of the beef that Americans eat is 80% lean ground beef, often called 80/20 ground beef. One standard 4 oz. serving (in the form of a burger patty) contains 300 calories and 7 grams of saturated fat (40% of the USDA daily limit for saturated fats).

6. Burgers account for around 75% of all beef entrees that Americans eat at restaurants. Of these burgers that we’re eating, 44% of them are accompanied by some form of fried potatoes such as French fries or chips. If you add small fries and a Coke, the single 4 oz. beef patty in a McDonald's quarter pounder becomes part of a 1100 calorie meal with 14 g of saturated fat and 50 g of sugar (half the daily calories we need in just one meal and 80% of the saturated fat daily limit).

7. The leaner and healthier cuts of beef, like top round and sirloin steak, cost nearly 200% more per pound than their ground beef equivalents. The average retail price of ground beef in May was $2.99/lb while sirloin steak was $6.42/lb.

Since the beef industry is driven more by profit than by the provision of nutritious options, there’s little chance that we will see a change in the nutritional profile of the ground beef that we’re eating -- unless we focus our purchasing power on healthier options. Americans spend less of their income on food than people in any other country in the world. However, the sacrifices that we make for cheaper and faster food seem to carry external costs such as rising obesity rates and chronic diseases that can be linked to poor diets. Our reluctance to spend more on healthier beef is worth evaluating, considering the health costs we pay.

Originally posted on the SweeterSpoon blog on 7/11/12.

Of Politics, Pizza, and Broccoli

Let's talk about pizza, broccoli, and how the government is politicizing our food. If you’re the average American, it’s likely that you or someone in your family has had pizza in the past month. And if you have children in school, then it’s almost guaranteed that they have -- if at least in their school lunches. In fact, chances are that they have eaten more pizza than they have broccoli in the past month. Fortunately, since members of Congress declared the tomato paste in pizza quantifiable as a vegetable serving, we can rest assured with the knowledge that pizza and broccoli are interchangeable. After all, what kind of country would we be living in if our government didn't make regulatory decisions in America’s best interests?

A "balanced" school lunch (Source: NY Daily News)

What kind of country indeed. A country where Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia compares buying health insurance to a slippery slope for forcing Americans to buy broccoli. What some might call a hyperbolic statement, I call an affront to reason. When did eating vegetables become a punchline? At some point it became acceptable for educated adults to come together, look at a slice of frozen, plastic-wrapped pizza and say, “Ladies and gentlemen...a vegetable serving.” Besides being ideologically flawed, Justice Scalia’s comparison of buying health insurance to buying broccoli, is part of a misguided, vitriolic response to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). One of the ACA’s goals is to provide coverage options for more Americans by mandating that all Americans obtain minimum health insurance coverage or pay a penalty, meaning that we ultimately increase the number of people who pool risk. However, set against the landscape of an increasingly sick America, we must realize that the ACA is NOT a cure for the disease that ails us. A universal healthcare will succeed when we all also start taking individual responsibility for our own personal healthcare.

The place where it has to start for all Americans is with our relationship with food. It’s going to fall on the mothers who Super Size meals for their children three times a week, the restaurants who decide to sell 1400 calorie burgers, and a Congress willing to call several tablespoons of tomato sauce with cheese on pizza dough a “vegetable serving.” It’s going to start with people thinking critically about their food decisions, and seeking transparency from those who produce and make their food. It’s going to require making choices that may seem unconventional, as we realize that the healthcare burden we bear as a nation is being exacerbated by our lunchtime decisions. And it’s going to require a lot more broccoli, Justice Scalia.

In an earlier post, I described the nature of the American health paradox: a nation that spends so much time discussing and debating diet and health care, yet boasts an increasingly unhealthy population. On second thought, I should have replaced “paradox” with “tragedy.” It’s tragic that 75% of our healthcare costs are spent on chronic diseases -- of which the majority can be linked to poor diet and nutrition. It’s tragic that my former students at Frankford High School in North Philadelphia, thought nothing of washing down Doritos with ginger ale soda for breakfast. It’s tragic that we remember July 4th as our single day of indulgence in burgers and hotdogs, while forgetting that it is still just a fraction of the 67 pounds of beef the average American consumes annually.

We need to do better. The risk pool is about to get much larger, and with it comes the opportunity for us to take a collective stand against the harm we’ve done to ourselves and our families at the dinner table. Food is the common thread of the human experience, and reminds us all of our physical ties to this planet. Food is the silent witness to all our rites of passage and in its presence, we ratify all the social contracts that mean anything to us. Food is the social network that we’ve been logged into all our lives. And somehow we’ve decided to not take it seriously. Facebook adds a few controversial profile changes and we’re up in arms. Meanwhile, a farm bill that increases subsidies to the big corn producers and continues to tip the scale of who controls what we eat is being floated around the Senate. It takes an open letter from nearly 75 food and nutrition experts to generate a response from the public.

Perhaps I’m wrong. One might say that the assumption that being more informed about food will lead people to better decisions is dubious at best. It assumes that humans are rational, making every decision in their best interest. But I’m willing to bet that if we can get this generation to be smarter about the impact that their food has on their health, we can change a discourse that for too long has been controlled by big food brands. Initiatives to add more fresh fruits and vegetables to our children’s lunch plates should not be lamented as “overly burdensome” and “costly.” It’s an investment in American lives. It’s an investment in a future, adult workforce that won’t be 35.7% obese and ailing from diabetes and heart disease. It’s an investment in freedom. Freedom from an early hospice bed that we will continue to resign ourselves to -- if we don’t change the way we eat. And isn’t freedom what we’re all about?

Ralph Bouquet is the Community Manager of Laveem. Laveem is a TechStars company whose mission is to curate all nutritional knowledge about food and provide services and apps that help people make more informed decisions about the food they eat. Laveem recently launched their food search engine called SweeterSpoon at www.sweeterspoon.com.   

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are soley those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Laveem, and/or other contributors to this blog.

Originally posted on the SweeterSpoon blog on 7/2/12.