Tips for diabetics for holiday eating

There are so many opportunities to eat big meals and overindulge during the holidays from Thanksgiving dinner to a New Year’s Eve celebration.

If you have special dietary concerns, it can be a season of problems.

Lee Lamb, clinical and cardio-pulmonary rehab dietitian at Wilson Medical Center, talked about some of these pitfalls and good alternatives at last week’s meeting of the Wilson County Diabetes Support Group.

“You want to be prepared,” she said.

Those attending the meeting were greeted with a plate of diabetes-friendly food Lamb had prepared, including a green bean casserole made with frozen beans and bread crumbs and pumpkin pudding made with canned pumpkin and sugar-free Jell-O.

Much of the meeting involved participants sharing ways they had adapted favorite holiday recipes to be healthier and to fit into their diet as well as tips from Lamb.

Here are some of the ideas that came up last week:

• Use Splenda in pumpkin pie instead of sugar. Lamb pointed out it’s also good to make the pie crust-less or put nuts on the bottom instead of a crust.

•  A good holiday dessert is trifle made with angel food cake, sugar-free Jell-O pudding and light whipped topping.

• If you’re trying to adjust your diet, ease into the transition. One participant told how she is gradually weaning herself from sugar in her tea by adjusting the ratio of sugar and Splenda. It’s easy to do the same with whole milk and skim milk.

• Be careful what you drink at holiday parties. Calories can really add up with egg nog, hot chocolate and alcohol. You can make your own egg nog with low-fat or skim milk and artificial sweeteners. Lamm served delicious unsweetened, hot herbal tea at the meeting.

• Family members might press you to cook the same traditional recipes at Thanksgiving and Christmas with no modifications. But you don’t want to get off your regimen, even for the holidays. “It’s important to stay focused,” Lamb said. 

• One woman in the group asked for ways to make carrot cake healthier. Lamb suggested reducing the amount of sweetener and using Splenda. You can also add more pineapple and carrot, she said, use reduced-fat cream cheese or Greek yogurt cream cheese.

• “Don’t be afraid to cut things in half,” Lamb told them. For the onion dip she served at the meeting, she used half an envelope of onion soup mix stirred into Greek yogurt, not sour cream. And she provided carrot sticks for the dip, not chips.

• Stuffing was a favorite holiday dish for several in the group. Lamb said to make it healthier don’t add the grease from the turkey and use reduced-sodium chicken broth.

• When you’re at a big meal, don’t go back for seconds or thirds. And be careful with your original plate and the serving sizes making it one-half non-starch vegetable, one-quarter carbohydrate and one-quarter protein.

• Put away the food as soon as possible after the meal so you aren’t tempted to keep eating, and give away the leftovers. “Don’t keep that temptation around,” Lamb said.

• Don’t fry your turkey, and when you roast it, remove the skin before eating.

• Take a 15-minute walk after every meal.

• When making chicken salad, try Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise and mix in fruit, nuts and seeds.

• Volunteer to take food to a meal or party you are attending. That way, you’ll be sure to have something healthy to eat.

• Don’t be afraid to modify and change recipes.

• Instead of using baking sprays, line your pan with aluminum foil.

lisa@wilsontimes.com | 265-7810

Lee’s Heart Healthy Green Bean Casserole

• 2 16-ounce bags frozen french cut green beans
• 1 10-ounce can Campbell’s 98 percent fat free or Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup
• 3/4 cup skim or 2 percent milk 
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped bella/porchini mushrooms
• 1 small sweet onion sliced thinly into rings
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs (whole wheat, if possible)

Mix all ingredients (except sliced onions) together completely in a 9x13 baking dish, then top with thinly sliced onion rings. Bake at 375° degrees for 30 minutes or until the mixture is hot and bubbly. Remove from oven and top with panko bread crumbs. Continue baking an additional 15 minutes or until panko crumbs are browned.

Nutrition info: 

60 kcals, 1 g fat, 0 g sat fat, 0 mg chol, 90 mg sodium, 10 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 2 g protein

Compared to regular green bean casserole: 

161 kcals, 9 g fat, 3 g sat fat, 4 mg chol, 529 mg sodium, 17 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 4 g sugar, 3 g protein

Lee’s Low-Carb Pumpkin Pudding

• 1.5-ounce box sugar-free Jell-O instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 15-ounce can 100 percent pure pumpkin 
• 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups 2 percent milk
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Optional: whip cream, graham crackers, small or large graham cracker shells

Mix sugar-free Jell-O pudding package with milk; stirring until thickened. Add in 1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Serve and enjoy. May top with 1 tablespoon whip cream and 1/4 sheet of graham cracker, or place in several small, or one large, graham cracker shells. 

Nutrition info: 

57 kcals, 1 g fat, 1 g sat fat, 5 mg chol, 201 mg sodium, 9 g carbs, 4 g sugar, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein

Compared to regular vanilla pudding: 

105 kcals, 1.5 g fat, 1 g sat fat, 5 mg chol, 238 mg sodium, 20 g carbs, 18 g sugar, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein

Compared to pumpkin pie: 

323 kcals, 13 g fat, 3 g sat fat, 35 mg chol, 318 mg sodium, 46 g carbs, 25 g sugar, 2 g fiber, 5 g protein

Lee Lamb

Baked rice

Sometimes I overlook the most basic recipes I make for my family when I’m trying to come up with a food column idea. 

That’s the case with today’s baked rice dish. 

For several weeks, I’ve been promising my family I’d make this favorite rice pilaf recipe. Several times I had it planned but something came up every time, and I’d put the ingredients back in the pantry for another day.

But recently, I had a yummy beef dish in the slow cooker for the night’s supper and knew the baked rice would be a wonderful complement, and it was!

I first tried baked rice with mushrooms at covered dish meals at church. For a few years there, I could expect to see it at every meal we had at church. (Ever notice how recipes seem to go in cycles?)
I was pleased when several church members included their version of the dish in the church cookbook we did in 1999 because I wanted to make it myself.

I put this recipe in the cookbook I made for my family several years back, and in the note on the bottom I wrote that it’s a combination of recipes from my church friends Julie Wells and Amy Lemmons Browder.

The prep time for this recipe is minimal. You basically saute the onions and brown the rice in butter, then mix the ingredients and bake, covered, until the liquid is absorbed by the rice.

My family really loves this recipe, so much, in fact, that I made a double recipe last week so no one would complain if a certain brother or sister got a really big serving. I also knew how good it would be warmed up as leftovers the next few days, and it was. The next time I make a double recipe, however, I will cook it in two dishes rather than one really large dish because the cook time was quite a big longer, and we were hungry!

This recipe would make a wonderful side dish for holiday dinners.

lisa@wilsontimes.com | 265-7810

Baked brown rice with mushrooms

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3  to 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cans beef broth (I use Swanson’s Natural Goodness, 14.5 ounces each)
• 1  4 oz. can mushroom stems and pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sauté finely chopped onions in butter on medium-high heat. Add uncooked rice and lightly brown, stirring often. If it sticks, turn down heat.

Place in 1 1/2- to 2-quart casserole dish. Add beef broth. Drain water from mushrooms and add to mixture. Stir well. 

Cover with aluminum foil and cook in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Don't toss the pumpkin seeds!

Monday night was a treat. I got to watch my husband and granddaughter carve a very traditional jack-o’-lantern. Sora decided to roll up her sleeves and dig her hands in the stringy orange pumpkin innards, searching for seeds she carefully dropped into a plastic bowl.

Reggie and I talked to her about jack-o’-lanterns and how her Great-Grandpa L.H. was always the pumpkin carver in the family. Reggie showed her how to notch the cut-out pumpkin top, matching it to a notch on the pumpkin, so he could easily replace it when the carving was done.

"Can I put it back on when we’re finished?” she asked. Of course, we told her. That’s the only way you learn.

Reggie told her it was her great-grandpa who had taught him how to notch it. Love, love, love these memories and traditions.

We started a new one Monday night, I guess. I have never roasted pumpkin seeds. I had planned to do it last year, but I didn’t tell Reggie that, and the seeds were tossed out with lots of gooey pumpkin slime and balled up newsprint.

I read several online recipes. The process is simple. You dry out the seeds in the oven, then add a little oil and seasoning and put them back in a little longer. That’s it! The result is a crunchy, nutty-flavored snack. And it’s a healthy one as well.

Pumpkin seeds, or pepitas, are a good source of zinc, fiber, iron and potassium.

The process of toasting them is very simple. So if you’re carving a jack-o’-lantern for Halloween, be sure to save the seeds and make a fun and healthy snack.


Editor’s note: The Wilson Times publication Wilson Woman would love to include holiday recipes from our readers for an upcoming publication. Please send to bhearn@wilsontimes.com or mail to Bradley Hearn, c/o The Wilson Times, P.O. Box 2447, Wilson NC 27894. Deadline is Friday.


Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

• Pumpkin seeds
• Olive oil
• Seasoning, such as salt, garlic salt, seasoned salt, cinnamon sugar (use butter instead of olive oil if using cinnamon sugar)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Remove pulp from pumpkin seeds and rinse in a colander. Pour pumpkin seeds in single layer on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or prepared with baking spray.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until dry.* Stir halfway through.

Remove from oven and toss with olive oil (it only takes a little) and sprinkle with seasoning.

Return to oven and cook for another 25 minutes until golden brown. Stir halfway through.

*Some recipes cook for an hour at a lower temperature, adding seasoning and oil at the beginning. I cooked mine as listed above.)