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Episode 26: The Ultimate Holiday Dinner Guide: Nourishing Swaps Without Sacrificing Tradition
38 Plays2 months ago
The holidays don’t have to mean restriction or regret. In this episode, we share simple, realistic food swaps that let you enjoy Christmas dinner while still feeling good in your body.
We cover healthier takes on classic favourites like stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, desserts, plant-based mains, mocktails, and more—without losing the nostalgia. We also talk about navigating holiday food pressure and mindful eating.
No guilt. No perfection. Just enjoying the holidays, holistic nutritionist style.
🎄✨
Where to find us:
IG @whatsmyageagain.podcast / FB - What’s My Age Again Podcast
Email us at: wmaapod@gmail.com
Where to find Tanya:
IG @tlcholistic / FB @tlcholistic
Book with Tanya: https://tlcholistic.janeapp.com/locations/tlc-holistic
Join the TLC Community: https://www.patreon.com/tlcholistic
Where to find Kim:
IG @kimdesmarais.nutrition /FB @KimDesmarais
Book with Kim: Complimentary Connect Call
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Mission
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to What's My Age Again, the realest podcast for women who are done chasing trends and ready to feel empowered. Hi, I'm Kim. And I'm Tanya, holistic nutritionists and childhood best friends who've been there, done that, and bought the collagen.
00:00:16
Speaker
more than once. Each week we provide actionable steps that you can start today to help you thrive through every decade to come. We're cutting through the wellness noise to bring you honest conversations about aging, hormones, health, beauty, mindset, and everything in between.
00:00:33
Speaker
You see, we're also on a mission to age gracefully one WTF moment at a time, backed by research and real life.
Personal Updates and Wellness Tips
00:00:41
Speaker
We're here to share what actually works, what's a waste of time, and how to truly thrive through the messy, magical midlife transition.
00:00:49
Speaker
We're so happy you're here. Let's dive in. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to What's My Age Again. hey Kim, how are you? I'm good, Tanya. How are you? i am good. i am just getting over. um A minor cold. I mean, it was bound to happen. Four flights, New York City with 8 million people, two concerts, Edmonton. But Kim, I have to tell you, sorry, but it's the truth.
Cold and Flu Season Wellness Strategies
00:01:18
Speaker
i We speak the truth.
00:01:20
Speaker
Between all of the things we talk about in both of our medicine cabinets, because I took a couple things from yours, and then our immune um boosting foods, I'm on day three of my cold and I literally, aside from a little bit of a sniffles, I feel like a million bucks. So if you haven't listened to those episodes, ladies, valuable.
Christmas-Themed Episode Introduction
00:01:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, for sure. And this is to like, tis the season, right? For cold and flu. We talked about it before, sugar and stress. um You know, my family got hit with it before too. But remember, like we all get sick, like just because we do all the things, we're not immune to it. absolutely But what it does with all those tips and tricks in that immune so um podcast was all about was we can shorten the duration. And as Tanya said, okay, so you felt bad for one day and then
Holiday Food Swaps and Nutrition
00:02:09
Speaker
bounced back. That's amazing because these things can kind of hang on. And so doing all the things will really help.
00:02:16
Speaker
you bounce back quicker exactly and they have and thank goodness grateful for the timing didn't miss any of my travel or my concerts and we are coming up to christmas so done gonzo before christmas with this cold and which brings us to today i know you're excited just as i am because it is a food episode but so much more We thought we would invite you into our homes and kind of do a Christmas dinner, holistic nutritionist style, and do it a week before so you actually have time to say, okay, we hear
Mindful Appetizer Choices
00:02:57
Speaker
you. Let's ah incorporate some of these tips and tricks into our own dinners.
00:03:02
Speaker
Exactly. i love this episode. And because we get asked these questions all the time. And actually, it was really fun. The other day I was working with a client and we did a fridge clear out and we just looked and she was doing such an amazing job. But there are just there are things you can swap out because you can enjoy the foods that you love.
00:03:23
Speaker
um And you can have that, you know, traditional family Christmas dinner. But there are some things you can swap out to just, you know, up your nutrition game a little.
00:03:34
Speaker
And clean it up a little. And this is not your jobs per se. And you know, unless you're holistic nutritionists, like we are Kim and I, this is our job. This is our passion. So there's going to be some things we might discuss on here where you're going, Oh shoot.
00:03:50
Speaker
I didn't even know that. So like you just said, Kim with a few tweaks and a few changes, you're Christmas dinner can still be full of tradition, full of nostalgia, full of the food you love without the things that are literally wreaking havoc on your body and making you feel crappy when all you want to do is feel jolly.
00:04:13
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. And no restrictions, just swaps, right?
Healthy Cheese Board Ingredients
00:04:18
Speaker
Mindful choices and enjoying your Christmas traditions. Exactly. And you know, one of the number one things for me, I want to enjoy my food. I think everybody does, but I make it very vocal.
00:04:32
Speaker
I love to eat. I want to enjoy my food. So again, i don't want to have sauteed broccoli with a pinch of sea salt. and a dry piece of tofu for Christmas dinner. I want to make this Christmas dinner magical. And we're going to go into right now, I think we'll start with maybe some of the things, some of the swaps that you can do for your main course that will not only up nutrition and support your your health, but taste delightful.
00:05:00
Speaker
And you might have a couple surprises when we start to reveal what are in maybe some of those things that are at your table year after year. They were at mine, so... Yeah. Same here. They probably still are. They probably still are at my mom's. We're going to talk about stovetop, mom.
00:05:18
Speaker
Yeah. And we'll bring our own dish. yes Should we start with Appy's, Tanya? And maybe you can start because I know exactly what you're going to start with. You think you know me. Okay. Well, you know me. Yes. Let's start with Appy's because for me, nothing screams any sort of gathering, but especially holidays and just um things that, you know, revolve around food, then a good cheese board and like charcuterie boards lately have been like all the rage, right? For a couple years now.
00:05:52
Speaker
Yeah. And when we
Homemade Stuffing Benefits
00:05:54
Speaker
examine a typical charcuterie board, It's usually not that great. There's usually some salty processed deli meats on there. And um obviously when it's a cheese board, my favorite, it is dairy heavy. And again, we're not going to get into all of the reasons, but dairy typically isn't great for any of us for a multitude of reasons. So for me,
00:06:18
Speaker
My absolute favorite appy is to make a beautiful, huge cheese board, but using cultured cashew based cheeses that are actually made with whole food ingredients. You know, things like cashews, things like lemon, real actual seasons seasonings, spices, and the key word there, they're cultured, which means they are fermented cheese.
00:06:47
Speaker
which means they are really, really beneficial for our microbiome, for our gut bacteria. Exactly. It's so great.
00:06:59
Speaker
And one of my absolute favorite brands, and you guys, if you know me, it's going to be any surprise at all, is actually Green Goddess Formagerie. And a couple reasons for this. um They're just, their product is bar none. They have like 17 different varieties. So like, I know a lot of you might be thinking a cheese board, Tanya, with like this plastic...
00:07:22
Speaker
cheese that comes in two flavors? Like, absolutely not. Do you guys know me? Absolutely not. 17 different varieties. So you actually are getting goat cheese. They have cheese balls. They're made already beautiful cheese balls. They have different dips and spreads. So you can create magic When you're looking for the right products out there, like these cultured cashew cheeses, you can enjoy your cheese board.
00:07:47
Speaker
And for me, afterwards, you do not have to deal with congestion because that was me. Absolutely congestion. And I know a lot of my clients. aches and pains, that inflammatory muscle stiffness, the necks, the fingers, digestive issues, bloating. So that is my number one appy switch. And if you're listening in Ontario, you guys are golden. There's so many stores in Ontario. They're actually from Guelph. So you can grab them in so many different stores. You can get them online at Voila, including Quebec. If you're listening in BC, Whole Foods does have a selection of these cheeses and Alberta,
00:08:28
Speaker
They're coming for you. I promise. I've put in the request and it's a real. So check out some different artisanal cashew cheeses. And that's my, that's my number one happy switch, Kim. I'm just obsessed.
00:08:39
Speaker
I love Green Goddess. I love their halloumi cheese. Delicious. Absolutely. And I think for, for those of you who aren't listening in Canada, what I would say to this is look at the ingredients because you can, as Tanya said, get beautiful cheeses. But as we know, some of the vegan um offerings out there come with a lot of oils, fillers, emulsifiers, things that we don't need. So as Tanya mentioned,
00:09:07
Speaker
take a look at those ingredients and companies like green goddess have these beautiful whole food ingredients in their products. Kim, that's such a good point. And
Homemade Cranberry Sauce and Plant-Based Mains
00:09:17
Speaker
that's also, I should put it out there. Green goddess uses no fillers, no emulsifiers and actually no added oils. They take that oil from the beautiful cashew and that's enough.
00:09:27
Speaker
So good point in what to look out when you're, you know, not in Canada. I love that. Perfect. And yeah, adding to that charcuterie board, those beautiful olives, um beautiful grapes, nuts and seeds, all those great things. And again, look at the ingredients on the packaged products you're buying, right? Look at the ingredients of the olives. what type Because we can say olives are clean and then there are some that contains, you know, that aren't organic, that contain sulfites, that have all these other ingredients in there that aren't necessary. So I think that's the biggest thing about Appy's is if it's packaged, take a look at your ingredient list.
00:10:06
Speaker
And for those of you who are still looking at dairy um cheeses, but want to switch out, because as Tanya was saying, it is inflammatory. And if you are, if you were sitting there listening to Tanya's, you know, the the symptoms that Tanya were discussing and going, oh, yeah, that is me.
00:10:24
Speaker
Take a look at that, right? Pay attention to what you're eating because it absolutely, one does affect the other. But some can, maybe instead of cow cheese, you can move to a goat cheese. And there are goat cheeses that come as a mozzarella, as a cheddar. You can really find that. And it has a different protein, a protein that some of us can digest. So that's one option. And the beautiful cashew cheeses I love as well.
00:10:50
Speaker
Green goddess, if you're in Canada, that's our first swap. Absolutely. So, and again, exactly. I think that sweeps across all of our appies. We can kind of move into main course. Also knowing too, guys, if you have a favorite appie that you make, like I love making like an artichoke spinach cheese dip.
00:11:07
Speaker
It looks a lot different now. Remember, you can take some of these dairy alternatives or goat cheeses like Kim just mentioned, and you can actually use them in your homemade traditional recipes. You can just make over your recipes and kind of remove the things that are inflammatory as well.
00:11:23
Speaker
I love that, Tanya. And that is one thing we teach our clients all the time. And when we talk about dessert, we'll be talking about this again. But you can take your grandma's recipe and swap it out. Swap the regular flour out for gluten-free or oat flour, almond flour. You can take the sunflower oil or vegetable oil and things and swap it out for avocado oil. So making those making those changes, you can become really good at doing that. And it doesn't affect the recipe, it just makes it more delicious.
00:11:56
Speaker
and more nutritious, and less harmful. A thousand percent. Yeah, for sure. That's such a good point. So dessert will come last. Let's do this in order, even though sometimes it's fun to eat dessert first.
00:12:08
Speaker
Let's start with the main course. And can I just say one thing before we move on? Did we just talk for cheese for like 10 minutes? We talked about cheese for like 10 minutes. All right, let's move on. Nobody is surprised. All right, away from the cheese and into the main course. um Mom, this one's for you. And stuffing will be different this year at my house. And what we don't know, we don't know. But what we know now, we know now. Let's talk about stuffing because that is a staple for a lot of people's holiday dinners. Let's talk about stovetop because let's be honest, we all know that box. Kim, I know you know that box. Oh yeah. It's 100. My mom is literally probably have it in her pantry right now and she's listening and yeah. Sorry, mom. Kathy, Nicole, like we love you, but like we got to talk to you about stovetop. So stovetop.
00:13:03
Speaker
If you do a quick Google, like I did, I already knew the ingredients were not great. What I found was that the ingredients are astronomically scary. So they exceeded my expectations. So I knew that it was going to be like enriched white flour. That is the first one. Do you want to know the second ingredient, Kim?
00:13:24
Speaker
I do. Glucose and fructose. Oh. Did you think that when you would make something at home, you would put sugar in it? and that Nevermind glucose and fructose? No, I didn't expect that at all. I was thinking vegetable oil of some sort would be the second. that That's number three. Vegetable oil and or shortening.
00:13:43
Speaker
Okay, so we're not sure if they know what's actually in there. Here's some big ones, Kim, BHA and BHT. I've talked about this before. And I'm going to take a second to talk about it again. Also got this off of um EWG's website.
00:13:58
Speaker
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies BHA as a possible human carcinogen. The European Commission on Endocrine Disruption has also listed BHA as a Category 1 priority substance based on evidence that it interferes with hormone function.
00:14:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. i I mean, does everybody want a side of that with their turkey? Merry Christmas. Yeah. Merry Christmas. Here's a bit of carcinogens and let's disrupt your hormones at the same time.
00:14:31
Speaker
It's, it's scary. Yeah. We want to yeah. Nothing with that ingredient in it. And not necessary. Okay. Continue. Sorry, Tanya. No, please don't. Please take like cut in, take it over. Cause we know probably about 20 ingredients. so we're in So you guys look it up. Nothing's actually real.
00:14:48
Speaker
There are actually celery, but then there's a star next to it. And I didn't actually copy what the star was. So i don't know if it's going to be like celery artificial, not sure. But anyway, celery might be real in there guys. Um,
00:14:59
Speaker
But again, just to go over this, the sugars, the oils, you guys know this as being our clients from past episodes. Like this is just a nightmare. So. Oh, Tanya, I'm looking at it right now. What else? Hydrolysis, hydrolysis soy protein. If you go back to the, what the oil episode that is, that is modified. That is genetically modified.
Healthier Gravy and Quality Meat Sourcing
00:15:24
Speaker
Um, if we look at the caramel, there's artificial coloring in here. Like it is just, yeah, it's ridiculous. Fun fact as well. If you wanted a double dose of carcinogens, not actual, you know, natural caramel, you know what I mean? Caramel coloring is a carcinogen as well.
00:15:43
Speaker
It is classified as a carcinogen as well. So nothing good is what we can say. And listen, ladies, if you're like, well, I'm I don't have time to make stuffing from scratch. The holidays are busy. I absolutely hear you, but you also don't have time to deal with the effects for you and your family about what's in this box. So we're either going without the stuffing.
00:16:05
Speaker
Or there are such simple solutions like a sourdough stuffing that is super easy to make at home using things like a clean sourdough bread, whether you're making it at home or you have that source somewhere else. um You can use your bone broth.
00:16:24
Speaker
That is like, hello, absolutely anti-inflammatory, sending love to our microbiome at the same time. And then this is when you add things that Kim and I have talked about before, the healing foods, the fresh herbs, the garlic, the onion. um So the thing is with this is you're making a stuffing. So you have that nostalgic Christmas dish. Everybody's happy. But instead of hindering your health, you're healing yourself at the same time.
00:16:52
Speaker
Absolutely. Because all of those ingredients that you just listed are on our healing is the ingredients we talked about in our healing podcast. And if you're gluten-free, like I am, you can swap out that sourdough bread or make it gluten-free. There's a lot of options for you there.
00:17:09
Speaker
So it's like, why are we taking such healing foods and it such a healing dinner and swapping it for something super inflammatory, with carcinogens and endocrine disruptors in it.
00:17:21
Speaker
Yeah. Why are we complicating things? It's like that whole back to basics things that we talked about before. The simplest things have the biggest impacts like deep breaths. We don't need to take stuffing and complicate it And you know what? We're going to put a recipe in the show notes for a basic sourdough stuffing that you guys can glance at and then adapt to your own needs and your own tastes. And we'll put that there in the show notes for you to see. And again, this is why we're doing it a week early. So you have this time to prepare and look into things.
00:17:51
Speaker
Absolutely. Should we talk cranberry sauce next? Take it away, Kim. Take it away. I love it. um Oh, shoot. I thought I had put the ingredients from.
00:18:03
Speaker
i was thinking about a brand called Ocean Spray. So we make fresh cranberry sauce in our house and we can talk about how to do that. Absolutely. um But so many of us, and if you're from the 80s like I am you might remember the the can of cranberry sauce that literally takes the shape of the can as you plop it out onto your plate.
00:18:24
Speaker
so I just opened it just so you know, let me interject and then I'll give it back to you. I just Googled, did a quick Google. So cranberries and then it says sweeteners like, so I'm not sure if they know which ones they're using, glucose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup or corn syrup and water. So there you go, Kim. That's what's in there.
00:18:44
Speaker
Oh my gosh. Yeah. See, so high fructose corn syrup, unnecessary, unnecessary and super inflammatory. When you can make a beautiful cranberry sauce with fresh organic cranberries, you can add a little bit of sweetener like a maple syrup or a honey. You can just boil that down on your stove, add some orange zest, some lemon zest, if you will. So you have this beautiful antioxidant rich cranberry sauce without the high fructose corn syrup.
00:19:14
Speaker
and And it takes minutes too. It literally takes minutes on your stove. You can make it earlier. like boil it to add.
Vegetable Sides and Mindful Alcohol Choices
00:19:22
Speaker
Of course you add a little bit of water, boil it down a bit, and then it congeals as the cranberries pop. You mash it down a little bit. It congeals, put it in your fridge. It's done.
00:19:32
Speaker
Right. I love that. That's something that we can do ahead of time, even a couple days ahead of time. And here you are getting a high dose of antioxidants and you're skipping all of these additives and these corn syrups and like it's mind blowing what is in these holiday foods. Right.
00:19:50
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. and speak Okay. like if No, you go. I was going to say, speaking of pre-packaged, like the cranberry sauce or the stove top,
00:20:00
Speaker
I think um sometimes it's difficult for plant-based eaters to find a main dish that can kind of pair. And I say that because I'm a plant-based eater myself that is able to pair, you know, with the mashed potatoes and the carrots and the beautiful vegetables that isn't just from a box. So like,
00:20:23
Speaker
Trust me, I've had roasts in the past that are pre-made roasts. And I'm air quoting right now, roasts, not roasts, not whole food ingredients, not things that I want to be consuming.
00:20:37
Speaker
So it becomes difficult. What's my main? Like, you know, a lot of plant-based eaters are thinking that. Totally. And I know a lot of people out there are hosting plant-based eaters and they're thinking, oh my goodness, what am I going to feed them? So we're going to give you some ideas. Absolutely, for sure. And that's a good one, too, because my mom struggles with that sometimes as well. and you know So I'm going to tell you a story, actually, because this speaks to the point that you made earlier about, or I made, one of us made, brain fog, um about using different ingredients to make over our old favorites, right? So get this, Kim. So first off, I think a real go-to general is like a loaf that makes it easy. Like a lentil loaf, you know, a chickpea loaf, a mushroom loaf. So instead of buying one, I realized how unhealthy I was a couple of years ago with doing that and started making my own. So Kim, do you remember, or anybody listening, the Craft Canada magazines that you would get for free at like the grocery store?
00:21:42
Speaker
I do remember. Okay. So in my, what I thought was healthy era in my late twenties where I'm like, look at me moved out of the house. Look at me making balanced meals. There was this recipe in the craft Canada. It was like ground beef, of course, not grass fed or anything like that. Like just ground beef, cheese whiz, ketchup, like Catalina dressing, pre-shredded shredder.
00:22:06
Speaker
Sounds good. a All craft products, of course, because of the craft book. I mean, I
Dessert Swaps and Mindful Eating
00:22:10
Speaker
get them. I get that business sense, but So I would make it all the time and you'd make it in muffin tins. You'd use your thumb, the little hole in the middle. Although Kim, there was stovetop in there too.
00:22:20
Speaker
Oh my God. There was cold pump in there as well. So you'd make a little hole in the middle. And then what would you put in there? Cheez Whiz, right? Oh, yeah. Stop it off.
00:22:30
Speaker
And I was like, oh look at me, the pillar of health. Anyways, and I pair that with a sidekick and a can of cream corn. I digress. So a couple years ago, I made it over and I'm really proud of this recipe. And it shows again that we can make over our favorites. So for a main, whether it's for yourself or for loved ones coming over, i make these mini meat loaves with a combination of walnuts,
00:22:58
Speaker
fresh herbs, fresh spices, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, lentils. And the way that that's all ground up, it really lends to the texture of like a meat pie without exaggeration. And you can either do that in mini loaves, put that sun print in, please do not fill it with cheese whiz. Now I use like a green goddess cream cheese, or I make my homemade barbecue sauce, or you can shake that into a big loaf.
00:23:25
Speaker
and bake it like that. And I'm happy to link the recipe there. But I think that when we're thinking about plant based eaters, that main kind of component of protein can be difficult. And I think a number one go to is like a lentil loaf, mini meat pies, things like that using meaty lentils, nuts, ingredients that aren't all the fake meat that's out there on the market.
00:23:51
Speaker
Beautiful. And lentils actually support hormone health. That sounds beautiful. And I might, I'm going to make that for my sister. My sister's joining us for the holidays this year and we're making that. I love it. well that Thank you for sharing that recipe. Yeah. As soon as you sent it to me, I sent it to Carrie and i was like, this is what we're doing. yeah it's It's amazing. And I feel like our non-vegetarian family members are going to enjoy it as well. It's for everyone. And it goes really nicely with the holiday table.
00:24:20
Speaker
Okay. Shall we talk gravy? Oh yeah. Because whether you're having turkey or lentil loaf, you need a little bit of gravy on there. Absolutely. And if you're using a package from Columbia house, the ingredients can be scary. I'm sorry. Should we have said the brands? Yes, we should. They are responsible for their ingredients. Absolutely.
00:24:41
Speaker
You know, and they can be scary. They're super, super high
Episode Conclusion and Social Media Engagement
00:24:45
Speaker
in sodium. They've got the hydrogenated vegetable fats, the food, the coloring that we talked about.
00:24:52
Speaker
um Caramel coloring is in many that we talked about earlier. And it's just not necessary. A thousand percent. And have you ever left a holiday dinner? I have the ones that I've made myself in the past. And you're like, my Lanta, why do I want to drink a trough of water? It's the great thing.
00:25:14
Speaker
It's the sodium in the gravy. Yep. You're dehydrated. You are a raisin.
00:25:21
Speaker
And doing your stuff on your own in general, but also especially speaking to the gravy, you control the ingredients. You control the sodium. You control the kind of sodium, not white salt. You're using a pink salt, a sea salt. Like there's huge benefits. And Kim, as you know, you can control what you're using as the base. So use a bone broth, use a mineral veggie broth. And like, that's a plethora of health right there in those broths.
00:25:48
Speaker
Absolutely. Use the turkey drippings. If you are making your own, if you're making a turkey, roasting a turkey, use those turkey rice drippings, just um filter them out, add a little bit of gluten-free flour to thicken it or gluten or arrowroot starch to thicken it, your your beautiful sea salt. And there you go. You have all of those beautiful, if you stuffed the turkey with that beautiful stuffing, if you added onions, you have all those beautiful flavors in the turkey in the broth. that's right from your turkey and you just do it at the end after you roast your turkey. I can picture my mom doing it as a child. Me too. She still does. Yeah.
00:26:26
Speaker
Yeah. And actually what she tells me to do, she'll probably be listening and being like, I don't just throw in the flour. She tells me to put the flour in a little glass container, like a little, and shake it up and then put the flour in so that it doesn't get clumpy.
00:26:41
Speaker
That is a Kathy. That's a Kathy Newton tip right there. Right there. And you guys take that because I ate Kathy Newton food my entire life from my youth and it is absolutely delicious. The taste is chef's kiss.
00:26:54
Speaker
So speaking of turkey, yeah something, actually shouldn't say something that I'm not well versed on because I do have family that eats meat and I have two clients that eat meat, but Kim, you're doing this for your family and yourself. Can we speak a little bit about the importance of sourcing all of our meat, but in this case, like our turkeys, what we're enjoying for our holiday?
00:27:18
Speaker
Absolutely. This is the time. Hopefully you have enough time with with, with when this podcast comes out, but being able to find yourself a local farmer or a place that sells from local farms um that you, so you know where, you know where your food, and this goes, like Tanya said, with everything, you know where your turkey is coming from. So you want, you want to make sure that it was humane, that they were, they weren't fed GMO grains their whole life. You know, you want to make sure that it's or like they've had,
00:27:53
Speaker
or get the organic if possible. um um stamp of approval, I guess I could say. no you know Sure. And that's so important because remember, animals in themselves have hormones. I've spoke on this before. And if they're being injected with more hormones, you're taking in all of these things. So all of these things are super important.
00:28:14
Speaker
And that just goes not only for your turkeys, but for meat in the future. And maybe that is a podcast because it really does correlate directly, not only to many things, but to our hormones. Yeah. Absolutely. And if you are in a place, if you're in a community where there is a local butcher, believe me, they love to talk about, you know, it's their livelihood. It's they know who their vendors are. They know who they're sourcing from. You can ask the questions and understand who you're supporting, right? Because also that's the other thing where where we put our dollars is what we're supporting. And so we want to make sure that we support farmers that, you know, that give our animals a humane
00:28:54
Speaker
wonderful life, right? Yep. I could not agree more on that. So i think that is a really good kind of for lack of better word, was going say meat and bones for for the main course, because then we know, you know, you have your beautiful vegetables and we all have our traditions on our veggies and how we cook them. And remember doing that yourself, you're able to choose the oils that you're using, making sure they're reputable and you're able to choose your seasonings and your actual kinds of vegetables. So having these mains and these sides that are made with intention, this has becomes a supportive meal full of love and nostalgia instead of one full of sodium and carcinogens. You know you see where we're going with this?
00:29:39
Speaker
Absolutely. And think about it this way too. like You have your you're people surrounding you on this day and you've just put made this beautiful feast with whole nourishing foods With love, you've infused your love into it and all of them are going to enjoy it and just be healthier for it.
00:29:58
Speaker
For sure. And I think we would be doing a disservice if we didn't bring up and touch upon um the bevies, the alcohol versus the mocktails. And I think this is something that we're going to talk about a little bit more in depth in January being just um how alcohol can affect our hormones, our sleep, our mood, a whole bunch of things. So I think what we want to say here is if you are consuming,
00:30:28
Speaker
alcohol. Maybe really think about that reason behind it. Are you having a drink just to enjoy it? That one glass of red wine. And if you feel like you need more than water, mocktails, mocktails, mocktails ladies.
00:30:45
Speaker
Right. Yeah. And it's, you can make, i think, We can get into it more in January for sure, but there's a really easy, or maybe you know what we'll do, Tanya, because we, maybe why don't we share a couple of our favorite mocktails in the show notes? There's one that I love to do with just, remember that ginger tea that we were talking about that you all probably have in your fridge right now after our immune system episode? We'll pull that out and use that as the base for anything. You know, add some mint leaves to it, add some soda to it, add some lemon to it. But we're going to put, we're going to touch on mocktails in the show notes. So take a look. Yeah. And just this little reminder that it's about enjoyment, not deprivation, but also alcohol is a carcinogen as well. We'd be amiss to talk about BHT and caramel coloring and leave out the fact that we need to be aware of our consumption of alcohol as well. And there's lots of other options.
00:31:37
Speaker
We'll be in the show notes for you. Awesome. So what about dessert, Kim? Oh, desserts. Well, you know, Again, like we said at the beginning, if you're looking at your grandma's recipe that you love and want to have tradition, like on your table for the holiday season, look at those swap outs, right?
00:31:59
Speaker
Look at like, you know, if you're gluten free, you're looking at a incorporating gluten free flour. Bob's Red Mill has a great one on one all purpose. You can also do a little blend yourself of rice flour, brown rice flour with maybe almond flour or oat flour. There's lots of options um where you can swap out the gluten.
00:32:20
Speaker
You can also look at those oils, right? If there's vegetable oil, which tends to be a lot, even in salad dressings, and the maybe in that craft kitchen book that you were talking about, you know, changing that out for an avocado oil.
00:32:35
Speaker
Instead. um Yeah, there's and like, let's look again at that homemade versus store. Kim, I know, yes so going into the store right now, you are literally assaulted. I was like, I was there the other day, I posted about it on my story. And I was like, I can't even help picking up all of these things and looking.
00:32:56
Speaker
Every single Christmas item is full of dyes, is full of, again, these high fructose corn syrups, enriched white flour. You don't have to go without the sugar cookies, the pies, the cakes.
00:33:11
Speaker
but you need to really take into account what's in there and how you can make an easy swap at home. And I know you're you're busy. We're busy too.
00:33:23
Speaker
Don't necessarily, this is my tip, focus on having five desserts because I think that's ridiculous for anybody, but that's how a lot of us grew up. Why don't we focus on making one dessert that is absolutely amazing, And like an apple crumble.
00:33:43
Speaker
i know that's what you I know that is your easy go-to and that's why I see you do that on your your social media. And like, why can't you why can't apple crumble be the norm, right? Like, why do we have to have all these colored high sugar desserts? That's a beautiful way to end the meal and not leave feeling like you have eaten over your capacity and you need to sleep for four days and undo your pants. Yeah.
00:34:05
Speaker
Exactly, exactly. and like And as we said, there are, you know, candy canes out there without high fructose or sorry, food dyes and all of that. Just look at the ingredients. Yum Earth has them. I found them for my kids. um But take a look at the ingredients of those packaged items and sweets during the holidays and just choose ones, you know, that, of course, we all, you know, we might enjoy sugar over the holidays. It's great. But just let go let's let go of those carcinogenic ingredients or food dyes that we don't need.
00:34:42
Speaker
Yeah. And your things can still be colorful. There are, I love the Yum Earth. There's so many different brands right out there of sprinkles that are made with natural colors, right? From beets and spirulina. So these are the things that you're, yep, turmeric. These are the things that you're looking for. And I'm going to say, well, I'm going to be bold because I know, because we talk, kim tell Kim, you tell me half the time, like not only do your, you've changed your kids' palates the way that, you know, you,
00:35:09
Speaker
you feed your kids is so admirable to me. I'm so proud. Like when I talk about you, the way that you, you know, feed your children or whatever, but like kids don't even notice these swaps. They're not going to know if their sprinkles are full of red 54 or if they're made from beets. Right.
00:35:27
Speaker
Yeah. And it's unfortunate for us parents too, because the the one downfall, and this is a totally different tangent, but the one downfall is those sprinkles are probably more money. And when we're in the holiday season and we're looking at saving money and wanting to buy gifts and all the things, some of the things that we're talking about here, we know they're, they cost more.
00:35:48
Speaker
um But I guess it's, that's where, you know, the priority is that if, you know, maybe we go without the sprinkles or, Yeah, we do something beautiful like the the the super easy apple crumble.
00:36:04
Speaker
But we completely also wanted to just, yeah, it's hard. It's really hard, but it's so worth it. It's worth the work. It's worth the effort because your health will benefit. You're right. And you talked about, and it is hard, and you just gave me a gri really great idea for an episode, Healthy on a Budget, which I think we can do in the new year. And you're absolutely right. Eating this way, we're not blind to this.
00:36:28
Speaker
It's a lot and it's a lot, a lot more. But when I think about prepping or buying five desserts, maybe like a lot of us used to, or just kind of spending a little bit more on elevating ingredients and making one, you might actually be saving doing that instead of doing, you know what I mean, four or five to have this big cookie exchange or this big platter. So But that's sounds a great point such a good point. And then, you know, to end off the episode, we just, I just talked about, and I saw your face too.
00:36:59
Speaker
I think we've all been like, what have I done? How did I eat this much? I feel like hot death after the holidays where you just want to lay in front of the fire and undo your pants. And we we We need to talk about that because even though that's a slightly different aspect of what we just presented about tweaks, it's a really important term. And I love when you say it, Kim, because it just stays stuck in my head. And it's one of the most important ones from the Centurions. If you've listened to the last podcast, Healthy at 100, what is it called, Kim?
00:37:33
Speaker
It's from Japan and it's called Hairy Hashibu. And it's so, I love it too. You won't forget it. Hairy Hashibu. It is the idea that you eat to 80% full, right? You eat to 80% full and it changes everything. And let's face it, like it takes us 20 minutes in order for our stomach to realize that we are full. So if we eat and eat and eat until we feel full, well, 20 minutes later, we're going to want to open up our pants, like you said, Tanya, right? So the idea, and this is, its dispute it was actually in, like Tanya said, the Healthy To 100 book, It's a philosophy, 80% full.
00:38:12
Speaker
Harry Hashibu. And to be honest with you, it's the number one philosophy that this blue zone in Japan uses that accredits them to being such a high number of centurions. That's their number one thing is eating until 80% full, the 80% full philosophy. And this is not only going to not make us feel like we need to undo our pants or...
00:38:35
Speaker
That saying, that damaging saying, I'm sorry, where we're like, get your stretchy pants on, or I'm going to say it, Kim, and I hate saying it, but people will resonate. Get your fat pants on. Absolutely not.
00:38:47
Speaker
Let's not turn our pants that way. Let's not do our best not to overeat. Let's enjoy, again, not about deprivation, but about mindful indulgence where we don't have to eat to excess because that is so hard on our digestion, right? our blood sugar, it affects our moods. And like, it's the one mindset that if you can go into that mindset, this holidays and enjoy your food and not overeat, I think you're just going to feel so much better throughout the whole season.
00:39:18
Speaker
Nevermind swapping ingredients. You're absolutely right, Tanya. You're absolutely right. And I mean, it goes back to all the things that we talk about every day, right? We talk about our mindset. That's one thing that we can talk about doing. We can also, you know, we want to make sure that we're keeping that blood sugar feel stable. So if you know you're having a big meal at night, I know what some of my clients are like, well, I didn't eat lunch because I knew I was going to eat this big meal at night. No, no That throws, if you listen to the blood sugar episode, you know that throws our blood sugar on this massive roller coaster. So eat your protein-rich breakfast. Eat your well-balanced lunch. And then nourish yourself and enjoy that lovely dinner at night as well.
00:40:02
Speaker
Absolutely. hashi bo Harry Harry Hashi-boo. And on that, I think that's all we have to say. Happy holidays and Harry Hashi-boo.
00:40:13
Speaker
Exactly. Well, we hope that this episode resonated with you. We hope you got some ideas for your beautiful Christmas table this year. um And we'd love if you share photos, share with us. We'd love to know what you served because again, Tanya said at the beginning, these type of episodes light us up because as you know, we're holistic nutritionists and we love talking about food. So.
00:40:35
Speaker
Love it. Post your holiday feast, tag the podcast. And um i we just hope it's magical and um have a good day. Happy holidays, everyone. Bye.
00:40:48
Speaker
Hey guys, thanks so much for hanging out with us today. If this episode resonated with you, we would love it if you would hit like, subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend. We love to hear from you because let's be honest, this show is for you.
00:41:02
Speaker
If you have a topic you'd love us to tackle or want to learn more about something we talked about today, send us a message. We got you. Stay connected with us on social media at what'smyageagain.podcast for even more knowledge and inspiration between episodes.
00:41:20
Speaker
Kim and I aren't doctors or your healthcare care practitioners. Everyone's body is unique, so always consult your own healthcare care provider before starting something new.