7 Diabetes-Friendly Holiday Foods That Won’t Steal Your Joy

The holiday season should be a joyous time of the year. However, for those with diabetes who want to continue eating healthfully, it can sometimes be a time of trepidation.

Baking cookies for family and friends, Auntie Kay’s silky smooth red velvet cake, or granddaddy’s “gotta have it” cornbread stuffing with sausage can throw even the most faithful healthy eaters off track.

But sticking to a healthful lifestyle doesn’t have to mean deprivation—not if you take the right approach. As a diabetes educator and Registered Dietitian, that’s the message I give to my clients during the holidays. After all, depriving yourself of special holiday foods or feeling guilty after eating them isn’t part of a healthful eating strategy.

This year, rather than battling with all the dos and don’ts, I encourage you to focus on relaxing and accentuating the positive health aspects of the ingredients that everyone enjoys during the holidays. Apples, cranberries, pumpkin, pecans, cornbread stuffing, sweet potatoes, and yogurt can be the secret to healthy eating this season. Below are health benefits and tips specific to each of these tasty treats.

Apples

Health Bonus

Apples are chock-full of disease-fighting antioxidants and are a good source of fiber and potassium. It’s best to eat apples whole, rather than in other forms, like apple juice. Whole apples are richer in dietary fiber than juice, and the juicing process drastically reduces the amount of antioxidants found in the whole fruit.

Holiday Tips

• Cut calories by making baked apples. To keep the festive spirit, stuff the baked apples with a few cranberries and top with a dollop of whipped cream.
• Instead of eating apple pie, save calories and carbs with an apple pie parfait. This nutrient-dense recipe features my favorite ingredient—yogurt.
• In addition to fruit, yogurt also pairs well with other nutrient-dense foods, including vegetables and whole grains.

Click here for the Apple Pie Parfait recipe.

Cranberries

Health Bonus

Cranberries are an excellent source of vitamin C, as well as a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin E. They’re also a potent source of flavonoids – plant-based compounds that prevent E. coli from adhering to the cells that line the urinary tract, which helps ward off urinary tract infections.

 Holiday Tips

• Make cranberry relish using fresh, whole cranberries instead of canned jellied cranberry sauce, for instance, which can contain a significant amount of added sugar.
• Limit the serving size of canned jellied cranberry sauce. A 1/4-cup serving can set you back by around 25 carbs and 110 calories.

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Pumpkin

Health Bonus

Pumpkins are loaded with beta-carotene, one of the most abundant plant carotenoids converted to vitamin A in the body. Research indicates that a diet rich in foods containing beta-carotene may help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer and offer protection against heart disease.

Holiday Tips

• Instead of pumpkin pie, enjoy pumpkin chocolate yogurt. This trifecta of flavors provides naturally-occurring phytochemicals from the dark chocolate, and calcium, vitamin D, and potassium from the yogurt.
• If pumpkin pie is still on the menu, reduce the calories, fat, and carbs by removing the crust, using egg substitute and evaporated skim milk, or simply opting for a smaller portion.

Click here for a pumpkin chocolate yogurt recipe.

Pecans

Health Bonus

Compared to other tree nuts, pecans rank number one in antioxidant capacity. They’re a good source of dietary fiber, protein, heart healthy fats, vitamin E, magnesium, and copper. Studies show that nuts can help reduce the risk of heart disease, lower bad cholesterol, raise good cholesterol, dilate blood vessels, and help prevent hardening of the arteries.

Holiday Tips

• Skip the pecan pie and jazz up Greek yogurt with cinnamon-sprinkled pecans and your favorite non-nutritive sweetener.
• If you have no plans to pass up the pie, slice it thin and remove the crust. One slice of traditional pecan pie can have as many as 600 calories and 73 grams of carbs!

Cornbread Dressing

Health Bonus

Like other whole grains, corn meal is high in complex carbohydrates. It’s an excellent source of fiber and provides potassium and vitamin C. Studies indicate that whole grains can help reduce the risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, and can assist with weight maintenance.

Holiday Tips

• Bake stuffing in muffin tins to offer single-serving portions.
• Use whole grain bread instead of white when making homemade stuffing.

Click here for a down-home corn bread stuffing recipe.

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Sweet Potatoes

Health Bonus

Sweet potatoes are brimming with vitamin C, calcium, potassium, and beta-carotene, which boost antioxidant intake and prevent cell damage. These nutrients have a low glycemic index, and recent research suggests they may reduce postprandial hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in people with diabetes.

Holiday Tips

• Roast sweet potatoes to bring out their natural flavor. Eat them with the skin to increase intake of fiber and other nutrients mentioned above.
• To reduce calories and carbs in a typical sweet potato casserole recipe, nix the marshmallow topping, whip the potatoes with nonfat/skim evaporated milk and sweeten with your favorite non-nutritive sweetener.

Yogurt

Health Bonus

According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, intake of milk and milk products, such as yogurt, is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure in adults. Most yogurts are also an excellent source of high quality protein, and regular consumption of yogurt is associated with a more balanced diet.

Holiday Tips

• To reduce fat and calories, swap ingredients like eggs, butter, heavy cream, and buttermilk for yogurt when baking.
• Use Greek yogurt in place of mayo in holiday dips.
• Add yogurt to mashed potatoes in place of butter and milk.
• Use yogurt to make healthy salad dressings.

Make the recipes you already love even better. Click here for a yogurt substitution chart.

Don’t let diabetes take the sweetness out of your holidays. Click here for all the holiday recipes mentioned above. Not only are they healthy, but each one has been tested for deliciousness, too!

Constance Brown-Riggs, MSEd, RD, CDE, CDN, is nutrition advisor for the Dannon One Yogurt Everyday Initiative, past national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, specializing in African American nutrition, and author of the African American Guide to Living Well With Diabetes and Eating Soulfully and Healthfully With Diabetes.