22 Apr Thankful For Thanksgiving
One of my favorite meals of the year is coming up! THANKSGIVING! It’s the best time of the year too! Giving thanks, feeling really lucky to be alive (considering everything happening in the world) & healthy. While I was on Periscope, I decided to give some Thanksgiving tips to make this Thanksgiving a healthy one. Then, I decided why not write about it too for those who missed the live video!
Let’s begin with the main attraction – the turkey! Don’t fall for the good ‘deals’ on the Butterball turkey. In the long run, it’s not a good deal. Conventional turkey’s are treated with antibiotics, hormones, fed GMO-grains, and treated just as badly. It’s a huge red flag when they are so cheap, right? Thanksgiving is all about pigging out, but usually people have lots of leftovers and you don’t want to be ‘indulging’ for a weeks straight. I recommend investing in that good quality turkey because you’ll have healthy leftovers, PLUS you can use the bones of the turkey to make homemade broth. Turkey carcass’ are so big too that it makes LOTS of broth. Yum! (Keep all the organs and neck to put in your broth too!) Head over to your local health food store or farm to see where these turkeys are available. Aim for an organic, pasture-raised turkey!
Let’s talk about some yummy sides-
If you are subscribed to my newsletter, this past weekend I sent out an email with good recipes for some popular Thanksgiving favorites. Here are some ideas that I found would help twist some Thanksgiving favorites to making it healthy.
–Dinner Rolls! Warm dinner rolls topped with grass-fed butter warms my soul. Let me clarify though, not the pre-packaged store bought dinner rolls, but some freshly baked dinner rolls made from coconut flour or almond flour. This helps avoid holiday ‘wheat belly’. You can also make these ahead of time & freeze them, so all you have to do is heat them up on Thanksgiving day. When baking, I always search ‘paleo’ because paleo baking always uses good quality ingredients.
–Green Bean Casserole! I also recommend searching for a paleo recipe for green bean casserole. This can help you avoid using those unhealthy cream of canned soups (plus those cans are full of BPA), yucky french fried onions with yucky additives, and other conventional junk.
–Sweet Potato Casserole! Oh my favorite! I love eating sweet potatoes that are naturally nutrient dense and then sweetened with organic maple syrup, coconut milk, grass-fed butter, and so much more! The good quality ingredients makes this yummy side 10x more yummier!
–Mashed Potatoes! – If you want to use some red potatoes and make some mashed potatoes, go ahead. But, try to leave the skins on to keep that fiber in to slow down the digestion of natural sugars in potatoes. Another great alternative is whipped parsnips. Just as delicious & you can’t even tell the difference, just extra nutrients!
–Gravy! Pass me the gravy! I love drenching my plate in some good gravy. Avoid pre-packaged jarred gravy or gravy mixes. Making your homemade gravy isn’t hard at all. Make sure you have some extra bone broth on hand, so you can make it. This gravy turns from junk to a gut healing condiment. You can’t say no to that.
–Deviled Eggs! My all-time favorite holiday food! Make sure the mayo you use for deviled eggs is good quality. Most store-bought mayos are made from canola, vegetable, or soybean oil. These oils are super high in omega-6 & not enough omega-3s, so they can be inflammatory to us. My favorite is mayo made from avocado oil by Primal Kitchen. You can spice up the regular deviled eggs with uncured organic bacon, celery, paprika, and whatever else you may want! I recommend using pasture-raised eggs.
–Stuffing! You can choose to make your stuffing in a separate dish or stuff the turkey. Either way, you can make some breading (made from almond flour or coconut flour) ahead of time to whip up some easy fast stuffing. You can add various vegetables, healthy fats like grass-fed butter, and herbs to make it tasty.
–Pies, pies, and more pies! Dessert time is the best! Making your own pies beforehand will be healthier & easy to just heat up on Thanksgiving day. I also recommend paleo baking here to help stick with good quality ingredients. Another thing that’s great about baking your pies is you have control over the crust! There are great recipes out there to make your own pie crust out of almond flour, coconut flour, and other nutrient dense ingredients, so you can avoid modern wheat.
I always recommend having at least one side of greens, so if you aren’t a green bean casserole fan, try some roasted brussel sprouts, sauteed spinach & kale, etc. These greens will add some serious nutrients to your meal.
All in all, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family, friends, happiness, love, and good food! We have one body to live with, don’t wait until it’s too late to start fueling it with the right stuff. Plus while you have family and friends over, you can inspire others on eating healthy by showing them how eating healthy is still super yummy! Connect with us on Facebook and Instagram!
Happy Thanksgiving!
