Giving food gifts this season? Great idea—if they keep their peak quality and stay clean and safe en route. Give recipients a heads-up so your gift doesn’t sit out too long. Pack gifts in clean, well-protected containers. Pack perishables frozen or refrigerator cold, in an insulated cooler or heavy box with cold packs or dry
Ready to start your holiday baking? Baking experts advise using quality ingredients and measuring carefully. Use soft, not melted butter or margarine—unless the recipe says to melt. Preheat your oven. Use the suggested pan size. Follow doneness advice. Cool on a rack. Experiment for nutrition. The results may differ from what you’re used to. For
Be jolly and enjoy party food! But with all the eating and drinking that goes with entertaining, how can you avoid what may seem inevitable—seasonal weight gain? Extra weight comes from more than partying. Fewer daylight hours and busy social schedules often make fitness routines low priority. Cookies, candy, dips, and nog—many holiday foods are
Cookies, cookies, and more—an array of homemade cookies, served on a holiday plate, marks the season. But who’s got time for all that baking? And how to resist indulging if you do bake? Easy solution: just exchange! Invite a group of friends or coworkers to bring four dozen of their favorite cookies to swap, along
Want an easy taste adventure? Substitute ripe fresh or canned pears in any recipe that calls for apples: baked crisps, salads, even applesauce or baked apples. With a little citrus juice, fresh pears won’t discolor. Like apples, pears pack plenty of goodness. Peel on, a medium pear delivers just 100 calories and about 4 grams
Want to sweeten your pot with flavor, not calories or added sugars? Then experiment with sugar substitutes (intense sweeteners).You get sweet taste with just a tiny fraction of the calories—especially useful if you’re managing your weight or diabetes. Intense sweeteners aren’t carbohydrates, so they won’t promote tooth decay either. Check the supermarket shelf. You’ll five
Chips with sour cream dip, fried eggrolls or chicken wings, mayonnaise-based spreads with crackers—ever notice how these high-fat higher-calorie foods appear at nearly every holiday party? If you’re hosting this season—or if you’re bringing party food—set a new standard. Serve heart-healthy fare. Invite guests to bring a dish and do the same. (Even ask them
Hot herbal tea on a chilly December day—sounds good! Ginger citrus tea, tension-relief herbal tea, peppermint tea all sound healthful. But are herbal teas any better for you than traditional teas? Green, black, or oolong—tea appears to have health-promoting benefits. However, the health benefits of herbal teas haven’t been studied; neither their benefits nor safety
Holiday season seem too hectic for your usual fitness routine? That’s no reason for a holiday from physical activity. Guidelines don’t change. The 60 minutes of daily physical activity you need to keep it may be the perfect antidote for relieving seasonal stress and weight gain. Dovetail physical activity with seasonal festivities. Use the mall’s
Are holiday expectations making you stressed? Are you tempted to eat your holiday cookies right away instead of saving them? Are seasonal time demands competing with your daily eating and exercise routine? Here are some ways to cut holiday stress and keep control of your personal fitness: Organize. Plan ahead, keep to-do lists, combine errands.