Recommended by nutritionist Kristīne Brokāne .
Midsummer is an annual holiday celebrated by almost every resident of Latvia. And as is customary during the holidays, it is necessary to prepare a festive feast and bring it to the table. Most people stick to their family holiday traditions and choose the usual foods. Unfortunately, the biggest problem is that many of these foods are high in calories and fat. As a result, many overeat or suffer from stomach aches. However, the holidays must be celebrated! I do not recommend refraining from celebrating the holidays, but as a nutritionist I can recommend valuable tips that will help you eat healthier and not overeat during the holidays.
What to bring to the St. John’s table?
Of course, St. John’s cheese ! We can make the St. John’s cheese ourselves, or buy it ready-made. Considering that St. John’s cheese is a rather lean product, it can be put alone or different types of St. John’s cheese and arranged as a cheese plate, without adding other cheeses.
Instead of mayonnaise, ketchup, cream, sweet cream, choose a better alternative. Instead of cream, it is better to choose “White” Greek yogurt, which will contain more protein and less fat. Instead of sweet cream, choose oat cooking cream (very similar to sweet cream). Prepare mayonnaise yourself or choose salad mayonnaise, which contains fewer calories. Do not choose ready-made sauces, but prepare them yourself. Instead of ketchup, it is better to choose tomato sauce and pay attention to the nutritional value.
Kristīne Brokāne recommends checking the ingredients on the label and choosing tomato sauce with up to 1 gram of salt per 100 grams. In the ideal version, up to 0.5 grams per 100 grams. And choose those products where there is no more than 5 grams of sugar per 100 grams of solids or 2.5 g of sugar per 100 ml of liquids.
Healthy is delicious
We try to reduce or avoid traditional “salads” (like rosol, cheese salad, etc.) and instead choose a fresh leafy salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and avocado . Drizzle them with olive oil and a little white wine vinegar. However, if we want to prepare rosola, then choose stewed or boiled meat instead of sausage and replace the mayonnaise with ½ Greek yogurt and ½ salad mayonnaise. A bean or pea salad will also be a better choice as legumes are a great source of protein. We avoid cheese salad.
As accompaniments to meat or fish, we choose grilled vegetables and boiled or baked potatoes. Buckwheat, brown rice instead of white, whole wheat pasta instead of the usual ones will also be great additions. If we want to put bread, then we choose seed, bran or rye bread.
Convenience foods such as sausages, sausages, chips, French fries and ready-made pizzas are products with a high carbohydrate and fat content. We try not to choose them and not put them on the table. We prefer chicken or turkey, which we marinate ourselves. You can also use pork, but remember that red meat (pork, beef, lamb) can be eaten up to 500 g per week, no more. A great alternative is also fish, both fatty and white , depending on what you like better. As well as seafood , such as shrimp. They can be grilled and served with lemon juice.
Use Extra Virgin olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, spices and herbs to marinate meat or fish. Choose spices without salt, such as curry, “Anniņa”, “Hmeli – Suneli”, as well as herbs such as oregano, basil, parsley, dill, etc.
What to replace with
Instead of sausages, it is better to serve a meat platter , because meat, unlike sausages, contains less saturated fat. The meat dish can be supplemented with pickled or pickled cucumbers, mushrooms.
Instead of chips, we choose vegetable plates. The main thing is to have crunchy vegetables. Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, carrots and cauliflower will work great for this. In addition, it will look colorful and it will make you eat a lot with them. And for the sauce, we do not choose mayonnaise with “Dipi” dry seasoning. Instead, we take Greek yogurt, to which we can add a little salad mayonnaise, garlic, dill and spices. And if you still want chips, then choose unsalted roasted nuts or potato chips, which will contain less salt or have a reduced fat content. Or you can make your own potato chips in the oven or in a fruit dryer.
Juices and lemonades should be replaced with self-made morsas, jelly, homemade lemonade or water with gas. In hot weather, you should definitely think about non-alcoholic drinks, but you can’t really get drunk from juices and lemonades, and they will also contain a lot of sugar, which we can call empty calories. Therefore, it is better to prepare pitchers or carafes of water with mint, cucumber or lemon slices or berries added. If you want something sweeter, then the alternative will be homemade morsas or homemade lemonade, where it is better to choose coconut flower sugar instead of sugar.
Replace sweets, cakes with fruits. In the summer, fruits and berries are much more available than in the winter season, so we choose watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries, etc. for the festive table. Everything your heart desires, but remember that one portion means: 1 medium apple, pear, banana; 1 handful of berries, ½ mango, 1 slice of watermelon, etc. The daily dose is two portions of fruit.
If there is still a desire to bring a cake to the table, then it is better to bake the cakes yourself. And instead of wheat flour, use oat or almond flour. It is better to choose coconut flower sugar instead of sugar. You can also take a look at the vegan cake recipes, where nothing is often baked, but frozen.
Homemade ice cream
Ice cream – a summer treat for both adults and children. If there will be children at the celebration, you can prepare homemade banana ice cream or sorbet in time.
Recipe for 1-2 servings. 1 banana – preferably frozen (~200 g); oat drink (~20 ml (any other milk or herbal drink is also suitable)); Cut the banana into pieces, freeze. Put a frozen banana in a blender, add a little oat drink and blend into a homogeneous mass. If you want a chocolate taste, you can add 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder. On the other hand, to prepare sorbet, banana is mixed with other frozen berries (strawberries, raspberries, etc.) depending on the desired taste. And if you want something more special, you can also add a little Greek yogurt to a banana with berries, then you will get Greek yogurt ice cream.
Other recommendations not to overeat on Midsummer
Nutrition specialist Kristīne Brokāne recommends that before you start eating, look at everything on the festive table and feel what you would most like to taste and taste. Next, you put these products by sticking to the principle of the plate.
Principle of a healthy plate: ½ vegetables (fresh or grilled), ¼ carbohydrates (e.g. boiled potatoes or whole wheat pasta, buckwheat, quinoa, pearl barley, etc.), ¼ protein (e.g. meat or fish, etc.) + 1 tbsp. fatty substances (extra virgin olive oil or unrefined vegetable oils, etc.).
When you are full, take a break and walk away from the table so that your hands are not constantly reaching for food. Walk or dance instead. If you want to snack on snacks, start from the beginning with a vegetable plate and then move on to meat, cheese or other salty snacks. Let’s get ready on time, and may we all have a beautiful and joyful holiday! Nutrition specialist Kristīne Brokāne wishes .