GUEST POST - Cindy Cullen

Christmas is just mere days away, and how many times have you moaned about eating, and eating, and .... you know.   I've been there too this year.   My guest today has some great tips to avoid...and if not avoid, then lessen the pitfalls of the season in our eating and how to survive it all.  Cindy Cullen is a Bachelors degree holder in Restaurant Management and also a formally trained chef, who created the site CulinaryArtsCollege.org to share her experience about her Bachelor's degree. As students couldn't find the right Culinary college for them while trying to pursue career in Hotel Industry, so Cindy created this site to help those students to inform them about the educational process, their degree options, some pitfalls to watch out for, and what to expect when attending a culinary arts college. As a well trained chef she is acquainted with different cooking styles and recipes of different regions. She also has the passion to write about different culinary art colleges , foodie people and food available around the world.

Please welcome Cindy, won't you?

5 Healthy Cooking Tips for the Holiday Season

It’s that time of the year again when the holidays are upon us – Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year; it’s a time for merriment and revelry, but also a time that precedes the guilt and agony over the overindulgence and failure to exercise, both our bodies and our self-control. There’s an abundance of food, all of it so delicious that it seems like a sin not to give in to temptation. So it’s a dilemma of sorts when the holidays arrive – to eat or not to abstain, to agonize or to rejoice. However, there’s a way to have your cake and eat it too (pardon the cliché) – cook food that’s delicious and healthy. And if you’re looking for tips on healthy holiday cooking, you’ve come to the right place:

• Use less fat: Simply put, fat not only makes you fat, it makes you unhealthy and leads to disease as well. So switch to low-fat options or use healthier alternatives to ingredients that contain fat. Gravies can be made with vegetables like mushroom, garlic and onion instead of with turkey drippings and you could use low-fat dressing for your salads instead of resorting to creamy dressings. Use skim milk instead of whole milk for your white sauce, and make your gravies at home instead of buying them readymade.

• Reduce the salt and preservatives: It’s true that salt adds to the taste of any food and that without it, you’re just as likely to be eating tasteless cardboard. However, reduce the amount of salt you add to your food and instead, augment the taste with spices and seasonings like turmeric, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, lime, and thyme – they’re healthier and add a new flavor to your food.

• Boil and poach more, fry less: Whatever you’re serving, use healthy cooking methods that retain all the nutrition of the food and use less grease or cooking oil. Anything fried is out of your menu while grilled, boiled and poached items are acceptable. Boil veggies instead of sautéing them, and eat your mashed potatoes without butter or cream. If you’re used to adopting healthy cooking options throughout the year, following them around the holidays is no big deal.

• Choose healthy dessert options: Include more fresh fruit and homemade ice cream on the dessert menu and skip the rich, creamy cakes and pies. Use healthy sugar substitutes when you make your dessert, and make the portions small so you don’t feel guilty about indulging your sweet tooth.

• Use smaller plates: While not exactly a cooking tip, this trick helps you eat less. When your plate is full, you feel like you’ve had enough and you’re more likely to stop rather than reach for a second helping. So do yourself and your family a favor and use smaller plates to serve everyone. This way, you get to eat a little of everything and avoid the guilt of overeating or indulging too much.

Holidays are wonderful – you meet and spend time with family and friends and you have a great time; enhance the experience with wise food choices that lead to good physical and mental health.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Cindy Cullen, she writes on the topic of culinary art colleges . She welcomes your comments at her email id: cindycullen84@gmail.com.