As a New Year approaches, articles promoting ways to detox after the holiday and jumpstart your year abound. They advise everyone to:
- Cleanse! Eat only certain foods—garlic, lemons, and sprouts, definitely sprouts!
- Juice! (Like all that alcohol and dessert during the holiday have now made food hard to chew…)
- Fast!
- Try this supplement!
Avoiding food altogether, barely chewing, or plunking down money for supplements is not a recipe for health or for strong performance in WODs. Thankfully more of the articles, like this one on a site focused on ‘healthish’ recipes, are providing real strategies that work:
- Drink lots of water
- Eat more whole foods, produce, nuts, and seeds
- Choose a wide range of colors of food
- Reduce consumption of sweets, red and processed meat, and alcohol
- Sit down, eat slower, and enjoy meal time with real utensils and a cloth napkin
- Get more sleep
- Promote better digestion through high fiber intake
Here is a recipe that a friend of mine made for her Christmas celebration.
Pumpkin Hummus
1 can garbanzo beans
2/3 cup to 1 – 16 oz can pumpkin puree
1 garlic clove
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 – 1/2 tsp cayenne
pinch of paprika
juice of 1/2 – 1 lemon
1 tablespoon (or more) of olive oil
Mix in food processor or blender. Top with pepitas. Best after it mellows a day.
Here are additional appetizer recipes to kick off the New Year!
Open-faced Swedish shrimp sandwiches
Deviled eggs with roasted red peppers and capers
Spicy toasted garbanzo beans and pistachios
Happy and healthful eating in the New Year,
Donna G. Pertel, MEd, RD, LDN
Looking to set new nutrition goals in 2018? Contact me ([email protected]) to work out some measurable and realistic goals!