Slide into a booth at any diner and you’re likely to find a colorful bouquet of artificial sweetener packets adorning the back edge of the table. Most of us have grown so accustomed to the familiar pink, blue and yellow squares that we hardly give them a second glance. According to the Calorie Control Council, an international association representing the low-calorie and reduced-fat food and beverage industry, 194 million adult Americans consume low-calorie/sugar free foods and beverages.

From the sage advice of Mary Poppins, “just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,” to the popular teen phrase, “sweet,” most of us associate sweetness with goodness. In fact, the United States Department of Agriculture reports that the average American consumes 20 teaspoons of sugar per day, more than double the recommended amount. For diabetics, dieters and others looking to decrease their sugar intake, artificial sweeteners are a welcome alternative.

Sally Clifton, MSH, RD, LD/N, Clinical Dietitian at Shands Jacksonville and President of the Jacksonville Dietetic Association, agrees sweeteners are a wonderful way to satisfy cravings without raising blood sugar. She believes they are beneficial to a diabetic diet if used correctly.  “Moderation is really the key. By eating small amounts throughout the day and sticking with recommended serving sizes, these products can be incorporated into a balanced diet.”

If you are overwhelmed by the thought of buying, cooking, baking and cleaning for the upcoming holiday, HealthSource has some shortcuts that might help.

• Make a list of what needs to be done. If you have family, get them on board to help and delegate the tasks.

• Do the basic housecleaning ahead of time – but remember that your house will need more cleaning after the holiday. On the big day, make sure the bathrooms are neat and supplied, and the rooms are clutter-free. Save the real clean up for afterward.
• Decide on your menu and make a shopping list. Get your coupons in order ahead of time.
•  Set the table and decide what serving dishes you plan to use the day before. Put sticky notes with the name of each dish to make things even easier when serving time comes.
• Make desserts ahead of time and freeze if possible.
• Prepare your turkey the night before and store it in the fridge. Just make sure it sits out at room temperature for two hours before cooking.
• If doing the whole dinner is too overwhelming given your amount of time, then ask people to bring a dish. Most people have Thanksgiving favorites anyway, so ask them to bring their favorite.
• Grocery stores have Thanksgiving dinners to go also. Enjoying the holiday is more important than making dinner from scratch. If buying Thanksgiving causes less stress then it is worth it.

            Do you have a favorite recipe that you’d love to prepare in a more heart healthy way, retaining the flavors while reducing the fat, sugar, and sodium? Tina Bost, RD/LD, Clinical Dietitian – Outpatient Transplantation, Instructor, Mayo Clinic, has five key guidelines that can make even your most decadent favorites more heart healthy.

Reduce the amount of fat, sugar and sodium.

·        Fats: “For baked goods use half the butter, shortening or oil and replace with unsweetened applesauce, prune puree or mashed banana,” says Bost.

·        Sugar: Reduce the amount of sugar by one-third to one-half and add spices such as cinnamon, cloves, allspice or nutmeg. Or add vanilla or almond flavoring. “These additions will enhance the natural sweetness of the food,” explains Bost.

·        Sodium: For main dishes, eliminate salt completely. For baked goods, Bost suggests that you reduce salt by half in baked goods that don’t require yeast. “With yeast baked goods, salt is necessary for leavening,” says Bost.

“It’s important to make the daily breakfast effort instead of finding reasons to skip it,” says Catherine Wallace, RD/LDN, pediatric clinical dietitian at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. “It’s not easy to make yourself eat breakfast if you aren’t used to it. Give yourself time and try to eat within an hour of getting up.”

For those who exercise first thing in the morning, eating a regular breakfast may be too much before a workout, but at least have a half piece of whole grain toast. “That gives your body a little energy and then the rest of breakfast can come after the workout,” says Wallace.

            According to Wallace, a healthy breakfast should consist of whole grains, good sources of fiber with three grams of fiber or more per serving, low fat dairy, lean proteins, healthy fats (which are monounsaturated and/or polyunsaturated fats) and fruits and/or vegetables. Some of her specific recommendations include:

            Was that crash the sound of you falling off the diet bandwagon….again? We start out so gung-ho, sure that this time we are going to stick it out, drop those pounds and fit into those smaller size outfits, but then what happens? If that sounds like you and you are a diet dropout yet again, maybe it’s time to think about dieting a little differently.

• Think lifestyle change, not diet. The word “diet” makes us think of something temporary and goal related. Maybe you’re looking for short-term success when the aim needs to be long-term, lifetime goals.

• Get a clear vision. The first and hardest step is the decision to make changes because you are ready to do so and not because you feel like you have to do make the change. Eating habits and activity levels may both need to change. Make a list of what you need to change as well as what you can exchange it for. For example, you may need to change what you eat for breakfast or replace an unhealthy meal with a healthy one. Or you may need change your after dinner dessert habit to a walk around the block.