Even though it can be a little more challenging these days, we have long held the tradition of sharing a meal with family and friends during the holidays. It’s more important than ever to get together and laugh, hug each other, communicate, and share meals. However, many holiday foods often involve a number of rich, savory foods, creamy dips, and fried foods. These foods taste good, but they don’t always make our body feel its best.  Is healthy holiday eating even possible? Does healthy Christmas food exist? The answer is a definite, “yes!” RELATED: How To Have Happy (Healthy!) Holidays With These Health-Conscious Spins On Your Favorite Christmas Recipes

Here are 5 healthy holiday recipes that include good ingredients that you can share with your family friends. 

1. Potato dishes

A potato dish can be made with sweet or purple potatoes in place of white potatoes. Use a high-quality organic butter, or use organic ghee or coconut oil as the healthy fat for mashed potatoes or when baking fries. Sweet potatoes are delicious and high in fiber and beta-carotene. Colorful potatoes are loaded with antioxidants, much more than white potatoes. Antioxidants are the color pigments in foods, so plant foods with vibrant colors are extremely high in antioxidants. Antioxidants also counteract the assault of free radicals. My children always asked me to make my purple mashed potatoes when they had friends visit for dinner because they thought it was fun. These days, my grandson frequently asks if we’re going to have purple potatoes to eat when I come to visit. So this year, I encourage you to make some delicious and extraordinary foods for the holidays that are also healthy!

2. Healthy stuffing

Try making stuffing with organic sprouted rice or even wild rice. Then, bake your stuffing in a separate dish instead of cooking it inside the turkey, where it can absorb a high amount of saturated fat from the meat. Also, use vegetable broth in place of chicken broth. Doing both of these things allow the vegetarian or vegan diners to be able to enjoy that dish as well. When making cornbread stuffing, purchase the non-GMO, organic cornmeal, which is free of the Bt toxin. The stuffing can be gluten-free if you use gluten-free cornmeal.  If you’re feeling brave, try using blue cornmeal, which is about 30% higher in protein and has more zinc and iron than white or yellow corn.

3. Creature food

Whether it’s beef, lamb, pork, fowl, or fish, try using a little orange juice and coconut oil to add moisture. Also, try baking it instead of frying. If you’re baking, frying, or sautéing anything, use organic, pure coconut oil in place of lard, vegetable oil, or a trans-fat like Crisco. Coconut oil handles heat well and has fantastic health benefits. You can also grill, broil, or sauté them in a little coconut oil. After you remove them from the heat, you can drizzle some pure, organic, extra virgin olive oil on them and possibly top it off with some lemon or lime juice or a lemon or lime juice vinaigrette. When dining, choose skinless, white meat pieces, and then add just a tiny bit of gravy.

4. Dessert

Try making a pumpkin pie! You can make a whole sprouted grain crust yourself or you can find a whole grain ready-made crust at the store, and make my cashew crème recipe as the whipped cream for the topping. (The recipe is on page 185 in the second edition of “How To Be A Healthy Vegetarian.”) I also love having a simple pitted date as a sweet treat or dessert. It’s just fruit and it’s a healthier choice. Try using non-dairy milk (or if you’re fortunate to be near a raw, organic farm with raw goat or cow milk, that’s healthier also) in your recipes or for your coffee creamer. If you want it to be sweeter, blend the milk (like the organic, unsweetened, vanilla coconut, or hemp milk) with a little extra added vanilla or maple extract in a blender and add some pitted dates. I soak the dates in water to make them softer, so they will crème up easier, and voilà! You have a healthier version of a sweet, holiday creamer for your coffee or desserts! RELATED: 30 Best Pie Recipes To Celebrate Pi Day

5. Snacks

When making or serving snacks, try an easy dip option such as a healthy high-protein hummus or nutritious guacamole. Cutting some cucumber, red bell pepper, or celery to use as the dipping chips is also a great choice! I frequently cut up and serve fresh green beans with a tiny bit of mineral-rich salt sprinkled on them and serve them as finger food appetizers. I like to eat them alone with the mineral-rich salt, but green beans also go well served with hummus, bean dip, or onion dip. Green beans have some amazing health benefits, and this is one of my favorite ways to serve them. Green beans are high in orthosilicic acid, which is a natural substance found in seafood, certain mineral waters, vegetables, whole grains, and certain beverages (including beer). Orthosilicic acid is sometimes referred to as soluble silica. Orthosilicic acid is a dietary form of silicon. Silicon is a mineral involved in the formation of collagen and bone. It can help detoxify the body (from aluminum) and also help build strong bones. If you want to serve crackers or chips, try using whole grain, sprouted, organic version or an organic sweet potato chip or cracker. (Late July is a good brand for chips and Mary’s Gone Cracker’s is my favorite cracker these days. Mary’s Gone Crackers also has delicious gluten-free crackers.) For additional snacks that are easy for travel or on the go, try combinations of organic, sprouted nuts, sprouted seeds, olives, pitted dates, raisins, dry fruits, kale chips, and coconut chips.

For more healthy Christmas recipes, here are 3 easy substitutions I use frequently:

  1. Unsweetened yogurt or cottage cheese in place of sour cream.
  2. Hummus or mashed avocado instead of mayonnaise for sandwiches.
  3. Unsweetened vanilla coconut or hemp milk in place of dairy. With these ingredient substitutions, you can still enjoy all of the delicious flavors you love, and at the same time, you can increase your health benefits. Eating this way, you can feel and look your very best as holiday activities continue into January. Instead of regretting what you ate, you will glow with radiant health as you welcome the New Year of 2022! Medical Disclaimer: Information provided in this article, book, podcast, website, email, etc. is for informational purposes only. The information is a result of years of practice and experience by Nancy Addison CHC, AADP. However, this information is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional, or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. RELATED: 50 Cutest Dessert Ideas Of All-Time Nancy Addison is a nutritionist, educator, best-selling author, international speaker, healthy chef, and radio show/podcast host with over 57,000 downloads a month of her podcast on iHEART Radio, in 58 countries. She teaches people about living a healthier, happier life through nutrition and lifestyle. This article was originally published at Organic Healthy Life with Nancy Addison. Reprinted with permission from the author.