Excited for Chanukah? Here's How to Make It Healthier

Chanukah is here, which means 8 days of family and social gatherings packed with carbs, posing a significant challenge to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Here are some suggestions from dietitian Adina Bachar on how to enjoy the holiday in a healthy way.

Plan What Will Be on the Candle Lighting Table

Don't be hard on yourself if you overeat or deviate from the meal plan. Instead, look forward, troubleshoot, and consult with a dietitian on obstacles that may arise. Pay attention to portion sizes and modify the menu to reduce sugar and carb content in your favorite foods. Find healthy recipes that provide nutritional value and also blend with the holiday fun.

Choose Healthy Oil for Frying

Chanukah is a holiday of fried foods. First, try to choose healthier oils, such as olive oil, nut oil, or coconut oil. Second, avoid reusing oil; it's advisable to discard after use. Adding carrot slices to the pan while frying prevents oil oxidation. Also, pay attention to the appearance and smell - if the latke browns too much, it's better to throw it out and start over. If a burnt smell rises from the frying oil, it’s time to replace it.

Include as Many Vegetables as Possible

It’s hard to resist hot potato latkes, but you can take the opportunity to enrich the latke with vegetables rich in dietary fiber and containing less starch. Integrate zucchini, beetroot, leek, celery, broccoli, and parsley in the latke to add numerous vitamins and help reduce sugar. The latke can definitely be tasty and rich when it includes the right vegetables that will not add unnecessary starches to your body.

Ensure a Healthy Side Dish

A rich leafy salad with nuts, chopped vegetables, avocado spread, cheese, and yogurt or tzatziki cream (add cucumber, dill, and garlic) for the latkes. All of these can greatly benefit and help with feeling full. For instance, avocado has a low carbohydrate amount, its consumption won’t cause a rise in sugar levels, and it contributes to a feeling of fullness for a long time. It is considered ideal for diabetics and helps stabilize blood sugar as well as reduce cholesterol.

Engage in Physical Activity

Physical activity is an important part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and can help keep sugar levels within a normal range. Walking not only keeps us moving, it's an enjoyable and healthy activity that can, and indeed should, be done with friends and family. Physical activity boosts mood, is important for our physical and mental health, increases blood flow, and lowers blood pressure. Plan a weekly exercise program, commit to yourself to perform the activity, and incorporate it into your routine. Even short periods of walking help improve blood circulation and prevent type 2 diabetes complications. Insert a reminder in your phone and plan to go out for a sport walk right after lighting the candles.

For diabetics among you, it is recommended to use a continuous glucose monitor without pricks, to understand how the foods you eat at the holiday affect your sugar levels. You can consult a dietitian for decoding the data and adapting a personal nutritional plan.

Finally, the wonderful holiday that is coming brings a lot of light and does not have to throw you off track. Know how to act, plan, and prepare recipes that will help you enjoy on one hand and maintain your goals on the other.

Get a recipe for a donut suitable for those maintaining a healthy lifestyle by chef and blogger Rotem Liberzon:

Ingredients:

• 100 grams almond flour
• 50 grams coconut flour
• 75 grams unsalted melted butter
• Quarter cup Sweetango or Erithritol
• One tablespoon baking powder
• 4 eggs
• One teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 teaspoons heavy cream 32 percent

For Strawberry Jam:

• One kilo strawberries
• Quarter cup Sweetango

Preparation Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. In a mixer bowl, mix the cream, butter, and sweetener.
2. Add eggs and vanilla extract, and continue to mix until the ingredients are unified. Add the almond flour, coconut flour, and baking powder and continue mixing.
3. Transfer the dough to a well-greased Teflon baking pan. Insert into doughnut mold or muffin pan.
4. Bake for a quarter of an hour until the donut is golden.
5. Prepare the jam - in a pot, melt the sweetener with the strawberries and a bit of lemon juice until a strawberry puree is obtained.
6. Cool completely.
7. Using a syringe, insert a bit of the jam into each donut, sprinkle a little sweetener over the donut.

* If the batter is too soft, add a little flour

* You can alternate between the 2 flours, according to your preferences.

Nutritional Values per Unit (based on 12 pieces):

160 calories

9 grams carbohydrates

5 grams proteins

13.5 grams fat

Adina Bachar is a diabetes and ketogenic dietitian at the DMC Center for diabetes care.