Good eating, holiday style

As the days of eating approach, the Review brings you this article and the following recipes to add a little goodness to be thankful for.

By the time Rebecca Berman finished her talk about holiday eating Tuesday evening, her audience was left counting the days until Thanksgiving.

Berman, a registered dietitian who works on the Oberlin campus, gave tips to an audience of five on holiday eating as part of an ongoing effort to educate the Oberlin campus on health and diet issues.

Berman was assisted by Rick Pinfil, a certified chef for Marriott, who also works at Oberlin. Pinfil, dressed in white chef garb, prepared a meal for the participants as he discussed tips for low-fat and low-calorie cooking.

The evening was for the food-lover. Discussion moved from the possibility of sugar-free cranberry sauce to low-fat gravy. The nuances of foods and cooking were examined in depth.

In addition to cooking ideas, Berman gave some tips for eating during the holidays. She had several tips for holiday revelers, both in the realms of mental health and physical health.

She stressed two ways to lower food-related stress over the holidays. "Set realistic goals," she said. "The holidays aren't the time to plan a change in your weight." Berman said it is very normal to gain five or 10 pounds over the holidays.

Berman also warned against totally denying yourself treats, or beating yourself up over poor food choices. "Try to eat as healthily as you can," she said. "But stop thinking of it as an all-or-nothing thing." She told the audience that if they eat poorly at one meal not to give up entirely.

When Berman was done talking Pinfil took the stage. Talking as he went, Pinfil prepared and served a healthy meal for the audience to sample. Clearly a lover of both food and cooking, Pinfil prepared the dishes with flair and a caress. Consisting of autumn vegetable soup, a salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing, roast stuffed chicken and garlic and lemon broccoli, the meal was warming and smooth.

During the meal the audience discussed healthy cooking strategies and techniques with both Berman and Pinfil. Berman suggested several ways to substitute ingredients to lower fat and calorie content. Egg white instead of whole eggs, apple sauce instead of butter, non-fat sour cream instead of regular, and herbs instead of butter were some of her suggestions.

Berman also added that it often works to sauté vegetables in fruit juice or vegetable stock instead of oil.

In addition to giving healthy eating tips Berman gave an exposé of the fat and calorie content of a traditional holiday meal of turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and dessert. The estimated number of calories in this traditional American meal is 1,330 and the estimated fat grams is 43.

To reduce these numbers Berman suggested a combination of smaller portions and substitution. Eating white meat without skin, skimming the fat from turkey stock before making gravy and preparing a lower-calorie cranberry relish are ways to

Yum: Rick Pinfil places the roast stuffed chicken on plates at Tuesday's dinner. (photo by Susanna Henighan)