{"id":16147,"date":"2016-12-21T17:42:58","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T22:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=16147"},"modified":"2016-12-21T17:42:58","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T22:42:58","slug":"tips-for-heart-healthy-holiday-eating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/tips-for-heart-healthy-holiday-eating\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Heart-healthy Holiday Eating"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Beata Blajer, RD, CDE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The holiday season is a wonderful time that brings together family and friends. But so often, our celebrations tend to revolve around food. Whether it\u2019s an office potluck or a family dinner, it can be so easy for us to overindulge.
\nAs a registered dietitian with Southlake Regional Health Centre\u2019s Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Program and Diabetes Education Centre, I\u2019m often asked how to enjoy festive gatherings, without completely losing track of healthy living goals.
\nI always encourage people to avoid skipping meals before parties. Be sure to eat throughout the day, opting for lighter meals and healthy snacks. Never go to a party on an empty stomach \u2013 you\u2019ll almost certainly overeat.
\nIt\u2019s also a good idea to volunteer to bring a healthy snack or treat, like my no-bake, nut-crusted cheesecake. This recipe is low on sugar, getting most of its sweetness naturally from dates and blueberries. It\u2019s also high in antioxidants, fibre and phytonutrients \u2013 making this cheesecake heart and waist-friendly and delicious!<\/p>\n

No Bake Nut-Crusted Cheesecake
\nMakes two 8\u201d pies or 24 individual cheesecakes in muffin tins<\/p>\n

Crust:
\n1 cup almonds
\n1 cup cashews
\n\u00bd cup pitted dates
\n\u00bc cup dried coconut (shredded, unsweetened)
\n1 tablespoon coconut oil
\nFilling:
\n1 cup cashews (soaked for minimum 2 hours)
\n1 cup light ricotta cheese
\n1 cup light cream cheese
\n3 tablespoon coconut oil
\n\u00bc cup lemon juice
\n2 tablespoon sugar or xylitol
\n2 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
\nBlueberry Coulis:
\n3\u00bd cups fresh or frozen blueberries
\n1-2 tablespoon lemon juice<\/p>\n

Directions for Cheesecake:
\nPlace cashews in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak for a minimum of two hours (or overnight), then rinse, drain, and set aside.
\nTo make the crust, pulse almonds, cashews, dates, shredded coconut and coconut oil in food processor to a sticky crumb-like consistency.
\nSprinkle shredded coconut on the bottom of two 8-inch pie dishes or two 12-muffin trays lined with muffin tin liners, then press the nut mixture onto coconut to make crust.
\nTo make the filling, place soaked cashews, cream cheese, ricotta cheese, coconut oil, lemon juice, sugar\/xylitol, vanilla extract\/paste in the bowl of food processor and pur\u00e9e until smooth.
\nPour mixture onto crust, and freeze one to two hours, or until firm. Remove from freezer, defrost in fridge for about one hour, or on countertop 30 minutes; top with blueberry coulis and serve.
\nDirections for Blueberry Coulis:
\nCombine blueberries and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
\nIf the blueberry coulis is not thick enough, mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with cold water, then drizzle it into the simmering coulis gradually, adding just enough to lightly thicken. If desired, add 1-2 teaspoon sugar for additional sweetness.
\nPour coulis over cheesecake just before serving.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The holiday season is a wonderful time that brings together family and friends. But so often, our celebrations tend to revolve around food. Whether it\u2019s an office potluck or a family dinner, it can be so easy for us to overindulge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/2016-12-22-10.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4cr","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 22:17:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}