How to make Olivier and Shuba salads healthier

New Year's Eve bustle, festive mood, queues in stores. There are a million things to do -- buying, cooking, etc. However, we would like to urge you to keep your health in mind, especially when you're planning your holiday menu. We are not saying you have to use just cabbage and carrots as appetizers and soaked dried fruit for dessert. Still, we would recommend that you lighten up traditional dishes and improve your health a little so that you don't suffer from a stomachache before Christmas.

Appetizers

Use raw or fermented vegetables as much as possible - they stimulate intestinal motility and improve digestion, which is important with the traditional variety of New Year's dishes. This can be a salad of grated beets with prunes (by the way, it is better to take raw beets), sauerkraut with cranberries, a salad of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers with pickled onions and cold-pressed vegetable oil. You can also add lettuce, spinach, onions, parsley, and dill - greens will go well with any dish. Garnish with olives, cherry tomatoes, pickled cucumbers or mushrooms.

Olivier and herring under a fur coat (Shuba) can also be easily turned into healthy dishes. For example, if you use vegetable mayonnaise or, at worst, regular mayonnaise, but prepared by yourself from homemade eggs and unrefined butter. After all, the main poison in modern food is the chemicals added to it. It's also best to use meat of homegrown animals as the calf grows up in the fresh air, eats ordinary grass and is not injected with hormones and antibiotics. And it's the same with sauces. Our task is to increase the amount of dishes made from fresh natural products and reduce the amount of semi-finished products, fries, and fatty sauces from the store. Just don't replace the usual store-bought mayonnaise or sour cream with a so-called "low-fat" product. You won't save your figure by doing so, and the harm from such a product is no less than from a traditional one.

Main course

99% of people can't even imagine the New Year without meat, but here's the question: what kind of meat will it be and how will it be cooked? We would recommend following the example of the Americans and opting for a baked turkey or rabbit. Their meat is considered lighter and healthier, but it is better to buy it from local farmers, neighborhood grandmothers who run their own farms, ideally growing it themselves. As a side dish, it is better to bake, steam or stew cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, pumpkin, carrots, or beets in a slow cooker. The resulting colorful dish is much tastier, more festive, and healthier than traditional potatoes in mayonnaise.

Desserts

We often finish dessert in the morning, but what's a New Year's table without sweets? Everything should be as beautiful and light as possible. We would recommend jellies, mousses, and fruit ice cream. Ordinary fruit is also good, but only if you take a walk after the main course. After all, if you eat heavy foods with fruit almost immediately, they will simply ferment, cause discomfort, and there will be no question of continuing the holiday.

In general, try to move more on New Year's Eve. If you have children, in between appetizers, main courses, and dessert, go outside to play in the snow, set off firecrackers, and light fireworks. After all, the New Year is not just about a lavish feast!