CALORIES
BURNED PER
HOUR* IN WIN TER
ACTIVITIES
Skiing
476
408
Chopping
wood
408
Shoveling
snow
374
Ice
skating
170
Building
a fire
* Calories burned by 150-pound person
Sweet Potato Surprises
Nutrition
The ultimate holiday vegetable is shockingly good for you
Recipe
With more fiber than a
bowl of oatmeal, more
vitamin A than a cup of
carrots, and more potassium than a banana, a sweet
potato is the healthiest—
and possibly least appreciated—holiday food.
Rich in vitamin C, it’s
loaded with carotenoids—
powerful antioxidants that
protect against cancer and
heart disease and boost
immune function. Its high
potassium content helps
control blood pressure.
And at 150 calories, it is
naturally low calorie, says
nutritionist Joy Bauer, author of Slim & Scrumptious.
Alas, we tend to drown
this nutritional powerhouse in butter and sugar,
negating all its natural
goodness. But Art Smith,
Oprah Winfrey’s former
personal chef, says unadorned sweet potatoes
are making a comeback.
ART SMITH’S
SWEET POTATO
SALAD
Serves 8
“I use sweet potatoes
instead of white potatoes
in all my favorite recipes,”
adds Smith, who recently
shed 100 pounds.
For a healthier alterna-
tive to classic candied
yams, try Smith’s sweet
potato salad (see recipe,
at right). There’s no better
match for roasted turkey
or ham. —Monica Bhide
CHEW ON THIS
By Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
Most of us sabotage our diets even before we sit down to
our Thanksgiving Day meal, because we nibble on prefeast
snacks. At the Cornell Food and Brand Lab we recently asked just over a thousand people
about their holiday food choices and found that most ate about 10 percent of their total cal-
ories before the turkey was served. One trick for eating less: Limit your premeal grazing to
whatever homemade goodies are provided, and shun the store-bought crackers, cheese, and
nuts. You’ll please the person who made the treats—and you’ll have more room for the big meal.
BEAT HOLIDAY TEMPTATION
4 small sweet potatoes
» cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mustard
4 celery stalks, sliced
¼-inch thick
1 small red bell pepper,
cut into ¼-inch dice
1 cup diced fresh
pineapple
2 scallions, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
½ cup coarsely chopped
toasted pecans
Chopped fresh chives
FROM TOP: ILLUSTRATIONS ( 5) BY CHI BIRMINGHAM; PHOTOS (FROM LEFT): JAMIE CHUNG (PROP STYLIST: ARIANA SALVATO);
KATE SEARS (FOOD STYLIST: LORI POWELL; PROP STYLIST: BOBBI LIN); ILLUSTRATION (BOTTOM) BY CHRISTOPH NIEMANN
Preheat oven to 400˚F.
Wrap each sweet potato
in foil and bake for 1 hour.
Unwrap; let cool. Peel; cut
into ¾-inch chunks.
ATTENTION,
FOOD LOVERS
Love sweet potatoes? Try our Spicy Sweet
Potato Bisque at aarp.org/sweetpotato.
