It’s the Holiday season, which means that for the next few weeks, your tables and counters will likely be stuffed with some of the best food you’ll eat this year! In light of the cheerful season, we decided we would provide some fun facts about holiday eats. Pies, candied yams and sweet sauces are often criticized for their high fat and sugar content, but they do include a few benefits. At least it’s enough to convince yourself that just a few bites won’t hurt!
Read on, and you’ll be able to impress your family and friends with your electrolyte (and general) knowledge about holiday foods.
Sweet potato casserole: While sweet potatoes are known most for packing in the Vitamin A (one sweet potato will provide more than 100 percent of your daily needs), the fall vegetable also contains loads of potassium and trace amounts of magnesium and calcium. Plus, the butter and milk added to the casserole means that one serving will deliver 10 percent of your calcium needs.
Cranberry sauce: Fun fact: Cranberries aren’t exclusively produced during the fall, but historians guess that their Holiday popularity has something to do with the Native Americans, who used cranberries not only for food and medicine but also to make dyes for clothing and blankets. Regardless, each serving of homemade cranberry sauce contains high amounts of Vitamin C, fiber and Vitamin E, which protect your body from free-radical damage. Regarding electrolytes, cranberries pack in plenty of potassium.
Gravy: Vegetables and fruits, while high in other electrolytes, do not contain a lot of sodium. Balance that out by covering your turkey in gravy, with plenty of sodium -- nearly 15 percent of your daily needs per serving.
Chocolate … anything: Even we admit this one is a bit of a stretch, but a 100-gram bar of dark chocolate with 70-85 percent cocoa does contain 58 percent of your daily magnesium needs. Despite the load of sugar and fat that goes into the usual chocolate dessert, that has to account for something, right? Plus, as a great energy source, you will be ready for a New Year's morning run.
While you can obviously get an electrolyte boost from consuming the foods above, we do want to caution you against overconsumption. The Holidays are a time to relax, and despite our jesting above, you can overdo it. So, everything in moderation. Besides, you’re running the next day, right? You’ll need an electrolyte boost anyway.
Happy Holidays from all of us at SaltStick!
Tags:
