Can Sunday roasts be healthy?

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Replies

  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    No individual food or meal is good or bad. It has to be considered as part of your total calorie and nacronutrient goals.

    Eat a roast, enjoy it. Then, have a chicken salad or something similarly light at tea-time - problem solved!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    The type of fat can vary as well, sometimes it will be cooking oil and sometimes it will be duck fat! Deepening on occasion and if we have guests, portion control for me personally isn't too much of a problem, but my dad and my sister load their plates and both go for seconds :/

    You can't control what your dad and sister do... You can't make them lose weight if they don't want to...
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    potatoes and parsnips: just cook them with less fat. They need enough fat to coat them, they don't need to be swimming in fat. How I cook them is I put some oil in a tray, heat that in the oven while parboiling the potatoes (5 minutes for each) then strain the potatoes in a colander and shake them about a bit (if they break up they absorb the oil better and roast better) then I put them in the oil, and turn them over so they're all coated in the oil. then cook them for 40 mins. I hate parsnips but my mum always cooked them the same as potatoes. I also get a couple of small onions, quarter them and put the quarters in the tray as well, also coated in the oil, and they add some flavour, plus I like eating the roasted onions.

    re your sister being overweight, she needs to be more active and count calories and learn portion control. Roast potatoes and parsnips aren't what's making her overweight unless she's eating them all the time. It's what people eat day to day that make them obese (i.e. eating more than they burn off on a regular basis), not what you eat once a week.

    I agree with Sonofabeach and neanderthin re dietary fat not being unhealthy. It's being inactive and eating too much that's the health risk. There are ways to make some recipes lower in fat, but it's not going to make much difference if someone is doing no exercise and eating too much. The idea that specific foods make people fat is misleading.

    If you're worried about the parsnips and potatoes, just cook fewer of them, so everyone has less, and cook more green vegetables. Serve people more meat (it's high in protein which is more filling) along with more veggies and fewer potatoes and parsnips. If dietary cholesterol is an issue (i.e. doctors advice to avoid it) then choose lean cuts of meat. You're still serving up the same meal, but the nutrients are better balanced (i.e. more protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre, with proportionally less fat and carbs... but that doesn't make fat or carbs the bad guys, they're healthy and necessary, just easier to overeat on)
  • ScientificExplorerGirl
    ScientificExplorerGirl Posts: 535 Member
    Roasts are a fantastic, healthy, easy way to cook dinner. We just throw everything in the crockpot add the desired spices and let it go all day. No added cooking fat required.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
    I often do a pot roast with a lean cut either either in the crock pot or in the oven, with potatoes and carrots. My crock pot recipe book actually has the calorie count for the dish. Let's put it this way, an average serving -- 4 oz. of meat, 1 small potato, and some carrots, usually with a salad on the side, is still much lower than any meal I have in a restaurant. I almost never go over limit with any meal I cook myself because I'm in control of the portions.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    The type of fat can vary as well, sometimes it will be cooking oil and sometimes it will be duck fat! Deepening on occasion and if we have guests, portion control for me personally isn't too much of a problem, but my dad and my sister load their plates and both go for seconds :/
    Goose fat is best IMO for roasties...
    Curried parsnip mash is great if you want to change things round but a Sunday roast without roast potatoes just seems a bit sad to me.

    Smaller cut roast potatoes or preparing them hasselback style will increase the amount of fat absorbed and therefore increase calorie count. But IMO if you are going to eat roasties make them the tastiest you can.

    I would still go for eating what you enjoy in suitable portion sizes to fit your daily (or weekly) goals.
    I've highlighted what might be the problem for your Dad and Sister - depending on what their goals are of course.
  • nuttyduffy
    nuttyduffy Posts: 255 Member
    The type of fat can vary as well, sometimes it will be cooking oil and sometimes it will be duck fat! Deepening on occasion and if we have guests, portion control for me personally isn't too much of a problem, but my dad and my sister load their plates and both go for seconds :/

    The only way you can change this is to lead by example! Eat what you eat, continue to lose weight and when they see how fantastic you are doing maybe they will then want to follow in your footsteps.

    Like the old saying goes, you can lead the horse to water but you can't make it drink!
  • njitaliana
    njitaliana Posts: 813 Member
    I would have 4 ounces of the meat, 1/2 cup of the parsnips and 1/2 cup of the potatoes. Then I'd make myself a big green salad to go with it and have 2 Tbsp dressing on it. That's how I do it when we have a roast and starchy veggies.
    I don't have gravy anyway (I know it's terrible) but my favourite part of the roast is the potatoes and parsnips! My dad does the cooking and he loads us with veggies, but unfortunately my younger sister is very fussy and won't eat anything green! Although my dad makes her eat her greens! I love broccoli, green beans, cabbage and carrots, and honestly although I do like my yorkies I can live without them! In retrospect the roasts I have are not that bad, but I always feel so lethargic after eating them!
  • njitaliana
    njitaliana Posts: 813 Member
    Just remember to add the fat into MFP so it will count toward your calories. If you have that for dinner, eat a lighter lunch and breakfast and it will all work out.

    << I mean the potatoes and parsnips are cooked in ALOT of fat which varies depending on how many he is cooking for! >>
  • jenanon1
    jenanon1 Posts: 58 Member
    I'm having a roast for tea, and it easily fits in my calorie allowance.
    - use a gravy separator to skim off fat from meat juices before making gravy with veg water and bisto powder = not many cals
    - weigh out 26 or whatever grams of goose fat for roasts and heat in the roasting tin before adding par boiled potatoes, also carefully weighed, coat with fat using a brush before roasting. Yummy and you know exactly how many cals
    - avoid visible fat, skin etc. Hubby is having roast belly pork today, while I'm having a chicken breast, but I'll have some of his gravy (made as above) and won't miss the pork.
    - Add in lots of veg, and there you have a lovely roast dinner.
    :)
  • Elsie_Brownraisin
    Elsie_Brownraisin Posts: 786 Member
    I make roast chicken quite often without gravy (with a load of thyme and lemons shoved inside) and then use lettuce leaves and roast new potatoes with fennel seeds to mop up the juices. Homemade sorbet or something else sharp afterwards. It's good if you are feeding people who insist on roast animal every Sunday and you want something less stodgy or fatty. I was brought up with a roast each week and it can be difficult to avoid if you are around family.

    I don't eat much red meat, but love rare lamb or beef with yorkshires and spuds cooked in beef dripping (mmm, dripping). It can be overfilling, but we tend to go for a walk afterwards and then eat dessert (if we are having any) when we get back.
  • danimalkeys
    danimalkeys Posts: 982 Member
    Double or triple up on the veggies, watch your meat and potato intake, perhaps don't drown everything in gravy and/or butter, and it can be a good meal.

    I'll double up on the meat, you can have my share of the veggies, and there will be no leftovers!
  • Pamela_in_Progress
    Pamela_in_Progress Posts: 197 Member
    I usually put the potatoes and carrots in the roasting pan with the roast with no oil added. Or just boil the potatoes and mash them. I've never had a parsnip in my life so I couldn't give you any advice with that. Love, love, love yorkshire pudding but would keep those at a minimum. On the whole, as others have said, a roast dinner can be very healthy and nutritious. Enjoy!
  • balancedbrunette
    balancedbrunette Posts: 530 Member
    Whenever i'm at home I always enjoy sunday roast with my family, I know cooking methods are different with every family but you can always have some unput if your worries about how things are being cooked but then again if it is only once a week there is no harm enjoying anything in moderation. We steam our veggies so I usually fil up most my plate with steamed veg and lean meat turkey or beef/lamb usually then I often have one roast potato...(sometimes gravy) depending on the day. :) Roasts can definitely be healthy especially when homecooked - you know what the food is being cooked in. :) Good luck with your goals!
  • ruqayyahsmum
    ruqayyahsmum Posts: 1,513 Member
    Been having Sundays roast my whole life as per tradition in my neck of the woods. We usually go for chicken so I remove the skin from my portion. I have boiled spuds and the odd roasty leaving the rest to those who need the calories and lots of various vegetables to round it out. I use bisto gravy and just use a little instead of drowning the plate like the other family members do

    I skip dessert, I don't need or want it and then we go for a walk instead of slumping in front of the sofa

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