You don’t have to be a Mexican American to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which coincides with the Catholic holidays of All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2).
The centuries-old Mexican holiday may be to honor those who have passed away, but is also a time to celebrate life.
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For better or for worse, it’s also a time when partiers overindulge on cheese-smothered nachos in a tequila-soaked blowout that leaves many with a deadly hangover.
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“Next to Cinco De Mayo, it’s the biggest holiday for tequila,” mixologist Steve Calabro of Los Angeles told LifeZette.
A popular restaurant consultant, Calabro is hired by new bars and venues to design their drink menus. His Bartending Bootcamp is a YouTube channel and recipe hub.
The margaritas and chips may abound, but there’s a way to partake and keep it healthy. Here are four ways to celebrate with a twist.
Lime: Instead of making margaritas with sugary prepackaged mixes, use the juice of fresh limes.
One medium lime is high in vitamin C and only has 20 calories. In fact, British sailors used to be issued a daily allowance of lemons or limes to stave off scurvy, giving them the nickname “Limey.”
“Believe it or not, the smallest limes have the best flavor,” Gilliland said.
“The first secret of a healthy, killer (in a good way) margarita is you have to squeeze the limes that day,” said Geraldine Gilliland, chef and owner of Lula Mexicana on Main Street in Santa Monica, California. “If you’re not lucky enough to have your own lime tree, then buy in bulk. Costco’s is good, and so is Trader Joe’s.”
Limes are also loaded with the flavonoids eriodictyol and naringenin, which preliminary studies have shown may reduce the risk of heart disease by fighting free radicals and lowering blood lipid levels.
One more tip: “Believe it or not, the smallest limes have the best flavor,” Gilliland said.
Jalapeno: If you’re worried about ulcers, spicing things up might be the last thing on your mind. Yet jalapenos and habaneros — all those super-spicy hot peppers that add kick to a drink or a dish — contain powerful compounds that might actually help ulcers heal.
That’s the counterintuitive findings from Hungarian researchers, who demonstrated a 70 percent reduction in the size of stomach ulcers when capsaicin (the pungent chemical of chili and cayenne peppers) was introduced into lab rat chow.
Avocado: Enjoy a bit of guacamole, whose star ingredient, the avocado, is sometimes dismissed as a nutrition zero. But the avocado is actually a nutrition hero.
Its monounsaturated fat lowers LDL “bad” cholesterol, while raising HDL “good” cholesterol. In a study from Mexico, people who ate one avocado per day for a week saw total cholesterol drop 17 percent. The healthy fat in avocados may also help your body absorb certain nutrients like lycopene and beta-carotene.
Cilantro: If you’ve been knocking back too much tequila, more cilantro in your salsa might help liver function, lab research found.
A much more flavorful cousin of parsley, cilantro contains coriandrol, which Indian researchers found may help halt the progression of liver cancer by preventing a particular toxin from damaging the liver’s DNA. Another cilantro phytochemical, dodecenal, could prove a safe, natural weapon against food-borne disease such as salmonella, according to a study by Mexican and U.S. researchers.
Tequila: Well, this one’s not technically a health food — but it is the calorie equivalent of vodka, the skinny alcohol choice of many dieters.
Tequila’s sugars, which come from the agave plant, may have a relatively more benign impact on blood glucose levels for people with Type 2 diabetes. The sugars, called agavins, do not raise blood sugar because they are not digestible, according to Mexican researchers.
Gilliland, who stocks 550 different kinds of tequila at her restaurant, chides, “The most expensive tequilas should never go into a margarita. What you want is a good quality white tequila like Casa Dorez or Don Julio.”
Enjoy a nice drink, but make it healthy. Using all fresh ingredients has just gotten easier thanks to Instapour, a new app that will deliver to your door. Instapour, launched in LA and New York, deliver bottles of booze and fresh mixers complete with measured ingredients, shaker and jigger.
For Day of the Dead, they have a drink called El Murciélago — the Bat. The drinks end up looking like a bat and an evil eye with cherry, lychee, basil and Casamigos Blanco tequila.
“All the ingredients are fresh ingredients,” Paul Steketee, Instapour’s managing director, told LifeZette. “We make it easy to entertain.”
So this Day of the Dead, raise a toast to healthier indulgence by adding a few superfood ingredients to your fiesta fare.
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