When I was starting out as a dietitian decades ago, I never could’ve predicted how much time I would ultimately devote to helping people escape an all-or-nothing mindset around food. It’s a trap we can easily fall into this time of year as the zeitgeist swings from holiday excess to new-year deprivation in the course of a month.
Advice to cut back on, say, red meat, salt and added sugar, is often interpreted as a mandate to avoid them completely, but thinking that way can actually interfere with lasting change.
Get the recipe: Beef Stew With Butternut Squash and Chickpeas
It can also make altering eating habits seem insurmountable, so you wind up not trying at all, especially around the holidays. And if you do attempt it, strict avoidance can feel like deprivation, unnecessarily rob you of flavor and backfire with the tiniest slip, which can lead you to give up altogether and even binge on the foods you’ve been trying to eat less of.
There are situations where dietary extremes are appropriate — if you’re allergic to a food, for example — but, for the most part, a more nuanced approach is what it takes to make healthy changes that stick. This sumptuously delicious, healthful dish is an example of how that can play out.
It’s a hearty stew with bites of tender beef in every spoonful, but rather than taking center stage, the red meat shares the spotlight with chickpeas, which bring a balance of fiber-rich vegetable protein and lovely texture. Instead of leaning on salt for flavor, the stew turns to aromatic seasonings: onion, ginger, garlic, cumin, cinnamon and red pepper flakes.
The stew also features a delicate earthy sweetness from butternut squash, which can be enhanced with a touch of honey. That sweetness is balanced with acidity from tomato sauce and an optional dash of vinegar.
Comforting and layered, it’s a meal that reflects the pleasures and nutritional benefits of a more nuanced approach to healthy eating.
Get the recipe: Beef Stew With Butternut Squash and Chickpeas
The post This beef stew with vegetables is a hearty, healthy riff on a classic appeared first on Washington Post.
