Watching what you eat isn’t much fun, especially at Christmas. However, sometimes if we let go and devour everything that’s on offer it can take quite a negative effect. Don’t undo all your hard work in just one day. Make these simple but tasty swaps and save lots of calories, and feel better!
- Skip full-fat dips, use yogurt dips instead
- Have some sweet potatoes instead of traditional spuds
- Snack on hommus and carrot sticks, and those tiny crackers, which will help fill the gap before Christmas dinner – when you get tempted by peanuts and chips. Or have your own little bowl of olives and grissini (thin, dried Italian bread sticks).
- For a festive dessert, it’s a good idea to make something like meringues , piled high onto a platter, plus separate bowls of mixed berries, whipped cream and some low-fat vanilla yoghurt for you! This way people can help themselves to as little or as much as they’d like. You can always have the Christmas pudding on the table as well, for those that dare! Have a small serve instead of the usual slab.
- Make your own stuffing, some shop bought stuffing can contain lots of added sugar
- Swap the bread for whole-wheat, or even better again just forget about the bread entirely!
- Remove the skin from the turkey before you tuck in, it’s not worth all those calories
- Bake your spuds instead of roasting them – this will save you almost 50 calories
- Use low-fat custard or Greek yogurt with the Christmas pudding instead of brandy butter or double cream – you will save over 100 calories!
- Drink lots of water. You will be eating more than normal over Christmas so be sure to keep your water in-take high. Remember you should be drinking 2 litres of water everyday!
If you make some food swaps over the festive season, you can save more lots of calories and cut down your fat intake, which will help to stop the festive weight gain but will also help you feel good.
