How to eat healthily during the Christmas period

Christmas is just around the corner; once again for most of us Christmas has just granted a ‘justified’ excuse for excessive eating and drinking. With loads of opportunities to tuck into a few sweets, nibbles on handfuls of nuts and indulge in mince pies with double cream … no wonder many of us struggle to squeeze into our jeans after New Years.

Yes, Christmas dinners are packed with nutrition and it is just so easy to tot up the calories. Here are some tips for you on how to avoid that Christmas bulge whilst enjoying your hearty Christmas meal.

1. Turkey is lower in fat and calories than many other food. But don’t smother the turkey with oil, butter, margarine or lard when you cook it. Instead, you can use a pastry brush to add a light covering of oil to the surface. Watch out: 1 tbsp of oil contains 100 calories and 11 g of fat! Just wait a second, before tucking into your lovely meal, you can remove the turkey skin to reduce more calorie and fat intake.

2. Pile your plate high in seasonal vegetables, such as carrots, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. The more colours you have, the greater variety of nutrients. Thank God Christmas meals are served with vegetables, otherwise we will all be suffering from calorie overdose. Also, don’t smother your vegetables with oil and butter. Otherwise you are just turning healthy vegies into fattening vegies!

3. If you want to use meat juice to make gravy, drain off the fat first.

4. Replace the sausage meat with chopped chestnuts to make your own stuffing, which can cut down the fat by 30 g fat per 100 g !

5. Be aware of all the extras: white sauce, bread sauce and so forth, which add more calories and little else.

6. The classic Christmas pudding! I An average 100g portion contains a massive 330 calories and 11.8 g fat! Yes, I know it’s painful to cut down all the comforting food during Christmas, but if you really cannot resist the pudding, then just have a small slice or just nibbles.

7. Oh yes and the Drinks as well! It is most likely that the spirits poured at home will be larger than those served in pubs and bars. It might be a good idea to invest in a spirits measure so that you can measure out your favourite tipple. Choose cocktails carefully and avoid any drinks that are mixed with cream, coconut milk and syrup juice -- they are just full of calories!