5 Tips for A Healthy Christmas Dinner

When it comes to keeping control of your weight management program during the seasonal months, Christmas can often be the hardest.

You are probably having to have Christmas parties, feed people and more – how can you stick to your diet whilst keeping everyone else happy?!

If you’re facing this dilemma, then try following some of these tips. By incorporating them into your Christmas routine, they will help you to stay in control throughout the holiday season, as well as making sure that all of your friends and family stay happy and healthy.

1. Instead of eating salted peanuts, swap them for raw nuts and seeds. For example, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, sesame seeds and more are all full of essential fats, proteins and minerals.

2. Make open-top mince pies. These help you to lose less pastry, which really cuts down on the fat at the calorie content. You could also choose filo pastry – it’s thinner and lower in calories than standard pastry. Another idea is to add finely chopped apples to the mincemeat, which makes it fluffier and lowers the calorie content.

3. Replace any sugary snacks with dried fruit such as raisons, apples, currants, figs and apricots. They are delicious and sweet, and they also last for a long time.

4. Try to avoid pigs in blankets – instead simply grill sausages on a wire rack so that all the fat can drain away.

5. Use dips including tomato – instead of cheese dips, tomato dips are tasty but much lower in calories.

Here are a few other substitutions you can make this Christmas:

    Mini bhaji (64 kcal) for a mini satay stick (34 kcal),
    Mini tartlet with pastry (45 kcal) for a filo tartlet (30 kcal),
    30g of salted nuts (184 kcal) for 30g of pretzels (114 kcals),
    30g of salted crisps (155 kcal) for 30g of tortilla chips (147 kcal),
    175ml of Bucks fizz, swapped with a wine spritzer,
    Breaded chicken pieces (40 kcal) for marinated chicken pieces (29 kcal).

When you want to maintain your weight loss, it’s important just to take a look at what you would normally do for a Christmas party and simply swap it for a few lower calorie dishes and healthier alternatives. This might seem difficult, but it will be well worth it.

Never be afraid to add new, healthier foods to your table.

When it comes to cooking treats and puddings, doing it yourself really helps you to stay in control of your calorie intake and diet.

The truth is that many people probably won’t even realise that you’re giving them a healthier alternative, so you’ll still have a delicious and fun Christmas!

Just give all of these ideas a try and make sure your weight loss at Christmas stays stress free.