What an amazing time it is. The season of mulled wine and mince pies, office parties and catching up with friends and family. It's a great time to enjoy treats and everywhere you go there seems to be something on offer that you might normally turn down. So how do you keep a check on what you're eating when it's all around you? We've put some tips together on how you can have a good time over Christmas without living to regret it in the new year.
Tip #1
Don't eat it just because it's there
Sometimes we eat just because food is there. Don't feel obliged to reach your hand into the crisps bowl just because it's shoved in front of you. Be selective on what you eat. Eat for enjoyment and savour the flavour rather than eating mindlessly without any thought. Also, don't feel obliged to eat just because you are at someone's house and they offer you everything they have. Chances are that you will be offered plenty of treats. Take the ones you love and can't resist but leave the ones that you can live without. At home, try not to have too many nibbles out. Before you know it you'll be nibbling away at whatever is on the coffee table. Remember, you don't have to eat everything. Enjoy some treats without going overboard.
Tip #2
Make healthier choices
It's easy to have a delicious meal that is a little more healthy than your usual meal by making small changes that don't compromise on the taste. If you're making your own Christmas dinner consider the following:
- Switching from using white potatoes to orange flesh sweet potatoes, which are high in fibre and more nutritious and have a lower glycemic index.
- Choose to cook with healthy fats like coconut oil or even butter rather than cheap vegetable oils.
- Take the skin off the turkey. Fifty percent of the fat is in the skin. You will be reducing your saturated fat intake and your calorie intake by 50%! Well worth it.
- Choose a chestnut or fruit-based stuffing instead of pork meat and you could cut up to half the total calories and half the fat content.
- Remove fat from meat juices before making your gravy. Pour turkey (meat) juices into a jug and wait for the fat to rise to the surface. Spoon off or pour the fat off before making the gravy.
- Use skimmed milk to make bread sauce, reducing your calories by more than 50%! Add a clove of garlic to the milk to add flavour.
- Drizzle olive oil on your vegetables rather than smother them with butter. Olive oil has a delicious taste and is just as good as butter at glazing your veg and stopping it from being dry. Olive oil is also very good for you eaten raw as it's high in monounsaturated and a better choice that saturated fats. You could even add some herbs and a little lemon zest.
- Swap brandy butter to low fat custard.
- Have a smaller portion of Christmas pudding as it's high in sugar.
- Eat wheat free mince pies as the wheat in the pastry turns to sugar in the body making it a perfect scenario for weight gain and bloating.
- Eat stewed fruit with low fat cream or yoghurt.
- Choose chocolate over stodgy puddings (may be high in sugar and fat but at least there's no wheat so no bloating!)
Tip #3
Reduce alcohol intake
Believe it or not your alcoholic drink is packed with calories. With a large glass of wine being almost equivalent to a Cornetto ice cream or three cans of beer equivalent to a fast food sandwich. If you can't live without a drink you may want to balance this out by having less dessert or vice versa. Just think of alcohol as liquid cake so you can't have double portions!
More tips include:
- Dilute your favourite drink with water to make it last longer.
- Choose low alcohol lager.
- Choose wine with 11% or less alcohol (they do exist!)
- Avoid sugary cocktails. They have all the calories of the alcohol as well as high sugar content from the fruit juice.
- Try non-alcoholic drinks. They are not as bad as they seem and great if you're driving home too.
- Don't drink! Now there's a thought. You can make the choice to abstain from drinking. This will make you a good candidate for driving people home and allow you the joy of a headache free Christmas morning! Two good deeds in one!
Tip #4
Stay active
It's so easy once you've done all the preparations to sit down and veg out over Christmas. While you may well deserve a good rest, you will do yourself a favour by keeping yourself active. Doing some light exercise will give you more energy and will keep you from slumping and feeling lazy. It will also help to burn extra calories and keep your digestive system healthy. If you suffer from a bad back it is also better to stay moving as your back needs nutrient rich blood flowing to it which it's deprived from when you're sitting down for too long.
If you've been exercising, you will also be in a better position in January when you want to start a new fitness regime, both physically, as you'll have less body-weight to lose and also emotionally, as you won't feel so heavy and lethargic as you would if you've been a couch potato throughout the celebrations.
So choose to stay active by:
- Taking long walks after a meal
- Trying to get to the gym at least twice a week
- Doing some home exercises
- Playing on the Wii with the family
- Playing with your children and grandchildren
- Offering to take the dog for a walk!
Tip #5
Start your fitness regime early
There's no need to wait until January to start exercising and keeping healthy. You can have a head start by starting in December. In fact for many people December can be busy in the way of preparations but less busy work-wise. So incorporate some exercise into your daily routine like before you start your Christmas shopping or after a long day at the shops. You'll be glad you did!
Tip #6
Relaxxxx!
Finally, whatever you decide to do over Christmas, decide to have fun and enjoy it. The festive season is meant to be a time to celebrate and get together with friends and loved ones but too often it is filled with stress. Stress in not good for the body or the mind! Choose to give yourself some time to relax over Christmas. Try not to stress about what's been done or not done. Use this time to recoup and regenerate and dream about goals for the New Year!
Have a Fab, Fun and Fit Christmas!!!
Sally x
For more info on keeping yourself healthy get in touch for a free one to one consultation.
