Healthy Christmas Eating!
by Tash Hughes of
Word
Constructions
One of the dominant images of an Aussie Christmas is
food. Mention of Christmas brings to mind Christmas
Lunch, Christmas Dinner, Work Christmas Functions,
Christmas Drinks and other Christmas get-togethers.
Christmas is not seen as a good time for anyone on a
diet. It doesn’t matter if you are on a diet to lose
weight, be healthy or deal with a disease, the range of
food available at Christmas is intimidating for dieters.
However, Christmas need not mean the end of your diet or
a struggle through January to compensate. There are ways
to keep your diet healthy during the Christmas season.
Moderation
Keeping things in moderation is a major key to the
Christmas overeating issue. It is easy to say “eat and
drink in moderation”, but not quiet so easy to carry out
so here are some ideas for moderating what you eat this
festive season.
v
Use a smaller plate ~ your mind will consider it a full
plate regardless of its size!
v
Where there are choices, take a little of many things
rather than lots of one thing. This ensures you are
getting a balanced meal and not overloading on a fatty
food.
v
For every glass of alcohol or soft drink, have a glass
of water. Water fills you up, has no calories or side
effects, is cheap and will help wash out the excesses.
v
Help clear the table as soon as everyone finished eating
rather than sitting and picking at leftovers.
v
Make your own mixed drinks with real fruit juice instead
of canned drink.
v
Don’t be afraid to take things home for later –
especially fruit cake as it will keep for ages!
v
Only put out some of the available food so people don’t
over serve themselves. More can always come out as
required.
Alternatives
Whenever you have control over the food on offer, always
look for the healthier alternative to prepare and serve.
Likewise, make suggestions to other people who will be
feeding you over the holiday period.
This is a good opportunity to make Christmas a bit
different this year ~ for instance, try a picnic this
year with lots of salads rather than huge roasts or do
an activity with friends instead of having a Christmas
drinks night.
Some ways to reduce the fat content and increase the
nutritional value of Christmas foods are listed below.
Which ones apply will depend on the style of occasion
you are cooking for.
Vegetables
v
Keep vegetables as close to raw as possible. Don’t
overcook them.
v
Consider a salad rather than baked-in-fat vegetables.
v
Use spices and herbs to
flavour
vegetables, not butter or a creamy sauce
v
Steam vegetables rather than boiling them – healthier
and tastier!
v
Consider a spicy potato salad instead of a mayonnaise
based potato salad.
v
Avoid bacon crisps and salami in salads.
v
Char grilled vegetables are delicious and a little
exotic ~ a platter of mixed grilled vegetables look
great and can be done on the BBQ to save kitchen space.
v
Baked potatoes can be topped with yoghurt or low fat
cream cheese or low fat sour cream instead of butter.
v
Salad dressings can liven up a salad without adding
kilojoules. Try lemon or lime juice, vinegar (many
types!) and fresh herbs.
Meat
v
Trim as much fat as possible from meat before cooking
v
Serve some fresh fish or seafood instead of roast red
meat.
v
Baste meats with lemon juice (alone or mixed with garlic
and herbs.)
v
Where possible, BBQ or grill the meat instead of
roasting it, or roast it on a rack.
v
If cooking roast pork, remove all rind and fat prior to
cooking. Trimmed of fat, the crackling can be cooked
separately – although crackling isn’t particularly good
for you anyway!
Desserts
v
Supply a fruit platter or fresh fruit salad ~ a hot
Christmas day makes this most appealing!
v
Leave behind the crust of deserts such as cheesecake and
flans.
v
Have some fun with a sweet fondue sauce or a yoghurt dip
with fresh fruit.
v
Fruit mixed with yoghurt and frozen is a delicious
treat. Drizzle it with chocolate and no one will know
it’s healthy!
v
Sorbets are a light finish to any meal or can be served
at Christmas drinks. Choose a recipe without much sugar
in tit, though.
v
Make a cake with pureed fruit in place of some oil ~
yummy!
v
Instead of one egg, try using two egg whites.
v
Use fresh fruit to top
pavlovas
and cheesecakes rather than chocolate or meringue.
Odds and Ends
v
Use wholegrain breads for stuffing.
v
Cook stuffing separate to the meat so it doesn’t soak up
fats during cooking.
v
Buy a low fat ready-made gravy to be healthier and
reduce the number of jobs to be done on the day!
v
For a creamy texture without using sour cream, cream,
buttermilk, eggs, etc, try some pureed tofu. It takes up
other
flavours
really well but without the fat content. {Use the same
amount of pureed tofu as any liquid ingredient or 5
Tablespoons per egg. If baking look for the baking
varieties of soft tofu.}
v
Instead of a bowl of
lollies
or chocolates for guests, why not have a bowl of
cherries or grapes?
v
Bake some pita bread to use with dips instead of chips.
Add vegetable strips to the platter for variety.
Tash Hughes is
the owner of
Word Constructions and assists businesses
in preparing all written documentation and web site
content. Tash also writes parenting and business articles for
inclusion in newsletter and web sites. |