Health and Lifestyle

8 Healthy Christmas Options

Dr. Veena Madhankumar

Dec 24, 2019 — 3 min read

Merry Christmas!! Once again, this is the very special time of the year where you have fun with friends and family. What is festivity without traditional food, which keeps your mood high up and away? But take a moment to see if such food in abundance can take a toll on your health. Experts are of the opinion that people usually gain at least half a kilo of weight during the holiday season.

Today we are here to tell you about a few changes you can make to your Christmas diet and make it a whole lot healthier for you.

1.Starters

The usual starters like baked cheese, pigs in blankets and other such high-calorie food are not so healthy, also making you too full for the main course. Try out healthier options like smoked salmon, leafy salad and fresh fruits.

2.Gravy

What is a Christmas dinner without gravy! But by all means, make sure the essence of the gravy settles down and you skim off the fat before serving it.

3.Stuffing

Sausage stuffings are the usual go-to option for Christmas dinners. If you are up to it, look at the option of breadcrumbs stuffing. It is a delicious combination of bread crumbs, chopped nuts, garlic and your preferred dry fruit like raisins or apricots.

4.Potatoes

Try roasting your potatoes separately using vegetable oil, rather than with your turkey. This will cut out a little on animal fat. Make sure the potatoes are whole and do not use butter. When cut into small pieces, the potatoes absorb more fat.

5.Vegetables

Make sure you use a lot of vegetables while avoiding rich sauces and butter. Instead of boiling your vegetables, look into options of steaming them. This will keep their vitamin and mineral values intact. You can replace butter with honey or fresh lemon extract to add to the flavor.

6.Pudding

Your Christmas dinner does not seem complete without some pudding as a closure. But to enjoy your pudding in a wholesome way, make sure you wait for sometime after your main course. This year try having your pudding with some custard made using low-fat milk instead of brandy butter or cream.

7.Limit Alcohol

Make sure to have a glass of water while you are consuming alcohol. One serving of wine, which is 125 ml has around 100 calories in them. Look into other ways of cutting down on alcohol and calories in that process.

8.Portion sizes

With so many available options, we tend to fill up our plate with larger portions of food that we usually eat. We might end up eating too much or wasting half of it. Make sure you take small portions of food. You can always go for more if you are not full.

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