We all know how easy it is to over indulge at Christmas and before you know it, you’ve gained a few unwanted pounds! Christmas dinner is actually one of the main offenders.

With the recommended daily average calorie intake for women at 2,000 and 2,500 for men it’s easy to see why you can quickly exceed your allowance when the average Christmas banquet festivities holds a whopping of 7,000 calories, it’s not surprising that the weight begins to pile on.

How can you keep the calories down?

With just a few tweaks here and there, you can still enjoy all your Christmas dinner favourites without expanding your waistline!

Choose the breast of the turkey rather than the dark meat and it will save you 20 calories per 90g (don’t forget to remove the skin!).

How about ditching all that oil or butter that you normally liberally spread over the turkey and just give it a light coating of oil by using a pastry brush?  Did you know there’s a whopping 100 calories in one tablespoon?

If you love your veg, then pile your plate with as many as you can.  Not only are they a great source of nutrients but a colourful looking plate is always more appealing so choose vegetables such as carrots, brussels, red cabbage, swede and cauliflower.  If you can steam the veg, then all the better.  Just remember not to smother them in butter or you’ll be adding on more of those dreaded calories.

Parboil your potatoes before you roast them and just brush them with oil rather than drowning them in oil.

Make your own stuffing rather than using the shop bought one.

Use reduced and low fat versions of cream, crème fraiche and custard.  The reduced and low fat versions often contain half the calories and fat.

The above has been sourced from:

https://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/food/christmas/christmas_day_dinner.htm

And most importantly……………………. enjoy your Christmas dinner and have yourself a “Very Merry Christmas”.