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Christmas Healthy Tips

These Christmas healthy tips can help you stick to your weight loss plan and avoid the holiday bulge. One of the hardest times to stick to a diet is around the holidays, especially Christmas with all the yummy food, cookies and candy.

Everyone wants to sample the desserts and filling foods on the dinner table or steal a Christmas cookie set out for Santa. It’s not unusual to put on a few pounds during Christmas, but if you have been working hard to take weight off, the last thing you want are these extra pounds. After a week of eating every scrumptious thing in sight, it’s a wonder anyone can move.

This Christmas, you can help yourself and your family by slimming down traditional recipes. Choose healthier menu items for your dinner with these Christmas healthy tips.

Christmas Healthy Tips #1

Substitution

Simple changes are the easiest and best to make. Some simple substitutions involve the most fattening ingredients. For example, use liquid oil and applesauce in place of liquid oil alone. Use margarine in place of butter and sugar substitutes instead of pure sugar. Many recipes have suggestions for healthy substitutions.

You can reduce the fat content in your homemade turkey gravy by starting with a can or jar of fat free turkey gravy. Then add your turkey drippings from the baking pan to the fat free gravy. Season the food to taste. For thicker gravy, add some chicken broth and a few instant potato flakes to the drippings before adding it to the fat free gravy.

Mashed potatoes are a favorite Christmas dinner side dish to complement turkey and gravy. This is one item people generally heap on their plate. So reduce the high carbohydrate content by using both potatoes and cauliflower. Simply mash both together and you have the added benefit of veggies with your mashed potatoes.

Use whole wheat dinner rolls instead of processed white flour rolls. The whole wheat gives you more nutritional value for those high carb and calorie foods. If turkey is your main dish, peal off the skin before diving into the juicy meat. This will help reduce the amount of fat you have with your turkey dinner.

As you can see, with some really minor adjustments using these Christmas healthy tips, you can reduce fat and calories and still have plenty of taste to your holiday dinner.

Christmas Healthy Tips #2

Pre Dinner Healthy Foods

Serve a soup and salad before putting the main courses on the table. A low fat vegetable soup like tomato and a simple green salad fills part of the stomach and everyone will eat less later on. Make available an assortment of low fat salad dressings for the salad.

Set out a few slices of fruits as well like apples, oranges or grapes. This will get the taste buds going and anxious for the turkey dinner. Have a glass of ice water with your soup and salad. This will also help fill you up so you eat less of the higher calorie and fatty foods.

Christmas Healthy Tips #3

Maintain Control

I’m talking about maintaining "portion" control. With the wide variety of food on the table you will want to try and sample them all. That’s okay; just watch the portion sizes of the foods. Take only 1 roll (or even half a roll) and save more room for the green beans and other veggies. Stick to smaller portions of those foods higher in calories, fat and carbs and bigger portions of foods that offer more nutritional value and fewer calories.

Watching portion sizes is a critical healthy eating tip when it comes time to sampling the desserts. Try just a thin slice of only one dessert, so make it your favorite.

If you get hungry later, and you have already had your cherry pie, then eat some of the veggies and fruits leftover from dinner before you think you need another slice of some rich and creamy (and calorie filled) dessert. If you are still craving the taste of your mother’s upside down pineapple cake, then take just a few bites to satisfy your craving and then put the fork down.

People tend to indulge during the holidays and portion sizes can get out of hand. But remember, you have already altered some of the recipes so that the fat and sugar content is a bit lower, so go ahead and take a second piece if you’re still hungry. After all, it is the holidays and should be a time to enjoy life.

Christmas Healthy Tips #4

Drink Up!

Your beverages can add up calories fast without any real nutritional value. So instead of soda, try serving punch made with a sugar substitute. Ice tea and of course plain old water are always a good choice. Have just one glass of wine with dinner and have a glass of water handy to help wash down the meal.

Christmas dinner doesn’t have to be fattening to be delicious. With a few healthy tweaks, many won’t notice the difference. And when you watch portion sizes and fill up on healthier foods, your Christmas dinner doesn’t have to mean gaining weight. This year expand your repertoire of healthy Christmas dinner choices instead of expanding the waistline.

These healthy tips will help you get through your Christmas dinner. In order to survive all the holiday shopping stress, the pre Christmas parties at the office and friends, and the other thousands of times you may be presented with tempting foods, take a deep breath, relax and have some ice water first. Then and only then if you think you still want to steal that Christmas cookie sitting by the receptionists desk, take one and only one and just take a few bites hear and there to last you the entire work day.

To help releive the stress of the holiday's, opt to do something fun and different. You can take the kids for a car ride to see all the Christmas lights, visit with neighbors to play a few games of cards or even take some time to make your own fun holiday Christmas ornaments with your kids. Remember that Christmas is a time for families and joy, so take some time to do something fun and keep stress at a bay so that you don't overeat or binge.

Check out these metabolism booster foods to add to your Christmas dinner and help you come up with your own Christmas Healthy tips for your meals.

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