Top tips for a guilt-free Christmas

Christmas is a time when diets normally go out the window and the waistline expands. Here"s our top tips to enjoying yourself in moderation this festive season. MORE PROTEIN, LESS FAT On Christmas Day and St Stephen"s Day, think about the plates of food that you have and go for more turkey and more veg and then minimise the sauces and high fat ingredients like roast potatoes. Turkey is low in fat and very high in protein, which has been shown to make you feel full for longer, so you won"t come back for more. VARY YOUR VEGETABLES Vegetables are low GI and high in fibre and will fill you up with fewer calories than fatty alternatives like nibbles and sausage rolls. But it"s easy to get bored of veg over the Christmas season and then you"ll start having smaller portions. Why not try roasting winter vegetables like swedes and onions or go for seasonal cabbage and spinach for a change? Roasted potatoes are really really high in calories because they"ve been sitting in fat in the oven. Why not mash, bake or boil them for a healthier alternative? HAVE SMALLER PORTIONS In Mediterranean countries, they put a small amount on their plate and then, if they feel like it, they"ll have some more. But in Ireland, we load up the plate until it"s overflowing and then everybody feels obliged to eat everything on the plate. Switch to the Mediterranean style and you"ll probably find you eat less. CHOOSE HEALTHY STARTERS AND PUDDINGS Go for soup because it"s more filling than greasy vol-au-vents or sausages on sticks and for dessert, try something like meringue with fruit and natural yoghurt, which will be much lower calorie than the traditional pudding with custard and brandy butter. If you really have to have Christmas pudding, have a smaller portion than normal. TAKE BREAKS BETWEEN COURSES Christmas dinner is the big family meal of the day, so if you have breaks where people can get up from the table and come back, it gives the hostess a break and it means the food has time to kick in, so you"ll eat less. SUPPLEMENT LOW CALORIE INGREDIENTS 'You can shave a lot of calories off your Christmas meals, by using alternative ingredients, like skimmed milk in custard and sugar replacements. If you"re making your own Christmas pudding, you can use lots of fruit and less of the fat and sugar to get the calories down. If you"re making biscuits, reduce the sugar and add in things like oats to pad it out and make you feel fuller. GO EASY ON THE ALCOHOL Watching your alcohol intake is important, because people sometimes forget the calories you get in a glass of wine or pint of beer. A large glass is 200 calories, so if you have five that"s 1000 calories, or half a woman"s daily requirement of energy. That"s a lot of extra calories that won"t make you feel any less hungry.' EXERCISE A good brisk walk after Christmas lunch instead of slumping on the sofa will help with digestion and should burn off a few calories. But if it looks a bit gloomy outside on the day, there are things you can do inside as well. The kids always get bored at Christmas, so play with them, run around the house and have a laugh and that will help get rid of some calories and help with your digestion too.