It’s hard to be on a diet plan during this time of the year. Holiday foods are everywhere including gingerbread, mashed potatoes, peppermint mocha, hot chocolate with whipped cream… In this post, let’s find out the healthy eating tips for the holidays.
It’s essential to bear in mind that you should not deny all the good foods because it’s rather impolite. However, you should not overeat also because the result is going to be horrible and depressing. Therefore, these healthy eating tips for the holidays might help you to solve this issue.
1. Choose Lean Meats Over Fatty Meats
Source: Delicious Magazine
Fatty meats might taste more tender, juicier and more flavorful. They are packed with more fat than lean meats like fish, chicken and turkey. Probably, as usual, people tend to prefer these high fat meats because they basically taste better. Otherwise, with several healthy recipes on our website, you can choose different styles to cook your lean meats and they will be as flavorful as other meats. Centering on fish is also a great idea because they are low in calories and fat. If you and your family do overeat a little bit, it does not affect your health much.
2. Choose Healthier Carbs
Source: Tesco Real Food
For example, you can totally swap potatoes with sweet potatoes. Even though there is “sweet” in sweet potatoes, they are absolutely healthier than potatoes themselves. Meanwhile they are similar in calories and carbs, sweet potatoes provide more vitamins C & A. Moreover, they keep you full much longer than regular potatoes. Using brown rice or black rice instead of white rice is also a great idea in these healthy eating tips for the holidays.
3. Avoid Using Too Much Dairy Products
Source: Familystyle Food
Even though they are great sources of nutrients, they should not be taken in too much. For instance, to make hot drinks, you can choose bland oat milk or almond milk. They would taste just as great. If you do not like the nutty flavors of these types, skimmed milk could be another option.
4. Add More Vegetables To The Menu
Source: Delish
Normally, Christmas and New Year meals are full of high-protein, high-fat and high-carb dishes. To balance, adding more vegetables to the menu is essential for healthy eating tips for the holidays. You might choose any type of vegetable and how to cook as your own preference.
5. Cut Down On Salt And Sugar
Source: myfoodbook
These two spices should not be overused due to several health issues that they might cause. Significantly, eating bland food is much healthier than putting many spices into your daily diet. For sugar, you might substitute it with honey or any other sweetener. Research shows that eating less sugar and salt might increase your life expectancy.
6. Enjoy The Food To The Fullest
Most importantly, you should enjoy your food to the fullest without considering too much about nutrition facts and calories. However, the amount of food that should be eaten is worth considering. Overeating is definitely not as pleasing as it might be. In fact, the holidays are still occasions to gather with your loved ones and enjoy shared meals. Therefore, eating without consideration for once or twice does not affect your healthy lifestyle and weight at all.
For more amazing cooking and healthy tips, visit out website frequently. We update daily with the easiest clean eating recipes and even more.