Eat Well for a Healthy Christmas Season

Christmas is undoubtedly a favourite time of many to over-indulge and put the diet on the back-burner. Although Christmas Day itself is the traditional time to cook up a feast and enjoy it with family and friends, the Christmas season celebrations can often be spread out over the entire month of December!

 

Although celebrating across the whole month is great fun and provides multiple opportunities to catch up with your loved ones, it also likely means that any healthy eating intentions are much harder to stick to. 

 

Today we want to talk about some simple ways that you can maintain your healthy eating, whilst also enjoying the holiday season. You may also find that you encourage and inspire others to say no to seconds and stick to their diet – more or less! 

 

Get Creative in a Healthy Way

 

One of the most delicious things about the winter festive season is that people tend to get creative with the dishes that they are creating. Although this is a tasty way to try new things and to enjoy some luxury, this can also tend to mean that healthy eating takes a backseat to flavour. 

 

 

Finding new ways to cook with flavour whilst also providing a nutritious and nourishing dish can be a fun way to enjoy this time of year. If you are not confident with cooking or are running low on ideas, then you can always invest in a selection of new healthy eating cookbooks, or simply get online for some free advice and recipes!

 

So many peole who love cooking healthy dishes also love to share their recipes and their tips with the world, so there is certainly no shortage of this information!

 

Enjoy the Basics

 

If you usually start your day with a fruit filled smoothie or a healthy dish then there’s no reason to switch this up just because the time of year is different!

 

 

Continue to enjoy the nutritious foods that already feature regularly in your diet and you will help to maintain your health and your weight. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try new things, or make positive changes to your diet if you feel like doing so!

 

Eat Wholesome Foods

 

Snacking on junk food is so easy to do during the holiday season, but your body won’t thank you for it and you’ll likely look back in regret when the time comes to state your New Year’s resolutions. 

 

Wholesome foods are those that are good for you, those foods that your body actually craves! Cooking fresh foods from scratch is a great way to embrace this concept, and will also mean that you know exactly what is going into your meals. 

 

 

Go Easy on the Alcohol

 

Giving yourself permission to over-indulge at Christmas can also be something that concerns your alcohol consumption as well as your food intake. If you are planning on attending several different parties during December then you may want to take it easy on the drinking, or perhaps plan to stay sober for some of the events that you are going to.

 

If you feel like you might find it hard to resist then you can always offer to be the designated driver and enjoy the additional bonus of helping others have a good time and get home safe!

 

Prioritise Your Health

 

Eating healthy through the colder season is a great way to help protect your health and avoid getting sick. If you are still consuming an adequate amount of vitamins, minerals and other sources of goodness then you are going to help equip your body to keep germs at bay!

 

Foods that are high in vitamin C are especiialy useful for this purpose, so make sure that you are getting an adequate amount of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet each day. You can’t really overdo it when it comes to eating fruit and veg, so try to get a portion in with every meal, and also keep this in mind when it comes to the foods that you are snaking on between meals. 

 

 

You can also experiment with finding ways to get really healthy foods into your diet. Smoothies are an obvious way to go, but making your own nutrient dense dips, such as hummus and salsa can also be helpful. You can add health boosting extras to existing recipes and fore-go any unwanted ingredients that may not be as beneficial for your health!

 

Enjoy Yourself

 

Having the ocassional tasty treat or one off extra drink isn’t something that you should beat yourself up about. It’s also important to give yourself a break and enjoy yourself at this time of year. So allow yourself to indulge in a few small pleasures and in doing so you will help to keep your larger dietary efforts on track to stay healthy and happy through the holidays!