The winter is a time for indulgence and for really enjoying yourself – but that doesn’t mean that you should completely ignore your usual healthy diet and throw all your healthy food out of the window! Here are some tips on how to stay healthy over Christmas while eating delicious food at the same time.
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Plan Your Meals
It’s important that you plan your meals and that you don’t snack too much in between them. If you plan your meals it’ll be easier to buy the ingredients beforehand at reasonable prices instead of waiting for the prices to be hiked up over Christmas. In addition, if you make sure that you’re full up at meals then you won’t feel the need to snack as much.
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Make All Your Food From Scratch
A lot of pre-made food is a lot less healthy than the food you can make from scratch. Even though it might seem like a pain, you should try to use pure ingredients in your cooking. If you’re having a salad, make your own dressing out of virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar instead of buying it, and if you make your own baked goods there will be fewer ‘bad’ fats in there than if you buy them in the stores. Homemade sauces will also be much better for you than jarred ones. Everyone prefers the taste of homemade food and the sense of satisfaction you get from it will make it all worthwhile.
Understand The Hidden Health In Your Food
Not everything that you might think is bad for you is completely devoid of any health benefits at all. Although you shouldn’t drink to excess, a glass of red wine every day is good for you – the antioxidants can help prevent you from ageing and will help to keep your mind sharp. Potatoes, a staple of Christmas dinners, contain a vast range of things that are good for you, including zinc, iron, potassium, and vitamin C, while dark chocolate is a great source of antioxidants and can actually help you to reduce your cholesterol.
Keep Following Your Diet
If you’re on a special diet for health reasons, now is absolutely not the time to stop following it! If you shouldn’t eat gluten, then you don’t get to decide that you deserve a treat and indulge in a turkey sandwich. You’ll just feel terrible and regret it and waste part of Christmas feeling unwell. There are plenty of recipes you can enjoy over the festive period – if you’re on a paleo diet, for example, this at PaleoHacks would be a great and popular meal for your whole family.
Eat In Moderation
As with everything, moderation over Christmas is the key to food success. If you feel like you’re not hungry any more, don’t keep eating – just because the food’s there, it doesn’t have to be consumed. Listen to your body and stop eating when you’ve had enough. Drink water before every meal to make sure that you don’t end up eating more than you should.
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