Eat Healthy At Christmas

As soon as the Advent season begins and the Christmas market opens its doors, sweet treats lure us everywhere: cookies, roasted almonds, Christmas stollen and dominoes can now be bought on every corner. On the holidays themselves, a delicious Christmas menu awaits us. Good food is simply part of Christmas. For many, however, comes after the holidays the rude awakening, because the scale then shows not infrequently a few kilos too much.

Christmas – time of the food

Many of us gain weight in the period around Christmas and New Year. Pounds with which we often have to fight until spring – or even longer. That we gain weight when we eat at Christmas is no wonder. After all, a classic Christmas dinner with appetizer, main course and dessert brings it to around 1,500 calories, including drinks. But with a few tricks, you can not only save a few calories at Christmas dinner, but also avoid typical calorie traps in the run-up to Christmas.

Tips for a healthy Christmas dinner

This Christmas, why not try something a little different for Christmas dinner? Instead of fatty goose, have a delicious roast turkey or oven-cooked fish. Cold water fish such as trout, salmon, pike perch or mackerel are particularly suitable. If you don’t want to miss out on the traditional roast goose, you should remove the skin from the goose beforehand, as it contains the most fat. Before the Christmas dinner is served, it is advisable to serve a low-calorie soup or salad. The appetizer satisfies the first hunger and the stomach is already a little filled – of the main course is then usually eaten a little less. Likewise, a glass of water before the meal can also make the first cravings disappear. A few calories can also be saved at Christmas dinner by using sauces and side dishes. Instead of greasy fries or croquettes, use light side dishes such as rice. Likewise, instead of high-calorie cream sauces, it’s better to use healthier options. You can also avoid other calorie traps at Christmas dinner when it comes to dessert: Avoid high-fat desserts such as chocolate mousse and serve a healthy fruit salad or a delicious fruit curd instead. Tip: The feeling of fullness does not set in until 15 to 20 minutes after you start eating. So take your time when eating, maybe even take a short break between each course. This will help you avoid eating more than your body needs.

Calorie trap mulled wine

At the Christmas market, hot mulled wine in a variety of flavors tempts us in cold temperatures. Quickly three or four cups are drunk – but be careful: a cup of mulled wine contains over 200 calories. So instead of a second cup of mulled wine, drink a hot fruit tea or a hot orange juice. Almost as popular as a cup of mulled wine is a digestive schnapps after all the greasy food at Christmas. But you can save those calories, too: Instead of drinking the schnapps, take a digestive walk in the fresh air.

Save calories when baking cookies

Cookies are simply part of the Advent and Christmas season, but most cookies consist mostly of butter and sugar. But with a few tricks, you can easily save calories even when baking cookies. Use whole wheat flour instead of wheat flour for baking. This is because whole wheat flour contains more vitamins and fiber, which in turn aid digestion. If baking with whole wheat flour is not explicitly recommended in the recipe, you can safely replace half of the ‘regular’ flour with whole wheat flour. Cookies with oatmeal or dried fruit are also particularly recommended, as these also contain a lot of fiber. In addition, you can reduce the amount of sugar specified in the recipe a little – usually the cookies are still sweet enough. In addition, you should not additionally decorate the ready-baked cookies with chocolate or a sugar glaze – this is another easy way to save calories. If you don’t want to do without chocolate, don’t decorate the whole cookie with chocolate, but dip the cookies only partially in the chocolate. Tip: Bake smaller cookies – so you can eat more cookies, but without eating more calories.

Exercise after Christmas dinner

If you exercise regularly after eating over the Christmas holidays, you can easily avoid pesky pounds.This is because the increased energy metabolism during sports means that the extra calories you take in are easily burned off again. Take a walk with your family or go ice skating or sledding with your children. Even a snowball fight in the backyard or building snowmen together will start to melt away the pounds. In addition, a little exercise in the fresh air will also make the feeling of fullness that you usually experience after a hearty Christmas meal disappear.

5 Tips for a healthy Christmas

Everything is allowed – but only in moderation! If you stay true to this motto, you won’t have to do without anything during the Christmas season, but you’ll still get through the holidays fit and healthy. Here are a few final tips and tricks that will allow you to enjoy the food before and at Christmas, but without eating too many calories.

  1. When snacking at Christmas, fall back more often on fruit instead of cookies and the like: enjoy lychees, persimmons, kiwis, oranges, tangerines or baked apples. Dried apple rings or apricots are also better for snacking than candy.
  2. Some fruit does well on the colorful plate in addition to the many sweet treats, a few pieces of tangerine, orange or apple can not be missing here. A few nuts are also recommended for the colorful plate, because nuts have valuable ingredients. However, since they are real calorie bombs, you should enjoy nuts only in moderation.
  3. Drink at least two liters a day, preferably water or unsweetened teas. Sufficient liquid cranks up the metabolism and curbs the appetite.
  4. Resort to dark chocolate for chocolate or chocolate glazes. It can have a blood pressure-lowering and antioxidant effect due to the high cocoa content.
  5. If you do not want to give up sweet treats at Christmas, instead of greasy butter spritzgebäck can resort to lower-calorie options such as Magenbrot, Pfeffernüsse or anise cookies.

Tip: Do not completely forbid yourself even calorie bombs such as burnt almonds, butter spritzgebäck or dominoes at Christmas. However, enjoy the treats slowly and in moderation.

Calorie content of typical Christmas treats

Christmas Special calories
Shortbread (1 piece) 53
Macaroons (1 piece) 68
Vanilla crescent (1 piece) 35
Speculoos (1 piece) 49
Pepper nut (1 piece) 25
Stollen (100 grams) 400
Walnut (1 piece) 72
Domino (1 piece) 55
Marzipan (15 grams) 69
Baked apple (200 gram) 204
Mulled wine (200 milliliters) 210