© Ekaterina Bolovtsova
Tip for Christmas baking: Around 20 percent of the sugar in the dough recipe can be reduced without the cookies losing much sweetness.
December 7, 2024
Birgitta Dunckel
From cookies to roast goose - December with its holidays often proves to be calorie-rich. We reveal how you can get through the Christmas season healthily and without gaining weight, while still enjoying yourself.
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During the Christmas season, many high-calorie temptations beckon. Eating a balanced, healthy diet is usually more difficult than usual, and every year the feasting during the holidays doesn't go without consequences: The scale's needle clearly points to the right - the Christmas pounds show themselves.
But it doesn't have to be that way. With these seven tips, you can avoid typical calorie traps and feast your way through December fit and healthy, without giving up enjoyment.
A large glass of warm lemon water right after waking up boosts the metabolism and helps with fat burning. The sour drink is also good against food cravings. A nutrient-rich breakfast alternative for the holidays: A green smoothie, for example made from coconut water, young spinach, and a banana. The concentrated supply of vegetables and fruits provides the body with nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, ensures a healthy feeling of fullness, and a lot of energy while saving plenty of breakfast calories.
• Nuts are packed with nutrients such as unsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, potassium, sodium, magnesium and phosphorus. These nutrients support heart and bone health, brain function, and the immune system.• Dried fruits are a healthy alternative to usual Christmas sweets thanks to their natural sweetness and fiber content. They satisfy sugar cravings and keep you full quickly and for a long time.• Mandarins and oranges on the festive plate are not only sweet but also brimming with vitamin C . Immune system , protects the cells from harmful free radicals and even lifts the mood.• Dark chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa content contains less sugar than lighter varieties. At the same time, the flavanols contained in cocoa - enjoyed in moderation rather than mass - have a positive effect on the heart and circulation.
Warms and ensures cheerful Christmas market visits: mulled wine! But quickly one cup turns into two or three and at the latest the next morning comes great remorse. Therefore, better to reach for a non-alcoholic alternative: hot elderberry or cranberry punch. They are rich in vitamins and minerals and significantly lower in sugar than mulled wine.
© Polina Kovalev
Substantially lower in calories than mulled wine: non-alcoholic punch
Also a classic at the Christmas market: roasted almonds. Although they are actually healthy, the caramelized sugar coating around them is not. A much leaner alternative is hot chestnuts. With this pure natural product no sugar is used, roasting even reduces the fat in the chestnuts a bit, and they come with healthy protein, fiber and B vitamins.
Homemade cookies can also easily be adjusted in terms of ingredients without compromising the taste. Instead of using wheat flour, opt for whole grain, oat, lupin, or almond flour. These provide more vitamins and fiber, which are important for digestion. If you want to completely avoid flour, you can also use oatmeal. Tip: You can reduce about 20 percent of the sugar in the dough recipe without the cookies losing much sweetness.
With a few tricks, unnecessary calories can also be saved during (traditional) Christmas dinners to do something good for your health—and your figure. Replacing the Christmas goose with duck, game, or beef means indulging in significantly less fat. Even better: fish instead of meat. A crispy baked salmon in the oven (with valuable omega-3 fatty acids) also tastes heavenly with red cabbage and dumplings.
Fat trap sauce: Adjusted with vegetable broth instead of cream, it's lower in calories. To boost fat digestion, bitter substances are helpful: A salad made of endive, chicory, radicchio, chicory, and arugula—as a starter or side dish—stimulates fat digestion just as much as the spices anise, tarragon, sage, fennel, caraway, rosemary, and thyme, as well as turmeric and pepper in food.
After the festive meal, take a digestive walk in the fresh air. This stimulates metabolism, clears the mind—and is far more helpful and healthier than a herbal schnapps afterwards.
