A dietitian’s simple rules to remember to eat, drink and be merry all month without adding extra kilos

For many of us, the end of another year tends to mean plenty of drinks, parties, functions and catch-ups. We jam these events into the last few weeks of the year, and with them usually come large volumes of food, snacks and alcohol.

While merry-making can bring plenty of fun, research suggests that many of us gain up to a kilogram at this time of year, weight that is rarely lost. It is, however, entirely possible to avoid festive weight gain while still enjoying all the fare of the season.

All you need is a handful of key strategies around which foods to avoid, and which foods to load up your plate with.

The best options

Seafood

Whether you’re enjoying fresh or cooked prawns, oysters with sauce, fresh octopus, sashimi or your favourite barbecued fish, there are few festive foods as nutrient dense as seafood, with so very few calories. The key is to avoid fried options, and if budget is top of mind, the frozen and canned options are just as good nutritionally.

Turkey

If you stick the tender breast meat, turkey is one of the leanest proteins we can enjoy at Christmas. It’s also extremely low in fat and great to serve up with salad and vegetables. With more than 29g of protein and just 7g of fat per 100g serve, turkey breast is a leaner, lighter option than roast pork or lamb. Plus, you will have leftovers for days to enjoy in salads, toasties and sandwiches.

Seasonal fruit

Is there anything better than fresh summer fruit? Cherries, plums, apricots, mangoes and nectarines are all relatively low in calories, and high in dietary fibre, vitamin C and antioxidants that protect cells from damage. While fruit does contain the naturally occurring sugar fructose, a little fruit sugar is really the least of our concerns compared with other festive treats, especially since cherries and mangoes are available for only relatively short periods of time.

Enjoy in moderation

Choc-coated treats

’Tis the season of choc-dipped treats – biscuits, fruit and nuts, which can fill bowls and platters in many an office and home. While a handful of choc-dipped goodness may seem harmless enough, the numbers tell a different story. For example, just 10 chocolate-covered almonds have almost as many calories as a meal, while a handful of choc-coated sultanas contains 120 calories, 16g of sugars and more than 6g of fat. If you do indulge, look for dark chocolate options and aim for 4-5 individual pieces a serve.

Shortbread

If you hail from the far northern hemisphere, a giant tin of shortbread is sure to be on the family coffee table throughout December. The buttery, sugary biscuits are a rich tasty treat with a warm drink and now come in new varieties such as chocolate. The downside is that a single shortbread finger packs 5g of fat and more than 100 calories. The key to avoiding a complete fat overload is to enjoy shortbread in moderation, and once a day at most.

Dips

Party platters often include brightly coloured dips to team with your favourite crackers and snacks, but the reality is that many of them have a high fat base of cream, cheese or oil. The key is to seek out vegetable-rich options that offer anywhere between 30 and 90 per cent vegetables. This helps to ensure you are not overeating fat every time you dip your vegie stick or cracker.

Foods to avoid

Pastry

Not only is pastry a significant source of saturated fat, it’s also likely that commercially produced pastry-based foods including mini quiches, pies, sausage rolls and sweet fruit pieces are adding nasty trans fats into the diet. Of all the foods we can eat, pastry is also one of the least satisfying, which means it is exceptionally easy to overeat. For this reason, the less pastry you consume this party season, the better it will be for your health and waistline.

Anything deep-fried

Risotto balls, chicken wings, spring rolls and calamari are all popular items on canape menus as they are relatively cheap to produce compared with lean protein- and vegetable-rich options. When you consider that a single fried canape contains between 100 and 150 calories and five to 10g of fat, with little to no positive nutritive value, these are certainly filler foods to avoid when canape trays are being passed around.

Pork belly

If roast pork is your thing, even with a little crackling, go for it. But when it comes to pork belly, which is 50 per cent fat with very little protein, you are basically ingesting fat on a plate. For this reason, if pork belly is on your list of food loves this holiday season, keep in mind that a 100g portion of pork belly will add more than 500 calories and more than 50g of fat to your diet. In other words, roughly the same number of calories in an entire meal, and the amount of fat a small woman needs in a day.

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