The average Briton will consume more than 4,000 calories on Christmas Day – twice the recommended daily
allowance for women and almost as much for men, studies claim,
A traditional Christmas lunch will average 1,000 but the rest of the calorific intake is calculated outside the main meal.
Most of those in the survey admitted to eating a 500-calorie cooked breakfast on Christmas morning, averaging 2.1 slices of bread, 2.8 rashers of bacon, 1.7 eggs and 1.2 glasses of fruit juice.
At the lunch table, the average consumption is 4.4 roast potatoes, 3.8 slices of meat, 1.2 small Yorkshire puddings and almost a tablespoon of stuffing.
Vegetable intake is about 2.7 sprouts and 2.1 parsnips. And 2.5 tablespoons of Christmas pudding will be eaten,
accompanied by 1.2 of double cream. Those surveyed also admitted to feasting on 10.3 chocolates, 3.1 handfuls of crisps and 3.8 glasses of wine.
The calorie intake continues late into the night, with many enjoying a ‘left-over meat sandwich’, not to mention mince pies and Christmas cake.

Worse is that many families do this around 3 times over the festive season…unbelievable!

So if you don’t want to be a Christmas pudding yourself then start by making these Christmas dinner changes;

A portion of roast turkey with skin on has 5.8g fat, by cutting off the skin will you will make a fat saving of more than 50%.
By saying no to a slice of streaky bacon, you will save 84 calories and 6.7g fat.
An average portion of potatoes roasted in corn oil contains 9g fat whereas a baked potato will only contain 0.4g fat. Try baking small potatoes instead of the traditional large ones.
You could save yourself another couple of grams of fat by making your bread sauce with skimmed or semi-skimmed instead of whole milk.
Go for larger servings of brussel sprouts and carrots. These are low in fat and high in antioxidant nutrients provided you don’t boil them to death. They will fill you up and you won’t need to ask for seconds.
By taking into account the above fat/calorie-saving tips your meal should only contain around 446 calories and 6g fat.

Now what about the pudding ? If you go for custard made with semi-skimmed milk instead of brandy cream or butter, you would be looking at almost a 50% reduction in the fat content (16.3g) and a total calorie count of 448.

Christmas dinner is one of the most balanced meals you’ll have. Provided you chose wisely, turkey is low in fat and potatoes are a good source of starchy carbohydrates, which keep your gut healthy and are rich in B vitamins.

You will have notched up two or three servings of veggies (out of the five a day you need) and if that isn’t enough, your one glass of red wine is another good source of antioxidant nutrients, which help protect against the risk of heart disease.

So have a Merry Healthy Christmas x