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Healthy holiday food

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The festive season is all about lolling on the beach, long-distance drives and late-night celebrations – but unfortunately it’s about indulgence and expanding waistlines too.

So try our easy-to-implement holiday eating tips; it will help you enjoy the pleasures of the season without popping out of your jeans come January.

1. FOR A DAY AT THE BEACH

Healthy sarmies
Instead of ice cream, pies, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and chocolates, make some scrumptious sarmies.

On the outside: Use wholewheat bread for extra fibre, pumpernickel, a wholesome fruit-and-seed loaf or any bread with lots of whole kernels, crushed wheat and oats or oat bran (since these have a low glycaemic index). For a change, try Ryvita or wholewheat crackers.

On the inside: Remember that healthy fillings don’t have to fall flat on taste. Try these savvy substitutions:

• Instead of butter or margarine, mix some finely chopped vegetables with low-fat yogurt or spread on some mashed avocado or peanut butter.
• Instead of Cheddar cheese, use Mozzarella or low-fat Edam – this will save you 50kJ per 30g wedge.
• Instead of regular mayonnaise, dilute low-fat mayo 1:1 with skimmed milk – this simple step will save you 298kJ per spoon.

Other health snacks
Pack a few other beach bites, such as:

• Carrot and cucumber sticks
• Dried fruit (two to three pieces or 30g equals one fruit)
• Nuts (choose unsalted varieties and don’t overdo it – one portion equals 8 to 10 nuts)
• Fat-free or low-fat yogurt
• Bran muffins (they’re low in fat and high in fibre)
• Popcorn (air-popped without too much salt and no oil)

2. ON A ROAD TRIP
Instead of pies, fatty foods, chocolates, sweets, salty, fatty takeaway meals, carbonated cold drinks, pack your own healthy snacks:

• Chicken breast pita: chop and trim the fat off the chicken, mix with lettuce, cocktail tomatoes, peppers and low-fat dressing and serve in a pita bread or on a wholewheat roll
• Super salad with cocktail tomatoes, carrot sticks, gherkins, cucumber and low-fat dressing
• Mega-healthy meatballs with no added fat using extra-lean mince
• Snack selection: include boiled eggs, fresh fruit, high-fibre muffins and beef jerky (small portion with no visible fat)

At cafés or petrol-station stores, choose the following:

• Fruit, yogurt or drinking yogurt
• Bread rolls and cheese wedges
• Dried fruit
• Bran muffins or low-fat health bars (e.g. seed bars, dried fruit bars)
• Hard sucking or jelly sweets (instead of chocolates)

At restaurants, coffee shops and fast-food venues, choose the following:

• Baked potato with cottage cheese and salad
• Salads
• Pasta with a tomato-based sauce (instead of a creamy one)
• Grilled chicken, fish or very lean red meat with salad, baked or boiled potatoes and veggies
• Vegetarian stir-fry
• Toasted sandwiches with vegetable fillings – ask for no butter or margarine

Steer clear of:

• Creamy sauces – instead of a creamy mushroom-sauce burger with chips, choose a Hawaiian burger with salad
• Deep-fried food – instead of crumbed chicken, choose grilled chicken
• Rich desserts – instead of cake or ice cream, choose a fresh fruit salad

3. AT A FESTIVE COCKTAIL PARTY
Instead of high-fat finger foods, pizza, pies, pastries, cheese and biscuits, nibble on healthier nosh such as:

• Meats – choose small portions of chicken
• Prawns
• Meatballs
• Vegetables – pick the salad and fresh veg platters
• Boiled eggs
• Sandwiches
• Filled pita breads
• Fruit or dried fruit
• Nuts

Instead of sugary cocktails, wine, beer and spirits, choose lite wine, lite beer, white wine diluted with soda water, spirits with sugar-free mixers or water. Stick to the following suggested units and remember to drink water between drinks:

• Men – two to three units per day
• Women – one to two units per day

One unit = 25ml spirits, 120ml wine or one can of beer or cider.

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