Healthy variations on Christmas favourites

[Bippety]

I know this sounds boring to some, and my friends and family keep saying to just enjoy Christmas and get back on it in the new year. The thing is, I've worked so hard this year to lose the 5 stone I put on during pregnancy, and because I have always struggled with my weight, i feel like my relationship with food is the healthiest it's ever been! I am cooking Christmas dinner and won't be altering anything else for people, but I figure for my bits I can. Any ideas, and for snacks? I was thinking:

Low fat sausages and turkey bacon for pigs in blankets (everything else on the roast should be okay, will have roasties as normal as we never normally have them).
Mild salsa as a dip (Doritos one actually doesn't contain much sugar or salt)- anything nice to dip in aside from crisps?
Buy some of my favourite chocolates and enjoy without any 'guilt'- so I'm not picking at stuff I don't even really like just because. I've kindly asked people not to buy me any chocolate, I actually asked for no presents but people have bought them anyway. I don't want to be left with a mountain of it I end up binging, as ungrateful as that sounds.

I think this is a great idea, well done for this year. I am 6 years down the line since giving birth and only started a healthier lifestyle a few weeks ago but I feel the same and don't want to undo all my hard work. I'm going for the plan of healthier than normal Christmas meals and will try to keep snacks to a minimum as I actually like the feeling of being hungry when I sit down to eat now rather than constantly picking at food and never being empty! My ideas so far are:

• Dip made using natural yoghurt instead of sour cream (I'll try to find a recipe so it doesn't just taste like yoghurt!), plus hummus;
• Strips of pitta and veggie sticks for dipping;
• Roasted sweet potatoes in with the whites;
• Having some potatoes just boiled with rosemary sprigs and stock in the pan so there's an alternative to roasties;
• Custard using Birds powder and oat milk instead of dairy;
• I made some lovely pastry-less quiches a while ago, you make the mixture then bake them in little muffin tins;
• Cauliflower and broccoli cheese made using oat milk and loads of nutritional yeast so it's creamy rather than overly cheesy, then cheese sprinkled on some of it but not all.

My main aim is to remember that my mindset has changed, I don't need to overeat because I 'deserve' it and that NOT eating 75 chocolates by 10am won't make the day with my family any less enjoyable .

Oh wow they sound like great ideas, thank you! It sounds like you are doing great, I found the first 2 months the hardest to be honest, so it's definitely worth hanging in there. The bit about the mindset is so true, I used to reward myself with food, and look forward to eating chocolate for example. Now I buy face masks and other bits and bobs to use in front of the telly in the evening. It is liberating being able to eat some without having your emotions depend on it, but I'm worried about going back to relating food to feelings.

Wow well done you! Loads of veg for dips - carrot, peppers, celery etc. And I like having a bag of really good quality seedless easy peelers in for when I crave something sweet.

Yeah it has been tough some days. I'm not calorie counting or following anything, just cutting out snacks and I didn't realise how engrained they'd become. I'm also peri-menopausal so feeling homicidal and forcing myself to not use cake as a pacifier has been hard but I'm getting there . I make a cake or batch of biscuits at the weekend and I actually enjoy it (because it's a weekly treat that we've picked out and made together) instead of feeling crap after eating it (when it was a daily dose of over-processed stodge from the work canteen).

Will add some more ideas if I can think of any .

• If I make pigs in blankets I think I'll do normal size sausages with one rasher round each one. I reckon if they are mini sausages I'd end up eating more of them because they are "only tiny"!
• We always make a huge fruit salad on Christmas Eve that lasts until after Boxing Day. It includes passion fruit and other tropical fruits so it tastes deeeelicious . It's a really refreshing alternative to heavy puddings after a rich dinner.

Well done on the weight loss.

My attitude these days is "is it worth the calories?". If yes, then I will indulge - but will still make an effort to eat/drink whatever it is slowly, really savour it and stop when I've had enough. So absolutely yes to the idea of buying chocs you really like.

I also find that having one blow out day does not derail me all that much, if at all. The danger with Christmas is several days, and then New Year on top of it.