Ways to lighten your New Year Dinner

With the holiday season right around the corner, you might be finding yourself growing slightly anxious about what that holiday meal means for you. It is common knowledge that most New Year dinners can easily pack away at least 1000 calories, if not more. It is very important a healthy diet during the festival season. If you make a few simple and easy adjustments to what you’re preparing and how you prepare the foods, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here are some ways we can lighten the New Year dinner and keep our figure:

• Cut out the butter and lard, instead use extra virgin olive oil or even coconut oil in all of your favorite recipes.
• The problem with this is that people often fill up on bread before the meal adding numerous calories without even realizing it. 
• To save calories for your New Year meal is to exchange sweet potatoes for regular potatoes when making your mashed potatoes and then also use chicken broth rather than butter as you prepare them.
• Cranberry sauce tends to be another calorie laden dish on the New Year dinner table. When you purchase commercially prepared cranberry sauce you are going to be looking at a very high amount of sugar for sure. Instead, prepare your own.
• Vegetables are easy to prepare and they are very good for providing lots of vitamins with very few calories.
• If you provide people with smaller plates they cannot fit as much food on them.  Therefore, the chances of you and your guests overeating are significantly reduced.
• Water does not contain any calories and is essential for keeping your body properly hydrated.  Put a couple of jugs of chilled water on the table and keep them topped up throughout the New Year meal.