Christmas and baking go together, and you don’t really need a whole lot of fat and sugar to make things tasty. “Baking itself is a healthy cooking medium. All you need to do is look at ingredients that are naturally sweet, like dry and fresh fruit. Meats come with their own fat and don’t require added butter or even olive oil. Up the veggies when you have lunch and avoid obvious diet-busters, like cheesy potatoes,” says Mumbai-based nutritionist Tripti Gupta.
And you don’t really need to do maida. She also suggests that puddings and cakes be prepared with grains like oats, finger millet, buckwheat, whole wheat, almond flour, amaranth. “Using spices such as cinnamon, ginger powder, mint, thyme, and black pepper adds flavour, besides becoming natural metabolism boosters in your favourite indulgence. You can further enrich the preparation with healthy choices like flax, chia, sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds, or nuts which add a healthy crunchy feel to the meal,” she says.
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Want to seriously cut down? Avoid the sauces, which are fat-heavy and remove the skin of the turkey before you eat it.