Swap ‘Candied Snacks for Natural Sweets’: Yes, even sweet potatoes can satisfy that sweet tooth.

Candied and fried snacks can really increase your calories unnecessarily and contribute to the elevation of your triglycerides and blood sugars. So better to enjoy a steamed or baked version or better yet a delicious plant-based appetizer.

• Sweet & Spicy Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
• Herb-Spiced Popcorn
• Zucchini Macadamia Pesto Roll-ups
• Walnut Pesto Chard Wraps

Swap ‘Dairy Cream for Vegan Cream’: Surprise yourself with how creamy plants can be.

Soups can really pack a punch in many ways, choose a heavy soup and you can consume so many unnecessary calories while consuming a lighter version helps to reduce the appetite and continues to reduce the occurrence of over indulging.

• Super Easy Cauliflower & Spinach Soup
• Creamy, Non-Dairy Butternut Squash Soup
• Sweet Potato, Carrot & Turmeric

Swap ‘Starchy for Skinny’: Heavy starchy vegetable dishes can pack on calories while lighter versions can taste just as good.

Many of the vegetables at Christmas are often the very starchy heavier ones such as potatoes, corn and peas combined with heavier ingredients. It’s great to break it up and replace some of these with lighter vegetable dishes, especially if you want to save room for grandma’s cookie recipe. One starchy vegetable dish with the rest being a lighter version is ideal. Instead of peas for the greens try asparagus, broccolini or other lighter dishes. Here is more on the fruits and vegetables that support weight loss and those that don’t.

• Broccolini & Asparagus with Almonds
• Baked Cauli-Turmeric Poppers
• 30-Minute Oven Roasted Cheezy Broccoli

Swap ‘Cooked Greens for Raw Greens’: You don’t need to say goodbye to a raw salad; pair it with your cooked vegetable dishes!

Don’t hang up the salad or raw foods for the cooler months, keep enjoying the benefits of raw vegetables in juices, salads, raw soups, smoothies and raw dishes. Here’s more on cooked versus raw. Enjoy these raw meals at your festivities.

• Chopped Broccoli Salad with Roasted Garlic Aioli
• Kale Fennel Tahini Salad
• Kale Salad with Pine Nuts & Dried Cranberries (& Vegan Parmesan Cheese!)
• Tropical Avocado, Papaya & Ginger Salad (more hot climate – my fav at Christmas)

Swap ‘Meats for Plants’: Skip the meat-fest and reduce your animal proteins with some favorite plant-based dishes.

People eat meat in excess during the festivities, many Christmas tables are piled high with every meat dish you can think of from pork, to turkey, to beef to chicken to dried or snack meats. Here are some great vegetable dishes that will satisfy anyone:

• Vegan Spinach & Cranberry Stuffed Acorn Squash
• Caramelized Maple Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms
• Roasted Kale & Sweet Potato Salad

Swap ‘Sugary Cocktails for Lighter Versions’: While the heavy sugared and high calorie cocktails are tempting, the lighter healthier versions still do the trick.

Egg nog and other cocktails can contain a myriad of added chemicals, sugar and unhealthy fats. Here is more on the do’s and don’ts for alcohol over the holiday period and more on what’s in your cocktail! Try our delicious healthier suggestions here or simply select your favourite juice and add a small serve of alcohol such as vodka or gin instead:

• Raw, Dairy-Free, Vegan Egg Nog
• A Juicy Margarita
• Mint Mocktail

Swap ‘Heavy Desserts for Healthy Sweets’: It’s the holidays, so you don’t need to say no to desserts wholeheartedly, because we have some options that you’ll love without the guilt.

In Australia this is easy as we are normally sitting in a pile of sweat on Christmas day complaining about the heat and humidity, so it’s easy to enjoy light desserts, but you can still enjoy warming healthy desserts in the colder climates without the bloat and lethargy that often follows, try our:

• Maple & Cinnamon Baked Apples and Pears
• No-Bake Pumpkin & Fig Mini Pies
• Cherry Cinnamon Apple Bake
• Coconut Carrot Cake Protein Balls
• Vegan, Dairy-Free Strawberries & Cream Crepes
• Watermelon Cashew Cream Dessert Wedges (perfect for the hot weather for those southern hemisphere peps)

Remember to savor each mouthful rather than bolting down your holiday meal. When eating, you experience 90% of the taste in the first mouthful, while flavor and taste decline with continued eating, so work this to your advantage and really enjoy those first few mouthfuls then stop. Remember it’s still ok to enjoy a few indulgences but it’s important to note that Christmas is only 1 day and not weeks!