Not Just 5 Top Healthy Christmas Foods for You

All You Need for Christmas…

• Gluten Free Snacks & Healthy Filler Foods…
  
• Vegan Christmas Menu Idea
• Candida Diet Desserts worthy for Christmas
• 9 Tips to Make Your Festive Menus Healthier
• Candida Diet Safe Foods List  

Gluten Free Snacks/ Healthy Christmassy Filler Foods

It doesn’t always have to be marzipan and chocolate – healthy snack foods can be satisfying, too.

• Avocados
• fresh nuts
• spicy chickpeas
• brown rice with coconut oil
• hummus & green veg

Rich in essential vitamins, healthy oils and minerals these gluten free Christmas snacks should be your first port of call when you get starving (or better still, before you get starving…)

And if you’re looking for a special treat I’d opt for one of these:

Coconut Macaroons or Almond Cookies

You can follow traditional biscuit recipes – as long as you omit the sugar and use gluten free flour such as brown rice flour or almond flour to be on the safe side. (Much healthier than wheat based flours.)

Add cinnamon to keep your blood sugar levels stable for longer. When baking for people with a sweeter tooth I’d use a little honey or agave nectar as natural sweeteners.

NB: Bear in mind if you make coconut fairy cakes or something you need more eggs to make the mixture stick together.

9 Tips for a Healthier Christmas & Holidays:

• Go easy on the booze
• Step away from Rum Pots and mix drinks (lagged with sugared fruit and sweet sauces that feed candida)
• Choose sorbet over a rich pudding – easier to digest
• And freshly cracked nuts or corn crisps over potato crisps in tv family gatherings
• Give cheeses and pralines a miss this year and allow yourself a bite of something meltingly chocolaty of the dark cocoa variety (just the one!)
• Get a stomp around the block in (in between meals)
• Add fresh lemon juice to your water for added vitamin c
• Take 5 mins quiet time away from the bubbling family whooha to close your eyes, breathe deeply, bracing yourself against the noise & stress

Appreciate the amazing prep work you have done – You are creating a beautiful Christmas for everyone – pat yourself on the back ?

Vegan Christmas Menu Idea:

Stuffed Butternut Squash with Veggy Bean Filling
Roasted Butternut tastes lovely with a filling of roast buckwheat (cooked in veggy stock), broccoli, borlotti beans, tomato puree, garlic, fried spring onions and roast pine kernels (seasoned with salt & pepper). You could sprinkle a few marinated tofu cubes over the top to round the festive look of – et voila, you’ve got a healthy vegan treat. By the way, the filling is easy to prepare beforehand, so you can reheat it and fill the roast butternut halves with it just before serving.

When Cooking for a Vegan…

• … serve a meat free dish with veggies and beans or walnuts.
• … and make sure you don’t use dairy or eggs in your cooking/ baking.

Candida Diet Safe Foods List – Christmas Edition

• Salads & Vegetables
• Eggs
• Fish
• Roast Turkey, Chicken, Lamb, Pork or Beef
• Bacon or Smoked Mackerel

Your best bet is to enjoy hearty roasts or comforting stews that have been simmering away for hours to tenderise the meat. Served with a traditional stewed red cabbage dish and some good quality potatoes this would make a wonderful Christmas menu. (Leave out the potatoes if you are just starting the diet).

Candida Diet Desserts worthy for Christmas:

While looking for healthy sugar-free Christmas treats I came across these two spectacular looking desserts. Click on the titles to go to the original recipes.

Papaya Sorbet

Papaya is high in vitamins and digestive enzymes that help break down your food. If you only enjoy a small amount of it the little sugar content from the fruit itself will be negligible (unless of course you are suffering from an acute candida flare up – then I’d avoid anything sweet, even fruit (especially after a meal).

Photocredit: Yunhee Kim (marthastewart.com)

Avocado Gelato

Rich in good fats and phytonutrients avocado not only adds a creamy touch to your dessert, but it also makes it even healthier.
Just leave the sugar out of the recipe and replace milk with coconut milk…. and you’re left with something refreshing & exotic. What do you think?

5 Clever Ways to Make your Festive Menus Even Healthier:

• Use yeast free stock/ bouillon to make soups, use low salt and Bragg’s seasoning.
• Use extra virgin olive oil instead of butter.
• And ground arrowroot to thicken soups and gravy.
• Use only organic ingredients & plenty of aromatic herbs.
• Opt for cooked potatoes rather than dumplings or pastries. And slice them before eating (cold potatoes have a lower glycemic value = better for you).

4 Anti Candida Tips to make your Christmas Foods Candida Diet Friendly

• Make sure your family doesn’t sweeten vegetables and sauces with cream, sugar, fruits or jam (my mum for instance tends to add black currant jam and apple slices to red cabbage.
• Eat around any dried fruit that might be hiding in stews and puddings.
• Drink apple cider diluted in water 20 mins before your meal to improve digestion (if this agrees with your stomach).
• Take some digestive aid/ bitters after your meal.

Get Yourself In a Festive Spirit – Treat Yourself

Expectations are running high around this festive season. Your family might not be quite the considerate and helpful bunch you’d hoped for… and there is still soooo much to do before you can relax, right?

Well, I say, you change the rules.

Sounds like too much stress to me. and stress can’t be good for you. So in the name of health, create some breathing space for yourself in all the mayhem.

Buy yourself some special tea, a cool magazine, book or a fancy treat in your local health food shop that you wouldn’t normally buy.

You deserve it! You’ve worked hard all year, and there’s more to come.

To be able to celebrate the year end in a fit state you need to slow it down now to gather strength – not go into overdrive ?

And on that peaceful note I love you and leave you.

I have posted pics of my latest healthy Christmas cookies on my brand new Facebook Page this weekend. You don’t want to miss this… come and say hi!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

P.S. Be sure to check out the fabulous ‘Thank Your Body’ blog where you can find more healthy living ideas.

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