You can still indulge over Christmas and the New Year without completely ruining your healthy eating regime or piling on as many pounds as you might usually. Just making a few small adjustments can make a huge difference to your overall health and, if you’re watching your weight, to your waistline.

1. Try an alternative roast potato. Yes, traditional crispy roast potatoes laden with sizzling oil are a delicious wonder. But how about roasting your potatoes in a flavoursome vegetable stock instead? It really works! You will still get crisp potatoes with fluffy centres only this time they’ll also be infused with aromatic flavours too! Check out this recipe.

2. Alternative cauliflower cheese – seriously… this stuff is like crack…

I use an amazing sauce from my friend Somer at Vedged Out to make the most INCREDIBLE cauliflower Cheese bake.

It’s also SO easy, no whisking a roux or a lumpy white sauce. You simply add the cheeseball ingredients minus the coconut oil and with just 1 cup of cashews (so already reducing the fat by a third) plus 1.5 cups of hot water to a blender and blend until perfectly smooth. Then smother over lightly steamed cauliflower and baked until golden, blackened in parts and with a lovely crust.

You’re welcome

3. Swede mash… cook swede in a flavoursome stock and season with lo-salt and you won’t miss the butter or margarine.

4. Opt for homemade custard instead of ready made cartons or cream. Use Bird’s custard powder and soya milk (using a sugar alternative too for extra benefits!) or make your own with corn flour, soya milk, vanilla, sugar (or alternative) and a pinch of turmeric.

5. Make festive soups, and even make soups out of your leftovers! Click here for some ideas.

6. Christmas breakfast… Skip the fry up or croissants and try porridge oats with orange zest and a dollop of fruit mincemeat. Or how about a festive smoothie?

7. Love mince pies? Try making your own so you can control the ingredients or how about trying fat free Fruity Mincemeat & Almond Cake Bars instead?

8. Snacks – it’s so easy to keep dipping in to those crucial bowls of delicious snacks dotted around the house over the Christmas period. Why not try swapping some of the crisps and twiglets bowls with fresh fruit like grapes and berries, dried fruit mixes or whole nuts?

9. Go for a walk! We all do it! Eat so much that we fall in to a slumber on the floor and before we know it it’s Boxing Day! Try going for a walk after the big meal, it won’t only boost your metabolism and burn some calories but it will make you feel great too! Honest!

10. Don’t indulge in fat laden vegan cheese and crackers. Make your own cheese so you can control what goes in. Here are some cheesy delights to try that are so much healthier than anything on a supermarket shelf and fresh.

Spicy Smoked Garlic Cheese Block

Two-Step Vegan Halloumi Cheese – Oil Free

The Easiest Boursin Style Yoghurt Cheese and Variations

10 Minute Melting Cheddar Style Vegan Cheese

And for an even healthier spin, make leftover soup into vegan cheese! Really! Obviously your nanna’s minestrone isn’t going to fit the bill here but pumpkin, squash, sweet potato and carrot soups all make amazing cheese bases. Simply use this super easy recipe and swap the milk for soup!

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