In this article you will discover how to avoid the common pitfalls of gourmet food and get tips for responsible alternatives. Because healthy gourmet is fine, even if you are losing weight!
Gourmet food is always a popular option for Christmas dinner. It takes you a nice long time, you have many different choices and it is also great fun for the children.
Gourmet and still lose weight; it’s possible!
In fact, gourmet can even be a nice challenge that teaches you that you can maintain a healthy and low-carbohydrate diet even at Christmas. This way you avoid a lot of stress and you feel good in your Christmas outfit.
The well-known pitfalls of gourmet are: stuffing yourself with bread, using a lot of fatty sauces, or eating too much because they always seem such small snacks. The tips below will help you avoid these missteps.
Surprise your family and friends with a healthy evening of gourmet and turn it into a festive meal!
7 tips for a healthy and low-carbohydrate gourmet
These tips will make your gourmet feast healthy and low in carbohydrates:
- Don’t put bread on the table
Everyone always feeds on it and that is a shame. Instead of bread with spreads, put tasty vegetable sweets with a healthy dip on the table: carrots, celery, cucumber, snack tomatoes and radishes with humus and a dip of Greek yogurt.
This also leaves more room for meat, fish and vegetables. Nobody thinks about that bread anymore!
2. Fry in coconut oil or olive oil
The pans of a raclette grill have a non-stick coating so you don’t need a lot of oil. Grease the top plate and pans well once with a brush; that is usually sufficient.
Use coconut oil or olive oil for this. These are the healthiest oils for cooking. Find out why a good quality coconut oil or olive oil is the best choice.
- Don’t put sauces on the table (or make them yourself)
Dressings and sauces often contain many unhealthy ingredients. They are also a great fattener. So omit the sauces and season your dishes with herbs, spices, garlic and lemon.
Would you still like to have sauces on the table? Make them yourself, so you can at least use healthy ingredients. A few ideas:
Make a yogurt dip or tzatziki for a garlic sauce
Homemade ketchup is made with tomato paste, dried oregano, thyme and basil and salt and pepper
You can also make mayonnaise yourself with eggs, olive oil, mustard and lemon juice
You make chili sauce with honey, water and chili peppers
Homemade peanut sauce is prepared with peanut butter, water, honey, lime and sambal
- Choose lean, unprocessed meats
Healthy gourmet is very easy if you make the gourmet dish yourself. If you buy a ready-to-eat gourmet dish, it probably contains ingredients that are not good or necessary.
Buy a nice piece of meat from the butcher and cut it into smaller pieces yourself. Think of chicken fillet, lean cuts of beef, turkey or steak; these contain less fat. Do not put breadcrumbs on it, that will make you fatter.
- Also serve fish
Fish is ready very quickly, very lean and easily digestible. Firm types of fish that do not fall apart quickly are salmon, shrimp, swordfish, tuna or scallops.
Tip: if you can, go for sustainable meat and fish products. Sustainable food is becoming increasingly important. Do you want to know why and how you can best tackle this? Read our article about sustainable food.
- Put vegetables on the table
There are many types of vegetables with which you can gourmet in a healthy way: mushrooms, bell pepper, spring onion, zucchini and leeks: all delicious to fry in your pan.
Combine the vegetables with the meat and fish: make tasty skewers with steak with bell pepper, onion and mushroom, or with salmon and zucchini. And don’t forget the omelette with grilled vegetables!
Also delicious with it: make a large green salad from, for example, raw spinach, cucumber, tomato, quinoa, pumpkin and almond flakes. Deliciously Christmas-like and healthy!
7.Provide healthy dessert options
Great fun: everyone makes their own dessert in the pan. Some ideas:
Pancakes! Delicious with red fruit, Greek yogurt or a small scoop of organic ice cream. Make the mix of egg, almond milk, buckwheat flour, a pinch of salt and some honey. Also tasty: oatmeal pancakes with cinnamon.
Put a bowl of fruit on the table and everyone makes their own fruit skewers or a delicious fresh fruit salad.
