Halve your Calories this Christmas

This Christmas we will buy ....

19,000 tons of turkey, 120,000 tons of potatoes, 1,200 tons of parsnips, 1,600 tons of chestnuts, 7.5 million carrots, 16 million packets of stuffing, 11 million Christmas cakes, 40,000 tons of clementines, mandarins and satsumas, 12 million jars of pickles, 6.5 million jars of cranberry sauce and 175 million mince pies from Britain's supermarkets!

Little wonder the average person eats approximately 7,000 calories on Christmas day and gains roughly 2 pounds of body fat over the festive season - but it doesn't have to be that way. With these top five tips you'll be able to get into both the ‛spirit' this Christmas and your jeans in the New Year!

1. Eat Breakfast. Christmas day is packed full of tempting high fat snacks and avoiding breakfast will only make you far more likely to eat them. Instead indulge in a decadent start to your Christmas day in the form of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs accompanied by just half a slice of wholemeal toast. The eggs and salmon are high in protein and the whole meal toast will add just enough low GI carbohydrate calories to ensure you sail through to lunchtime without a hunger pang in sight. Just go easy on the Champagne and avoid the temptation to add butter to your toast and cream to your eggs.

2. Reduce the calorific content of your Christmas dinner by as much as 50% by going easy on the roast potatoes (if you can't resist a roast potato make sure you cut them into large chunks as the larger the surface area the less fat they'll contain), roast parsnips, sausages wrapped in bacon and gravy made with the fat and juices of the bird and filling up instead on lean slices of turkey instead of goose which is much higher in fat, plenty of steamed or boiled vegetables, mashed potato, bread sauce (made without too much butter or cream), cranberry sauce and gravy made from instant granules instead.

3. Serve Christmas pudding with a little natural yogurt or half fat crème fraiche instead of the traditional brandy butter or alternatively, enjoy a far lighter and healthy festive fruit platter made from clementines, grapes, nuts, figs and dried fruit instead.

4. Snack on a handful of nuts in the day rather than crisps or chocolates and at tea time go for rocket, watercress and turkey sandwiches made with a generous spoonful of cranberry sauce (45 kcal) or a dab or Horseradish (18 Kcal) rather than mayonnaise (207 Kcals).

5. Finally, swap calorie rich fizzy drinks for sugar free alternatives or sparkling water, alternate each alcoholic drink you have with two glasses of plain or sparkling water and at some point in the day get outside with all the family for a good, brisk walk.