Christmas: How to make a healthy Christmas dinner - without sacrificing good food

On Christmas Day it's not unusual for Brits to consume far more calories than usual.

From dense gravy to oily potatoes and all the turkey trimmings, the calories really can pile up - and that means more weight being put on, too. Now, a nutrition company has shared a number of health hacks to make Christmas dinner far healthier, without sacrificing tradition.

These experts claim these health tips could slash hundreds of calories off your Christmas Day feast.

The sports nutrition experts at Bulk analysed the most popular foods consumed over the festive period to name the nation’s favourites and make healthy suggestions based on their nutritional value to help people stay on track with their fitness goals.

While a classic roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings is the meal of choice for Christmas day, it comes with a hefty calorie intake - sometimes more than 2,000 calories - which is the total daily amount recommended for women in the UK. However, it turns out that Brits could shave a whopping 909 calories off their favourite dish by making a few simple swaps and employing the help of an air fryer.

A spokesperson for the nutrition firm said: "Christmas is a time to kick back and relax with friends and family, but many fitness-focused people can find it challenging as they juggle watching their nutritional intake alongside celebrating and indulging with their loved ones. Our suggestions may be able to help those looking to minimise the damage excess calories can have over the festive period when it is common to eat to excess – and while you’re encouraged to enjoy yourself, please make sure that you’re eating a balanced diet and that you’re consuming what you love in moderation.

“Although we would not advise anyone to begin a new nutritional journey over the festive period, we hope our recommendations will help make people more mindful of the food they enjoy this Christmas – and will also prevent you having to completely start from scratch when setting health-based resolutions in the new year.”

Starting with the main event, the nutrition expert says turkey can stay as it is ideal for both the festive season and meal prepping in general, thanks to its protein content. In fact, turkey breast has the highest protein density of any meat, with 29g of protein per 100g. However, nutritional values can soon be compromised, with the most popular centrepiece recipe calling for ten rashers of bacon and 85g of butter. But, by switching to lower-calorie counterparts, foodies can save a total of 407 calories, or 51 calories per portion.

Similar savings can also be made for gravy by switching out calorie-dense flour for smaller amounts of cornflour, as well as substituting white wine for vegetable stock. These small tweaks add up to save 49 calories a portion. The biggest saving can be made when crisping roast potatoes - by using an air fryer and just a small amount of olive oil, calories can be reduced by almost two-thirds (62 per cent), dropping from 391 to 148 calories.

Other tricks include steaming vegetables instead of cooking them in oil, and investing a bit more time in making the bread and cranberry sauce from scratch.