Ki Fit

For any weight conscious person the annual choc-fest of Easter can quite frankly be a nightmare. Even if you’re the Scrooge of Easter, chocolate eggs somehow manage to sneak themselves into the house. But panic not… here are a few tips on how you can still be healthy over the Easter holiday season.

Start your day right

Ensuring you have a nutritious breakfast is the best way to start any day. It will boost your metabolism, help regulate your blood sugar levels as well as your appetite for the rest of the day. Fill yourself up with a big healthy breakfast. If you want to stick with the Easter theme enjoy a boiled egg and soldiers (made from whole-grain toast of course)!

Healthy eating is pretty much a matter of tweaking traditional holiday foods. Here are some tactics on how to have a healthy roast dinner:

1. Go lean on the protein:
   When buying lamb, try and opt for the leanest cuts. These are the leg cuts (sirloin and shank). Avoid cuts with excessive fat or with fat that looks crumbly, brittle and yellowish. Shoulder lamb is the fattiest lamb cut.
2. Vegetables are part of the roast dinner deal:
   Ensuring that you have hearty servings of vegetables at your meals is Ki (couldn’t resist that pun!) for weight management, as vegetables contain the fibre. Fibre keeps you fuller for longer. Choose vegetables that are deep in colour such as broccoli, carrots, peppers, tomatoes and spinach. For your starch, try roasted butternut or sweet potato instead of creamy mashed potatoes.

Keep it sweet

The idea isn’t to banish all chocolate out of site, as it only leaves you feeling deprived and craving for it! Rather, follow these healthy eating tips to avoid the chocolate overkill:

• Opt for a dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Dark chocolate has half of the sugar that milk chocolate contains and is also a source of minerals such as magnesium and copper.
• If you struggle with portion control then buy mini eggs rather than the massive luxury eggs.
• Have hollow eggs rather than eggs with a creamy or caramel centre as these are more calorific.
• Melt your eggs to make a chocolate dip and dunk fruit pieces to make a healthy snack.
• As a break from the chocolate, enjoy a hot cross bun, but go easy on the butter!

Whatever your plans, indulge a little, welcome Spring with open arms and have an active (be sure to use Ki Fit to tell you just how much movement you need to do!) and happy Easter!