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OK, now let’s get to this sugar free and gluten free Christmas.
If you’re new to the refined sugar free and gluten free lifestyle you might be thinking… urghhh Christmas is gonna be oh so boring this year, or maybe you’re thinking it’s gonna be one big blow out and you’ll eat ALL. THE. FOOD.
Well, we have news for you, it doesn’t have to be this way. Plus, refined sugar free and gluten free fruit mince tarts are fo real.
If you’re anything like us, Christmas day used to be a big excuse to go crazy on unhealthy food. If you know our story, you know we’ve had negative relationships with food and both of us used to binge eat regularly (we talk more about this HERE).
Food used to control us, we wasted a lot of time feeling guilty about past food decisions and this behaviour was totally consuming.
We don’t have this anymore and it’s the best feeling ever.
Now, we’re all about filling our Christmas day (and the whole silly season) with good, healthy, delicious, sugar free and gluten free food.
How to have a sugar free and gluten free Christmas:
Take control.
How does your Christmas day usually work? Does everyone bring a plate? Does one person look after the whole thing?
For our Christmas, everyone would bring a plate. It’s always been a cold Xmas lunch coz #Australia. It would look like cold Chrissy ham, turkey, all the salads (not healthy at all, coated in bottled mayo and kinda boring), all the chips and dips, bread, lollies, chocolates and sugar filled and gluten filled desserts.
We’d never feel good after Xmas lunch!
Now, we simply make more of our own food. We take control of the situation and actually, everyone wins coz our food is de-freaking-licious. We’ll make stuff like these prawn and bacon canapes and these sweet potato toppers for starters. Then we have this epic apple, cranberry and almond turkey stuffing recipe to replace the usual breadcrumb filled one. We’ll make a bunch of epic delish healthy salads, take your choice from these 12 summer salad recipes. The mango, avocado and macadamia salad is a hit with everyone!
And then there is dessert. You know we have you covered here!
This year we think the ‘must makes’ are these gluten-free and sugar-free melting moments, this raw mocha mousse tart and of course the paleo Christmas pudding (this recipe is on our app). Oh, and if you want that healthy fruit mince tart recipe, HERE it is!
Actually… check out THIS EPIC Christmas recipe round up. There’s 30 delish as Christmas sweet treats! Click HERE!
Don’t get tempted by all the crap food.
Guaranteed even if you make a bunch of healthy options you’ll still be surrounded by some (or a lot) of crap food.
This is where you need to make a decision and commit to it. If you’re going to eat the unhealthy food, just be ok with it, don’t go cray cray, enjoy it! And whatever you do, don’t waste a minute feeling guilty about your food choices. Know that you can go back to healthy food tomorrow.
But otherwise, take control and make sure there are delish healthy options available. If you’re family/friends are cool and easy going (yay), get them to make healthier versions of the food they’d normally cook. Just send them our recipes.
Portion control.
Christmas lunch and/or dinner usually means buffet style. Please note, you do not need to pile your plate up, or go back for seconds and thirds. Well, actually, you can do what you want… BUT since when does overeating make you feel good? Yeh, it never ever does!
So when it’s your turn at the buffet, get a small portion of everything you want to eat, then eat slowly and don’t go back for seconds straight away. If you’re still hungry 20 minutes later, go back for seconds.
This is a win win situation. You won’t feel sick and you’ll get more leftovers. Boom!
Do some exercise.
We used to skip our workout on Christmas day… thinking the day was too busy to fit it in. This was a big fat excuse, especially coz we actually LOVE exercising. And we should fill our Xmas day with stuff we love!
If you can, do some exercise in the morning, it will get you feeling good from the get-go and you’ll make healthier decisions throughout the day. Even if it’s just a 20 minute walk around the block! You could even meet up with all your gym/studio buddies, make it social and fun.
This year we plan on walking up one of the beautiful mountains in Canberra plus our own yoga/pilates session. Coz, pilates and yoga makes us <—— this ——-> happy!
SOMETHING ELSE: tune into episode 118 of the Get Merry podcast to hear more about our weekly exercise schedules. Listen HERE.
Stay hydrated on the H2o.
During December things get a little hectic, all the Xmas parties and maybe all the alcohol. Every day get your 2 litres of water in, make this a priority for the whole holiday season. If this is the only thing you do, you’re doing good!
REPEAT AFTER US:
I’m made up of 70% water… not vodka or champagne or rosé or <insert favourite fun drink here>.
Bugger. But you’ll thank us later! Also, checkout these healthier cocktail recipes HERE!
Do you have any tips to add to our guide to a sugar free and gluten free Christmas? Share them with us on social media! And if you make any Merrymaker Christmas recipes share delicious pics with us.
Always merrymaking,
Emma + Carla
P.s Don’t forget about the 20% sale! Use code: MERRYXMAS when you check out. Get shopping!
feature photo by Tom Rickhuss on Unsplash