The upcoming long holiday weekend over Easter is a break so many of us look forward to, as will be the perfect time to relax and get together with family and friends.
However, it is so easy, especially when socialising to get tempted to have too many sweet and savoury treats, for both us and our children. I am sure you too have found it difficult to resist the beautifully packaged Easter eggs, kept conveniently by the checkout counter at your local supermarket.
However hard most of us try, it is not always possible to rely just on our self-discipline or willpower to avoid sugar. Generally, many of us eat relatively healthily, but the holidays tend to throw us off track, and then getting back to eating clean after the break does require a lot of effort.
This Easter try and keep as much to your regular meals as you can. Below I share some simple suggestions on how to do this:
- Have a satisfying breakfast that keeps you going for a few hours, so you won’t be constantly grazing on snacks through the day. Some quick and easy breakfast ideas are overnight oats, granola with yogurt, low sugar cereal with milk or eggs, a toast and some vegetables. These foods are a good source of healthy protein, fat and carbohydrates.
- Plan your lunches and dinners and have some meals prepared ahead of time, which have been frozen or refrigerated. Often, for many people the reason they make unhealthy choices is they are not well stocked at home.
- Enjoy your “treats or cheat meals” guilt-free by making some swaps to maintain a healthy balance. For example, you can have a burger but instead of chips have a salad or share a dessert with someone.
- Stay active over the break by organising some family activities like going to the park, cycling or having an Easter Egg hunt.
- Have some snacks prepared before so even when you are busy you have something healthy to nibble on. It is always best to make your own snacks at home and get your children involved too, so they can create healthy habits from a young age. For instance, you can make:
Yogurt and fruit popsicles or for an Easter theme get some moulds and use these to make frozen fruit eggs that are packed with vitamins and anti-oxidants. These brightly coloured treats will not contain artificial colouring but the natural colours of the fresh fruit.
Decorate biscuits or crackers to have either a sweet or savoury snack. Use a low sugar plain biscuit to make the sweet snacks and decorate with fresh fruit, yogurt and some dried fruit. To make your savoury snack, use vegetables, cheese and dips as a topping.
Dips with crudités (and a few tortilla chips) are a simple way to include a variety of vegetables as this is the one food group that many forget to include.
Have a happy Easter break!