Party meal: 9 tips to have fun without gaining (too much) weight

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2/9 –

We don’t forget the vegetables
Do not forget to accompany your dish with vegetables. At Christmas, the accompaniment is often limited to chestnuts and dauphine potatoes, both very high in calories. You have to think of old vegetables (swede, Jerusalem artichoke, parsnip …) which, turned in butter with spices, will bring an original touch. Spices are a good way to make vegetables festive: roasted cauliflower with turmeric, leek fondue with nutmeg, carrot flan with cumin, bundles of green beans with mustard, glazed turnip with honey and cinnamon. .

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3/9 –

What are we drinking?
Wines and calories: 10 cl of champagne or sparkling wine makes about 80 kcal, dry whites and rosés 86 kcal, reds 90 kcal, syrupy whites 100 kcal … And for an aperitif, Nathalie Négro’s good ideas: pomelo-avocado-crab verrines, smoked salmon-ricotta-fresh herb rolls, pineapple-shrimp-coriander mini skewers, endive leaves garnished with sardine rillettes …

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4/9 –

Foie gras or fish terrine?
With 55% fat and 535 kcal / 100 g, foie gras is heavy! Admittedly, most of them are good monounsaturated fatty acids but, in high doses, all fatty acids end up stored and promote “bulges”. In comparison, the fish terrine, with an average of 20% fat and 210 kcal / 100 g, is really more reasonable. Salmon and trout also providing good omega 3 fatty acids.

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5/9 –

Oysters or smoked salmon?
With 67 kcal / 100 g, the oyster is really light. It also provides a beautiful panel of minerals and in particular zinc, an essential element for the proper functioning of the immune system (interesting on the menu for New Years, a time of strong viral and bacterial contaminations). Salmon has more calories (190 kcal / 100 g), but it provides omega 3, essential fatty acids that are often lacking in our diet.

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6/9 –

Turkey or capon?
Two festive poultry, but one is much fatter than the other! Turkey is a “lean” meat, some would say “dry”, with only 110 kcal / 100 g. The capon is a young rooster castrated and fattened especially for the holidays. Result: a smooth flesh to perfection and double the calories (220 kcal / 100 g). If we opt for the capon, we avoid surrounding it with chestnuts and rather serve it with wild mushrooms, Romanesco cabbage, pumpkin …

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7/9 –

Chestnuts or mushrooms?
Chestnuts are the traditional accompaniment to holiday poultry, but beware, they are not vegetables, but starches: they contain more carbohydrates than potatoes and have 150 kcal / 100 g. Forest mushrooms, just as festive, will be a better choice, because they are very light (30 kcal / 100 g) and provide a little vitamin D (important for immunity which is often lacking in winter). Another option: marry the two.

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8/9 –

Dauphine potatoes or sweet potatoes?
With dauphine potatoes, we are sure to please children. But these mashed balls tied with egg and flour, then fried in oil, contain 20% fat and nearly 300 kcal / 100 g … We prefer the sweet potato (87 kcal / 100 g), whose sweet flavor is also appreciated by children, prepared mashed with milk, or cut into fries, brushed with a little olive oil and baked.

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9/9 –

Pastry or ice cream log?
The pastry log, garnished with butter cream inside and all around, is no longer too fashionable and that’s good: it’s a calorie bomb (nearly 400 kcal / 100 g), rich in saturated fatty acids, easily stored and bad in excess for cardiovascular health. It is better to opt for an ice cream log made from sorbet rather than ice cream, then we fall to 140 kcal / 100 on average.