Party meals: 9 tips for having fun without gaining (too much) weight

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Party meal 9 tips to have fun without gaining too

Are you starting to think about New Year’s Eve meals and worrying about the calories that are often associated with them? Do not panic: it is possible to have fun while keeping an eye on the nutritional balance. Advice from the experts.

According to surveys, the French gain an average of 1 to 2 kg during the holiday season (1.46 kg according to a 2018 YouGov survey). Fortunately, these kilos do not settle permanently if we quickly return to a balanced diet. Because, as the saying goes: “It’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Year’s Eve that counts, but what you eat between New Year’s Eve and Christmas!”

On the same subject

We learn to make choices

A slice of foie gras and here we are already at 215 kcal, a little capon and chestnuts and that’s 480 kcal more, a piece of pastry log on top of that, i.e. 200 kcal, and we’re approaching 900 kcal. Add the aperitif and the alcohol and you greatly exceed 1000, even 1500 kcal…

It is not a question of filling the atmosphere, but of recalling some edifying figures. Most party products are greasy, and even very greasy. So, to avoid too heavy a note, you don’t have to combine them, make choices and pair them with lighter dishes.

No way to restrict yourself but…

After half-confined parties last year, the French want to have fun and that’s normal. No question of restricting yourself. But it is possible to treat yourself by putting more fruits, vegetables and seafood on your menus, by not forgetting physical activity and by having recourse if necessary to digestive plants. The goal is to start the new year full of vitality, without extra pounds or a hangover!

After the holidays: eat light according to your appetite

If you have eaten a little too much on New Year’s Eve and you just want a soup the next day, you eat a soup. On the other hand, if you are a little hungry, you do not deprive yourself: you make a plate rich in vegetables with fish or lean meat, a little starch (rice, quinoa, buckwheat…) according to your appetite, and possibly a fruit for dessert.

If there are leftovers from the New Year’s Eve menu, we freeze them, we will enjoy it later. We also store the boxes of chocolates in the cupboard so as not to be tempted: “The best thing is to eat one chocolate a day at the end of the meal, so we are less hungry and we are less tempted to take more. We can also bring the box to the office to share with colleagues!” advises Nathalie Négro.

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on oublie pas les legumes

© Shutterstock / Syda Productions

2/9 –

Don’t forget the vegetables
Don’t forget to accompany your dish with vegetables. At Christmas, the accompaniment is often limited to chestnuts and dauphine potatoes, both very high in calories. We must think of old vegetables (rutabaga, Jerusalem artichoke, parsnip…) which, browned 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… .

qu est boit

© Shutterstock / My Good Images

3/9 –

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

foie gras terrine poisson

© Shutterstock / Elena Shashkina

4/9 –

Foie gras or fish terrine?
With 55% fat and 535 kcal/100 g, foie gras is heavy! Admittedly, these are mostly good monounsaturated fatty acids but, at high doses, all the 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 provide good omega 3 fatty acids.

huitres saumon fume

© Shutterstock / Natalia Lisovskaya

5/9 –

Oysters or smoked salmon?
With 67 kcal/100 g, the oyster is really light. It also provides a good range of minerals and in particular zinc, an essential element for the proper functioning of the immune system (interesting on the New Year’s Eve menu, a time of high viral and bacterial contamination). Salmon is more caloric (190 kcal/100 g), but it provides omega 3, essential fatty acids that are often lacking in our diet.

dinde chapon

© Shutterstock / BearFotos

6/9 –

Turkey or capon?
Two festive chickens, but one is much fattier 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: creamy flesh as desired and double the calories (220 kcal/100 g). If you opt for the capon, avoid surrounding it with chestnuts and serve it instead with wild mushrooms, romanesco cabbage, pumpkin…

marrons champignons

© Shutterstock / Esin Deniz

7/9 –

Chestnuts or mushrooms?
Chestnuts are the traditional accompaniment to festive poultry, but beware, they are not vegetables, but starchy foods: they contain more carbohydrates than potatoes and display 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: combine the two.

pommes dauphine patates douces

© Shutterstock / Vladimir Mironov

8/9 –

Dauphine potatoes or sweet potatoes?
With dauphine potatoes, we are sure to please the children. But these balls of mashed potatoes mixed with egg and flour, then fried in oil, contain 20% fat and almost 300 kcal/100 g… We prefer sweet potatoes (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.

buche patissiere glacee

© Shutterstock / Jerome.Romme

9/9 –

Pastry log or ice cream?
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 a frozen log made from sorbet rather than ice cream, you then fall to 140 kcal/100 on average.

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