Winter can be an easy time to gain weight with tracksuits and baggy jumpers hiding extra kilos gained over the colder months. 

But after a few months the sun will shine again and reality will hit, so let’s make this winter a healthy one.

Here are my tips for healthy winter eating:

Fill up on veggies

Fill up on lots of vegetables at dinnertime, they contain great fibre and will help you feel full. Veggies have a minute amount of fat and are sooo good for you, make veggie soups and stir-fries to keep you satisfied.

Remove the fat

When making casseroles cut off all visible fat from meat which will halve the fat count. Remove as much fat off the top of stews/casseroles, best to leave the stew to cool and then you will be able to see the fat settle on the top and then scoop it all off. When you buy mince buy the premium mince, you really do get what you pay for with meat, the cheap meat is normally very fatty.

Keep eating fruit

Eat fruit even if it is cold, the fibre is important. Why don’t you stew your fruit on those cold nights and serve with low fat custard or ice cream.

Healhy snacks

Some great snack ideas over winter are raisin toast, crumpets, cup a soups, or make some low-fat cakes or muffins from my cookbooks. Make batches up and freeze them so you always have something nice to have that is also good for you. A bowl of high fibre cereal is always a great snack. You can’t beat a bowl of hot porridge as it is quite filling, low in fat and good for you. Another great filler-upper is a Smoothie (Book 3). If you have the afternoon munchies make a batch of Corn Chips (Book 1) they got me through the 4 o’clock snack time when I was losing my weight.

Don’t drink full-fat

Use skim milk in hot chocolate drinks and buy the diet chocolate powder drinks in supermarkets they are great tasting and low in fat and not too high in sugar. I like Jarrah Choc o Lait the best. Remember the more you feed your sweet tooth the more you will crave it so keep sweet treats as just that ‘a treat’.

Stay hydrated

You need to be hydrated all year round so don’t slacken off at winter time. Instead of drinking cold water why not boil your water and add a wedge of fresh lemon, very refreshing and a fantastic way to help cleanse the body. We can often mistake dehydration for hunger so drink lots of water and not only will your skin, hair and body in general benefit you may find you will be less hungry.

Annette’s cookbooks SYMPLY TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE 1-7 are sold in all good newsagencies.