Healthy Eating During the Summer Holiday Period

Summer is a fantastic time of the year to catch up with family and friends, relax and enjoy great food. It can also be a time to overindulge!

After several weeks of good times, before we know it we’re ending our summer with a few extra unwanted kilos. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be the case this year. You can still enjoy summer BBQs and get-togethers by making some simple changes.

Pre-lunch Nibbles

• Don’t fill up on the chips, cheese and biscuits that are usually on offer before the main meal. Choose healthier options such as veggie sticks with hummus and tzatziki, fruit platters, unsalted nuts, and wholegrain crackers.

The Main Meal

• Swap creamy potato or pasta salads for a lighter style salad bulked up with plenty of fresh vegetables.
• Instead of serving a potato bake which is usually high in saturated fat from the added cream, cheese, and bacon, serve whole baked potatoes, along with other vegetable side dishes so everyone can load up their plates with low kilojoule high fibre choices.
• Stick to healthier cuts of meat such as lean beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, or seafood for your summer BBQ.

Alcohol

• Alcohol is high in ‘empty calories’, meaning it provides us with plenty of calories but no nutritional value. It can be easy to overindulge on alcohol, especially during long lunches or when someone generously offers another drink. Aim to alternate your favourite alcoholic beverage with a glass of water or sparkling water, it will keep you hydrated, and keep the calories down.

Desserts

• It just wouldn’t be summer without cool deserts or a pavlova or two. Of course, we can all enjoy these treats occasionally, but aim to keep serve sizes small!
• Finally, try to keep up your physical activity as much as possible. As we will inevitably enjoy an extra few drinks or special meals over the summer period, keeping active will help to avoid unwanted weight gain!

With our compliments…

Try our Taste of Summer recipe, Barbecued Cattleman’s Steak with Chunky Guacamole and Charred Sweet Corn, Tomato and Coriander Salsa. This recipe is a good source of protein, iron, zinc, and fibre (4.5g per serve), low in saturated fat, and provides two serves of vegetables. A deliciously healthy recipe to share with family and friends.

OUR WELLBEING PROGRAMS

Research shows us that eating well and keeping fit are very beneficial to maintaining a sound mental, physical, and emotional life balance.

Two Cater Care programs addressing this are, My Choices and RISE. My Choices promotes healthy eating awareness to people of all ages. RISE is a health and lifestyle program designed to educate, inspire, and motivate remote site workers toward a healthy way of life. Making positive food choices and incorporating a good exercise program can be very rewarding!

If you would like more information about our services, please contact:

• Jonathan Storer
• m: 0424 175 949
• e: jonathan.storer@catercare.com.au