by Sheela Krishnaswamy, Nutrition and Wellness Consultant suggested three exciting additions to make your Christmas desserts healthier.
Here are three exciting healthier additions you could make to your Christmas desserts along with the traditional foods to celebrate the holiday season:
Almonds are a great addition to your Christmas desserts. Almonds help to lower total and LDL cholesterol and contribute to your heart health. You can add almonds to your Christmas desserts, or you could roast them, lightly salt or flavor them, depending on your preference. You can customize it as per their taste as well.
Indulging in cookies is a Christmas tradition for many. This year for Christmas, swap the refined flour for oats and jaggery for white sugar. You can even add some roughly chopped roasted almonds to the mixture for a crunch. You can create no-bake cookies which are quick to prepare. Studies suggest that oat consumption has increased because of health benefits associated with dietary fibers such as β-glucan, functional protein, lipid and starch components, and phytochemicals present in the oat grain.
Don’t we all love chocolate-covered strawberries? To give this a twist, you could coat strawberries with dark chocolate and serve it as a dessert. Strawberries contain a wide variety of vitamins and minerals, as well as non-nutritive, bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, anthocyanins, and phenolic acids. The dark chocolate adds flavour and may have some health benefits. Make sure that the chocolate is at least 75% dark.