• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Holistic Chef Academy logo

  • About
  • All Recipes
  • Membership/Login
  • Phuket
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    Connect

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
  • About
  • All Recipes
  • Membership/Login
  • Phuket
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • About
    • All Recipes
    • Membership/Login
    • Phuket
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Blog

    New delicious vegan Christmas recipes + 10 reliable tips to stay healthy & vibrant

    14th December 2021 by Jamie Raftery Leave a Comment

    54+ signature vegan Christmas recipes to spice up your dinner table this festive season, along with my Top 10 Tips on how to stay healthy, vibrant, and happy throughout the holidays.

    christmas-mulled-wine-display
    Jump to:
    • Top 10 tips for staying healthy and vibrant over Christmas
    • Life On Plants 2022
    • Healthy vegan Christmas recipes
    • Gift ideas - Homemade vegan Christmas recipes
    • Vegan Christmas gift ideas for foodies
    • Vegan Christmas recipes from my friends
    • Veganuary - For a Happy New Year
    • FAQ

    Top 10 tips for staying healthy and vibrant over Christmas

    Christmas is generally the time of year when restraint and moderation go out the window. 'Ara feck it, sure it's Christmas - go on' is a funny Irish term to tempt you into having just one more drink, mince pie, or slice of Christmas cake!

    The shops are filled with an array of colorful confectionery, snacks, and countless other festive treats. It's the time of year when advertisers spend the majority of their annual budgets and retailers are aiming to cash in on increased consumer spending.

    It's all too easy to let ourselves go throughout the festive season, with the justification in the back of our minds that we will go on a diet or get back to normal in January with well-intended new year's resolutions!

    You can still truly enjoy the Christmas season without putting unnecessary stress and strain on your health. Here are some of my top tips to help keep you on track.

    healthy-christmas-tree

    1. Start the day with a healthy breakfast

    If I'm going out in the evening, or even if I have a normal busy day I will always have a good bowl of oats for breakfast. Porridge stabilizes blood sugar levels, which helps control appetite later in the day. I top my porridge or Bircher with nut butter, chia seed jam, and fresh seasonal fruit.

    • Having a good healthy breakfast each day will set you up for success over the holidays. There will be less desire for snacking.

    2. Practice restraint in the supermarket

    There is so much temptation at the supermarkets. Never go food shopping on an empty stomach - NEVER! Have your shopping list prepared, keep focused and limit impulse purchases.

    • Remember, it's easier to resist the temptation if the sweets and chocolate are not in the house. 'Out of sight - out of mind!'

    3. Stay hydrated throughout the day

    Drink plenty of water throughout the day, especially if you are drinking alcohol. Drinking lots of water helps flush toxins out and keeps you energized. It's best to drink room-temperature water or herbal teas.

    • Try reducing your coffee consumption, as this can contribute to dehydration.
    • If you feel you have headaches from alcohol or high sugar intake, try drinking more water and getting plenty of rest.

    4. Include healthy snacks

    There are lots of tempting snacks and sweets around this time of year. Set yourself up for success by snacking on fruit or some healthy energy balls.

    5. Make healthier choices

    Everything we eat is a choice, it's not always easy to make the right choice though! If there is a healthier option at a party or friend's house try opting for this.

    6. Regulate alcohol intake

    Skip some days to give your liver time to detox. Give yourself a few days off in between parties! Try not to start drinking too early in the day either.

    7. Avoid a hangover

    To help prevent a hangover, stick to one type of drink as much as possible. Aim to have no more than one alcoholic drink an hour, alternated with a few glasses of water whenever you can.

    • Never drink on an empty stomach. Having a good meal in your system helps soak up the alcohol and metabolize it better.
    • Before going to bed, drink another couple of glasses of water. Upon waking drink more water and herb teas along with a good breakfast.
    • Take a walk or light run in the morning to sweat the alcohol out of the system. No pain - no gain, If you do the crime - you have to do the time!

    8. Get outside and MOVE

    Fresh air and forest bathing! You can't beat a good dose of fresh winter air in the lungs. When it's cold outside, it's easy to talk yourself out of getting outdoors. Get your wooly socks, jumper, and long johns on, and get moving!

    • Sitting dis-ease is real. According to Just Stand, 3.2 Million deaths per year are related to physical inactivity

    9. Physical exercise

    Doing some sort of daily exercise will be of great benefit to you over the holidays. Both mentally and physically. Working up a sweat and releasing the feel-good endorphins with some good bursts of exercise will give you a fantastic boost.

    • I find it easier to go in the morning or earlier part of the day. The more the day progresses, the better chance you have of talking yourself out of it!
    • Getting some daily exercise in makes you feel less guilty for the indulgences in the evening! You got to earn those indulgences! Sweat for them...

    10. Mental exercise

    Invest 10 -20 minutes per day developing your meditation practice. It's vital in these challenging times, with the multitude of things our mind has to process and filter every day.

    • I use the Waking Up App consistently and find it a huge benefit in my life. There are lots of meditation apps available - find one that works for you and allow yourself to take a short time each day to dedicate to your mental exercise.
    sunset-in-the-snowy-woods

    Life On Plants 2022

    This January 2022 we launch Life On Plants meal planning club. It's designed to help you save costs, save time, develop your cooking skills, and eat healthier.

    • Special launch offer: €50 for annual membership available to purchase until 31st of December. This makes a lovely Christmas gift for a loved one.
    life-on-plants-design-image

    Healthy vegan Christmas recipes

    Healthy food can taste good. There is no need to compromise flavor for sustenance. As a professionally trained chef, one of my first and foremost aims is to make my recipes taste delicious.

    Flavor and food satisfaction is a relative experience. We all have different perceptions towards what tastes good and what's unpleasant to eat. There is a lot of emotion and nostalgia attached to our comfort foods and choices.

    For me, when I know something is good for my health, I savor and appreciate it so much more. It adds to the whole emotional eating experience.

    Sign-up as a FREE member to access all the Christmas recipes, meal planner, and smart shopping list features.

    life-changing-bread-sliced-served-with-tea

    Gift ideas - Homemade vegan Christmas recipes

    It's hard to beat a homemade Christmas gift. You can make some festive homemade recipes, package them in a nice jar, bottle, or wrapping, and write the recipe on the gift card. Here are a few recipe ideas as Christmas gifts.

    • Crunchy Walnut Granola
    • Life Changing Bread
    • Turmeric Jamu
    • Blueberry chia seed jam
    • Gomashio sesame seed salt seasoning
    • Vegan chocolate spread
    • Brazil nut and chocolate balls
    • Hazelnut and goji berry balls
    christmas-granola-in-a-jar
    Homemade Christmas Gifts - A personal touch

    Vegan Christmas gift ideas for foodies

    You gotta love online shopping! As most of my friends and family are scattered around the world, I have some gifts delivered to loved ones front door. Amazon is kind of like Santa Clause except without the sleigh!

    I have enclosed some foodie gift ideas. I'm a big believer in functional gifts, I like to share gifts that can contribute to people's health and are not too taxing on the environment.

    If I find an item from a small business I will support as much as possible. Amazon and other online e-commerce sites have provided great platforms for small businesses to have their products sold all around the globe.

    Below are links to my Amazon Associates Program. If you purchase any items I recommend, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This fee helps support my ongoing free recipe publications on this blog.

    Kitchen Equipment

    • Vitamix Blender
    • Food Dehydrator
    • Cold Pressed Juicer
    • Chopping Board
    • Magi Mix Food Processor

    Plant Based Foods

    • Chocolate Selection Box
    • Ceremonial Cacao
    • Shelled Hemp
    • Teff Grain
    • Spirulina Supplementation (Europe & Thailand only)

    Health Focused Books

    • How Not To Die
    • The Diet Myth
    • Why We Sleep
    • The Art Of Wild Fermentation

    Culinary Experiences

    • Life On Plant Meal Planning Club
    • 1-1 Online Cooking Class
    • Personalised Meal Plan
    • 'Eat 2 Thrive' E-book
    • Focused Fermentation Course
    butternut-squash-roasted-on-a-tray

    Vegan Christmas recipes from my friends

    I have included links to a few more vegan Christmas recipes I think you might enjoy.

    • Festive butternut squash roast
    • Vegan mushroom wellington
    • Lentil and vegetable bake
    • Cranberry orange bread
    • Gingerbread cheesecake
    • Vegan mince pies
    veganuary-design-fresh-ingredients

    Veganuary - For a Happy New Year

    Every year in January hundreds of thousands of people around the world take a pledge to try a vegan lifestyle for the month of January. This is a great initiative to join, Veganuary provide lots of guidance and support throughout the challenge.

    Veganuary's vision is simple; they want a world without animal farms and slaughterhouses. A world where food production does not decimate forests, pollute rivers and oceans, exacerbate climate change, and drive wild animal populations to extinction.

    More than 582,000 people from 209 countries took part in Veganuary 2021, breaking all previous records. The movement towards a more plant based and ethical way of eating is on the increase.

    Learn more about Veganuary and sign-up for the FREE challenge

    merry-christmas-card

    FAQ

    Is Santa Clause vegan?

    Rumor has it that Santa Clause went vegan this year. He was struggling to fit down the chimneys and keep up with the increase in demand and hectic schedule, so he tried the wholefood plant-based lifestyle. He is looking fairly fit and trim now! Check out the full article here...

    What do vegans eat for Christmas?

    Lots of delicious food and drinks! All the recipes in this article ar 100% vegan and plant-based.

    « How To Vegan Meal Prep
    Life On Plants {Week 1: January 3rd-9th 2022) »

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    jamie-smiling-in-chef-whites

    Hi, my name is Jamie from Galway in the West of Ireland. I've been cooking in Michelin Star kitchens all around the world for most of my career. In 2015 I launched The Holistic Chef to focus on the nutritional aspects of food. Educate - Inspire - Empower became my mantra and mission. Currently, I'm living and cooking in Phuket, Thailand.

    Read more about Jamie

    Cooked @

    brand-logos-for-restaurants-jamie-cooked-in

    Real Good Food

    The Holistic Chef Academy is a place for discovering healthy and wholesome plant-based vegan recipes to make at home.

    Made with affordable ingredients - minimal fuss - highly nutritional - super tasty and full of love.

    Go to the recipe index

    Seasonal Recipes

    • Vegan Chocolate Spread (4 Ingredients - No Nuts)
    • Turmeric Jamu - Immune Boosting Health Tonic
    • Quinoa Tabbouleh (Complete Protein Salad)
    • Puttanesca - Classic Neapolitan Pasta Recipe

    Trending Recipes

    • Ash Gourd Juice / Winter Melon Juice
    • Spiced Pumpkin Soup - Vegan
    • Burmese Chickpea Tofu (Easy Soy-Free Recipe)
    • Bhindi Masala (Indian Okra Masala)

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    T&C's

    • Privacy Policy

    Evolution

    • Subscribe! For new recipes
    • Healthy Recipe Submission
    • Carbon Removal Pledge

    Connect

    • About
    • Meet The Team
    • Contact
    • Linkedin
    • Cancel Membership

    Copyright © 2022 Holistic Chef Academy on the Foodie Pro Theme