New Year Swaps With Jacqueline Alwill

By Remedy Nutritionist Jacqueline Alwill

The reality of the holiday season wrapping is definitely upon us, and this can be a time when we start to look at how to make some healthier swaps or changes to our holiday eating. Holiday eating is EPIC, but it can end up being more indulgent than our regular. Here are some easy ways to make changes and swaps without feeling like you’re missing out either.

Have sneaky sugar soft drinks been a bit of a feature this holiday season?  Make the easiest swap of all with Remedy Kombucha instead.

By swapping the sugary soft for Remedy Kombucha, you’ll significantly reduce your sugar intake in one clean swoop. For example, when you swap a traditional orange fizzy drink (250ml) for a can of Remedy Orange Squeeze Kombucha (250ml), you naturally eliminate 27g of simple sugars from your diet. That’s approximately 6 ½ teaspoons of sugar - gone.

Plus you’ll also benefit from natural ingredients in Remedy Kombucha rather than the nasty artificial ones in the traditional sugary soft drinks. Remedy’s boot is made with all-natural ingredients, including organic green and black tea, raw sugar, natural flavours sourced from fresh ingredients (e.g. ginger, blood orange, hibiscus), and natural sweeteners derived from plants. It’s brewed over a long, 30-day fermentation process which brews out ALL the sugar present to feed the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), leaving you with a delicious fizzy soft drink without sugar, and with tea polyphenols, organic acids and live cultures. And Remedy does this all… naturally.

Bacon and egg rolls been a daily holiday love? Allow me to introduce you to the CARROT BACON AND EGG ROLL.

This veg-filled take on the B-Egg Roll tops up your plant points, daily veg intake, fibre, and antioxidants and tastes delicious. Whilst we know traditional bacon is a hot favourite, it’s best to limit processed and meats high in saturated fats. By reducing these, we support the health of our heart and gut, in particular the colon. Save these for every now and then, not every day.

Try this healthier take with the…

CARROT BACON AND EGG ROLL.

Serves 4

2-4 cups (50g) baby spinach or shredded kale / cavolo nero

4 free-range eggs

4 wholemeal or seed bread roll

Extra virgin olive oil for cooking

Opt: low sugar bbq/tomato sauce/mustard/chilli mayo to serve

Carrot bacon:

200g carrots (approx 2-3 medium carrots), trimmed

½ tbsp (4.5g) nutritional yeast

½ tbsp (10g) honey

1 ½ tsp (7.5ml) soy sauce or tamari

3 tsp (3g) smoky paprika

1 tbsp (20ml) extra virgin olive oil

Heat oven to 200C and line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Slice the carrot in half and then thinly slice it into about 5mm to resemble a strip of bacon. In a small bowl, mix together nutritional yeast, honey, soy sauce, smoky paprika and extra virgin olive oil. Place carrots on the tray, drizzle the marinade over the top, and toss to coat. Spread out evenly so they can cook and get crisp. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and crispy. When the carrots are close to finish, get the remaining ingredients together for the egg and carrot bacon roll. Heat a frypan on medium heat, add a touch of olive oil to coat and add the baby spinach; saute for 3-4 minutes until wilted, then transfer to a bowl and set aside. Wipe the pan clean, add another touch of olive oil and fry eggs to your liking. Once carrot bacon, eggs and spinach are cooked, pile them all into your wholemeal or seeded rolls, add your favourite sauces and eat!

*You can keep carrot bacon in the fridge for up to 5 days once cooked and get creative with it in other dishes, too. I love reheating and crispening mine again and tossing through a salad to make a fun take on bacon for a Caesar!

Balmy nights and summer picnics are the way to go, but it’s time to refresh your fish n chips…

In Australia, daylight-saving picnics on the grass or beach with fish and chips are a serious part of our culture. So they should be, it’s a great way to enjoy food outdoors. However, we can refresh our order or boost the experience by eating fewer to no deep-fried chippies and ordering grilled fish with salad instead. If you love chips, that’s cool, eat some, but not the whole tray, and make sure the salad is the veggie hero of the meal either ordered with or brought from home. Team this picnic combo with your favourite flavour of Remedy Kombucha too - of course!

Ice-cream, you scream? You know how this goes… Love icy poles? Ditto!

There are SO MANY great ways to enjoy a refreshing icy pole or ice lolly without the added sugars, preservatives and additives. Make your own with fresh seasonal fruits, frozen on a stick and topped with things like nut butters, yoghurt or a drizzle of chocolate. Or, try a Remedy Booch-Pop by freezing your top flavours of Remedy Kombucha as icy poles too. So good.

To make your fruit icy poles:

🥭 Scoop mango from the skin and slice 1 cheek in half lengthways.

🍌 Peel and halve ripe bananas (riper with brown dots even better for sweetness)

🍓 Trim green from strawberries and slice banana in chunks for a strawberry banana combo.

🍫 Melt some dark chocolate if desired.

❄️ Place fruit onto popsicle sticks and freeze for a few hours.

🍫 Once frozen, drizzle chocolate over some.

🥜 Paint some with your favourite nut butter (a lovely way to get those healthy fats and protein in too).

🍦 Dip some in good quality thick Greek yoghurt (sweeten with honey if desired).

🎨 Get creative however you wish!

😋 Our favourites were the nut butter and yoghurt combos.

👩‍🍳 Place back in the freezer to set another 2 hours or so.

Treat yo-self a little differently from here on….

Finally, if you’re still keen for a treat after a meal or as an afternoon pick me up but don’t want full festive mode treating (puddings, chocolates, custard, rocky road and all that jazz), then try what I like to call NATURE’S CARAMEL and stuff dates with nut butter of your choice (almond, cashew, peanut butter).

As a nutritionist, I find at this time of year so many people want to have the out-of-sight, out of mind mentality, gobbling up all their leftover Christmas treats in one go, leaving them feeling rubbish and still wanting to have a treat at some point in the day but not knowing what to do. This healthier option means you can enjoy the benefits of sweet dates, hunger-stabilising protein and fats in nut butter AND instead of ditching or eating all your festive leftovers, you could include a sprinkle of them on the top instead. A better way to have your treat.

Let’s keep our approach to making swaps for a healthier 2024 simple, achievable and enjoyable.

Which change will you try today?