We know that Christmas is not the easiest time to make diet conscious decisions. With the winter weather outside who doesn’t like to wrap up warm and enjoy a few indulgences. Fortunately there are ways to enjoy delicious comfort foods whilst also taking proactive steps to help lower your cholesterol and maintain a healthy heart.

Tanya Footman, the resident nutritionist at Flora pro.activ has compiled some easy to follow ‘top tips’ to help you with you maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Opt for healthy snacks: Why not make up your own mix of seeds, nuts and dried fruit for healthy snacking at your fingertips. Or to get in the festive spirit, try roasting nuts for that delicious Christmas aroma

Choose the right meats: Opt for fish and poultry over fatty meat products. Or try replacing fatty meats with beans, lentils, fish, and poultry without skin or lean meat. Turkey is a great lean meat packed with flavour.

Get active: Even everyday activities can be turned into moderate exercise. All that extra housework during the festive period is a great way to keep fit. Small changes such as taking the stairs instead of the escalator and even hand washing your car all make a difference.

Plant Sterols: Plant sterols are found at low levels in everyday foods like vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, grain products, fruit and vegetables. But to get a significant cholesterol lowering effect include foods with added plant sterols like Flora pro.activ* in your diet.

Salt: eat no more than six grams of salt a day – Experiment with herbs and spices instead and avoid salty snacks like crisps.

Baked apples with ginger and orange

Ingredients:

• 2 cooking apples
• 30g (1oz) stem ginger, finely chopped
• 55g (2oz) ready to eat dates, finely chopped
• 2 tbsps runny honey
• 4 tbsps water
• 25g (1oz) Flora pro.activ

For the orange and cinnamon spread:

• Zest of 1 orange
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, 180°C fan oven, gas mark 6.

2. Score carefully with a sharp knife around the middle of the apples, and using an apple corer remove the core and pips. Place on a baking tray.

3. Combine the dates and stem ginger together and fill the centre of the apples with the mixture. Add the water to the dish. Bake for 30–35 minutes until soft and cooked through.

4. Meanwhile blend Flora pro.activ spread, orange zest, ground ginger and honey. When the apples are ready, serve with the flavoured Flora pro.activ spread and allow to melt over the apples.

Serves: 2 people

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Cooking time: 195 minutes

For more tips and recipes please visit www.floraproactiv.co.uk