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The Christmas season is a time of joy and merriment, but for many of us it is also a time of unabashed over-indulgence that leaves us gripping our bellies, promising ourselves we won't do the same next year. Never mind the turkey with all its trimmings followed by pudding smothered in lashings of brandy butter on the 25th, there is also a never-ending supply of mince pies, ubiquitous boxes of chocolates, numerous bottles of wine and champagne, Christmas-themed canapes, warming drinks and festive hampers.

It's exactly these extras to the Christmas Day meal that Daniel Green, a celebrity television chef in the United States, says people should avoid, or at least eat with reserve, if they are concerned about putting on weight over the festive period.

'Try to restrain yourself and drop a few pounds during the period before Christmas as you can then look forward to Christmas Day even more,' says Green, who was recently in Hong Kong to host a cooking class at the Mandarin Oriental hotel.

'Then on Christmas Day, don't worry about what you eat - have the chocolates and everything you enjoy. If you are worried about overeating and feeling too full after Christmas lunch, try leaving out the roast potatoes and other carbs. With all the trimmings, you will be full up without them.'

He points out that the traditional Christmas Day meal is quite healthy anyway - it's the extras that do the damage. 'Turkey is low fat, as are boiled vegetables. Roasted vegetables are good for you, too, and stuffings are generally healthy. It's the extras and the desserts that you have to watch out for,' Green says. 'Sugar in moderation is fine, it's the cream and ice cream ... that hurt.'

Green is a self-taught chef who specialises in healthy cooking. Through educating himself about low-fat cooking and making the right food choices, he went from being, in his own words, a 'fat and miserable' teenager to a model for top brands such as Gucci and Hilton Hotels. He aims to free low-fat or healthy food from its stigma of being boring or less tasty.

'A lot of chefs say fat is flavour, but you can create flavour in many ways. So while some chefs make small portions loaded with fat, I prefer to make food that you can eat lots of as most overweight people get that way because they are not eating a sensible three meals a day. I'm also not a fan of no-carb diets. Carbs can be good, especially in the morning - it's the fat content that counts.'

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