Enjoy Christmas this year with these savvy tips for substitution.

Christmas can be an anxious time for people suffering with food intolerance and allergies. The tempting smell of all the usual traditional foods such as roasted turkey, cakes, chocolates galore, breads, pastries all loaded  with delicious wheat and gluten ingredients.  Your taste buds are in a spiral and the jelly and custard trifle is sending lactose intolerant nerves into a spin.

With so many tasty treats on offer to us it is very difficult to resist in order for us to manage our food sensitivities. Christmas is probably the hardest time but by using a few savvy tips you to can enjoy Christmas, and the day after, we've got some great tips on preparing delicious allergy friendly food choices.

Replace the nuts
Stuffing: try replacing chopped nuts and chestnuts with dried cranberries or roughly chopped apricots.
Christmas pudding: substituted ground nuts with an equal quantity of plain flour and another tablespoon of butter or margarine for a little more richness. If you use margarine in your baking, check the label to make sure it does not contain nut-based oils.

Replace the gluten
Gravy: start with a good home-made turkey stock. When you come to thicken the gravy, replace the 25g plain flour with an equal quantity of rice flour or corn flour.
Cakes and puddings: replace plain flour with a gluten-free mixture of rice flour, ground almonds and cornflour.

Replace the dairy
Roast turkey: use olive oil rather than butter to moisten the bird.
Cakes and puddings: replace butter with an equal quantity of dairy-free margarine, and milk with the same amount of soya or rice milk.

Replace the eggs
Puree some apricot, plain gelatin with warm water or a mix of baking powder, vinegar and water.

The key ingredient is to enjoy your Christmas lunch. It only comes around once a year, if you are good all year round, it wont hurt to be a little lapsed when food combining this Christmas season.

Find some recipe ideas here or order your test online now.