Family Life Swap at Christmas Family Life Swap

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It's Christmas!

So say a Yuletide yo-ho hello to the Whewell family.

Oh, my God!

They're eagerly anticipating Christmas

and its many temptations,

which this year presents something of a dilemma for them.

That is enough, Mum, put it back!

That's because just three months ago,

the Whewells began a lifestyle revolution

when they took part in BBC Wales' Family Life Swap.

Exchanging their unhealthy diets and lifestyles...

Burgers?

..for that of the ultra-fit and ultra-healthy Thompson family.

Hello!

Family Life Swap gave the Whewells a whole new lease of life.

Oh, my God!

SHE SCREAMS

But now they're about to be plunged into their biggest challenge yet -

Christmas is coming and they're concerned that it's not just

the goose who'll be getting fat.

Mum overloads as usual on food.

Nobody should diet at Christmas.

The average British Christmas dinner is 6,000 calories.

I think with Helen you need to double it.

And so, in the spirit of seasonal goodwill,

we're having a festive re-match.

But can the angelic Thompsons steer the Whewells

to a healthier Christmas future?

Just because it's Christmas, it doesn't mean that there's an excuse

to be idle and stuff your face.

I like it!

Or is inviting Sarah Thompson and Helen Whewell to share

a Christmas kitchen just a recipe for disaster?

Oh, it smells like a hedge!

'Am I prepared to compromise?'

Uh-uh.

Welcome to the most wonderful time of the year.

The time for friends and family,

for giving and receiving

and for stuffing our happy festive faces

with enormous amounts of rich and fatty foods.

Because according to the experts, this Christmas, on average,

we'll put on five to ten pounds.

Or to put it another way - come January, we'll all have added

the equivalent of a family sized turkey to our waistlines.

A sobering thought?

It is for the Whewell family.

Just three months ago, the Whewells were at a lifestyle crossroads.

Like 57% of the Welsh population,

they fell into the category of being overweight or obese.

But after a week-long crash course in diet

and lifestyle control in the hands

of the supremely health-conscious Thompson family,

the Whewells have seen the light

and turned their backs on their previously over-indulgent ways.

And in the 12 weeks since the Family Life Swap took place,

they've transformed their lifestyles and their diets.

We've definitely eaten healthy as a family since Family Life Swap.

I still don't eat chocolate,

still don't eat crisps or anything like that.

If you were to go and look in our kitchen cupboards now,

there wouldn't be the sort of array of chocolates and crisps and things

that there used to be. We don't have that in the house any more.

They are feeling much healthier...

I have more energy, I don't want to sit round,

I just want to be up and doing stuff.

..and best of all, between then,

they've lost over four stones in weight.

But as the festive season looms,

there appears to be an elephant in the room.

IT SINGS: # Sleigh bells ring Are you listening? #

He's got a big red coat,

a big white beard and a ruddy red nose.

It's called Christmas and in the Whewell household,

Christmas is traditionally crackers.

Helen is mad

at Christmas time.

This hat is the best thing ever.

My mother is like a child at Christmas.

She's ridiculous.

Christmas is the best thing ever!

She goes over the top on decorations, over the top on food,

over the top on everything.

The Christmas mantra is - eat, drink and be merry.

I'm about to make Whewell eggnog.

The Christmas food is bonkers.

I think everyone in this house

is bloated at Christmas cos of how much food my mum puts on the plate.

Nobody should diet at Christmas. Christmas is about fun.

Wow there, Helen! Hold your one-horse open sleigh!

Surely, given everything you've learnt through Family Life Swap,

you're planning a less excessive, more health-conscious Christmas?

We all need to be able to enjoy ourselves at Christmas

and I think we all need to have, you know,

times that we can let our hair down

and have a huge blow-out and not feel guilty.

Warren, have a word!

No, I won't change the way that we do things here

at Christmas time at all. We just... Helen loves it

and I go along with it.

Not you too, Warren?!

Girls?

I think partly it's cos you can only do it once a year,

so you enjoy the things you can at Christmas once a year.

If you want to have fun, you can have fun, because it's Christmas.

At the end of the day, it only comes round once a year.

Am I prepared to compromise? Um...

364 days of the year, absolutely.

Christmas Day, uh-uh.

Oh, dear! Oh, no!

As everyone knows, the road to dietary hell is paved

with mince pies, sherry trifle and unfulfilled New Year's resolutions.

Pork out now and repent at your leisure.

Thankfully, the Whewells have agreed to a last-minute intervention,

so we're calling in the Christmas health police,

in the shape of Sarah Thompson.

With Helen's mantra that "no-one should diet at Christmas",

I think it should be altered to "no-one should die because of Christmas dinner".

Just because it's Christmas,

it doesn't mean that there's an excuse to be idle

and stuff your face.

In this house, we don't seem to put on weight at Christmas.

Christmas Day is just one day

and I would love the Whewells to make some slight alterations

and then maybe their Christmas would be in the past

and they can look to have a few alternatives

for their Christmas present and future.

But before the Thompsons can dish up a healthy Christmas future,

they need to visit a Whewells Christmas past.

So in true Christmas carol style,

we're asking the Whewells

to create their pre-Family Life Swap typical Christmas Day menu,

and then we're inviting Sarah Thompson over

to play the ghost of Jacob Marley.

And what a bacchanalian blow-out Christmas dinner is.

Roast turkey with cranberry, roast beef with horseradish...

Helen Whewell's three-page menu is best described

as a culinary assault course.

..chicken tikka...

A mastication marathon.

..and lots of them...

A trial by trimmings.

..cauliflower cheese...

The love child of Henry VIII and Santa.

It's a genuine representation

of what the Whewell family eat on Christmas Day.

SANTA: Seasons greetings!

Small wonder, then, that putting on a typical Whewell Christmas Day

spread is like planning a battle.

The food is the first manoeuvre in a simple case of divide and conquer.

Helen hits the supermarket

whilst Warren raids the butcher's.

So it's the turkey... You haven't got a bigger one, have you?

No.

I'm only joking.

But before they go over the top,

there's been 12 months of military and financial planning

for this campaign.

Christmas planning, well, it goes on for the whole year.

Immediately that Warren gets paid,

we have ?150 that goes out of his account every month

and it goes into a Christmas account.

Sometimes that leaves us a bit short for the rest of the year,

but we know that, cos Christmas is so important to us,

we can then have a really good time at Christmas.

20 pigs in blankets. Already done for you. Lovely.

I have a budget which I try not to go over ?1,000

and that includes gifts, it definitely includes final food shop,

but it doesn't include the meat.

We've got beef, sausages...

Double cream, the thing that all good Christmas dinners are made of.

One, two...

It's the key component in so many things that I do.

..three, four...

There's a lot of double cream that goes into a glass of eggnog.

..five...

There's double cream in the cream leeks with bacon.

..six...

Then, obviously, when you get to the dessert,

there's pretty much double cream in everything that I'm doing.

Do you think we should get one more for good luck?

Christmas without double cream. Um... I think it's unthinkable.

And so armed with over ?300 worth of food and meat,

Helen's going to rustle up a four-course,

27-dish Christmas Day lunch

for the Thompsons to feast their eyes upon.

I have no idea where it's all going to go, I really don't know...

In our stomachs, dear, that's where it's all going to go.

I think with Christmas, we are over-indulgent,

but I'm quite happy with that, to be honest.

Yes, I have to sit there and hold his mouth open

while I pour the food into it.

THEY LAUGH

It seems as yet none of the Whewells are remotely contemplating

any Christmas compromise,

but they have retained one lesson from Family Life Swap -

to calculate the calories.

467 calories in 100ml and there's 600ml there...

So what's 467 x 600?

Warren!

467 x 6... Yeah.

Times 6. I've just calculated the calories

in our double cream mountain here,

and...it appears there's 16,802 calories in that little lot

and that's just the cream!

How many was it altogether again? 2,800 and something...

Yeah, but that's a man's daily intake in one go. Yeah.

One pot of that and I'm done for the day.

Here you are, then, save me cooking. Thanks.

And as Helen says, that's just the cream -

there's also the custard, the cakes,

the chocolates, the biscuits, the butter,

the sugar, the lard, deep-fat frying...

We could go on... Bah, humbug!

But surely that's enough calories for Helen

to recalculate Christmas.

Fat chance.

As the 27 dishes begin to leave the kitchen,

there are no second thoughts for Helen.

What Family Life Swap told me is it's very important

to think about what you're eating.

And to embrace a better lifestyle,

but I still don't think that there's anything wrong

with being decadent now and again.

I think it's very important to enjoy life, because you're only here once.

She's done us proud again, I think.

It's mad, though, isn't it?

And so, as the Whewells table turns inexorably into a beast

of burden, divine intervention is called for.

# Hallelujah! Hallelujah! #

Hallelujah! It's the Thompsons! They've come to save Christmas!

# Hallelujah! #

Come on in, take your coats off, you're just in time.

Helen's planning to feed the 5,000.

Right, shall we go on through, then? Wow!

Helen, you've been mega-busy.

Wow! I can't even take it all in.

That's a hell of a Yule log.

THEY LAUGH

Is this for four, yeah? Christmas Day?

Well, whoever's around, really. OK.

You, Christmas in your house... Yeah.

..is it one day? Yeah, this is what we'd have in one day.

Wow! I mean, how would this compare with what you would cook?

Probably just have a small turkey crown

and then we'd still have leftovers from it, though, Helen. Yeah.

Roast potatoes... How did you cook them, by the way?

Parboiled... Uh-huh. ..and then roasted... In?

Dripping. Dripping!

THEY LAUGH

What do you like about Christmas dinner?

I like the creams, which is all there, I like the creams there.

The sprouts.

From a sort of calorie point of view,

does it bother you at all?

Cos this is heaving with calories.

Yeah. Yeah, it's always in my mind, yeah.

The puddings scare the hell out of me,

cos there is just so much, so much cream...

There's six pints of double cream on this table.

Do you need to have cream? And a pound of butter.

Do you need to have that? Yes.

Why? Cos it's lovely. Well, this is where I don't understand.

THEY LAUGH

I've lost understanding now.

You know, if there are ways of doing these things

that taste the same but in a healthier way

then I'm absolutely all up for that idea,

I definitely would embrace that,

but in terms of compromising on what I think makes Christmas special,

I want the kids to look back in years to come and say, you know,

"Mum really pushed the boat out, she really made an effort for us."

The legacy to leave is not one of your children having heart disease

or arteriosclerosis

so, from that respect,

I don't think Helen is doing her children favours. Well, I think

Sarah is absolutely entitled to her opinion,

I think it's a very valid opinion,

but...stuff it, it's Christmas.

THEY LAUGH

There sure is a challenge here, but I think the challenge is being made really easy.

Do you? Yeah.

Get rid of that cream to start off with!

I don't think we can do Christmas without cream.

This could be made so much more healthier

and you won't be compromising on your beliefs

of having good food prepared well

and providing a good, healthy legacy for your kids.

But will it taste nice?

It'll taste lovely. Will it look like this?

It'll look gorgeous.

Let's have a go, then.

So the Christmas oven gloves are off and the tinsel

gauntlet has been thrown at Sarah's feet.

So, for an alternative Christmas dinner, what are we going to have?

Sarah's about to take on the challenge

of Family Life Swap at Christmas...

Lots of veg. All right, what sort of veg? Sprouts.

..to plan, prepare and cook a healthy and tasty alternative

to Helen's festive overload.

I still like parsnips. Yeah.

But can she come up with a live-longer Christmas dinner

that both families can sit down and enjoy?

I think there must have been about 8,000 calories per person on that table.

An alternative would be to achieve about 2,500 calories.

And I reckon we could save so much on her pocket as well.

Cash, calories, and consumption -

the holy trinity of a contemporary Christmas.

In fact, the average family will spend around ?180 on food and drink

this Christmas, and the typical Christmas dinner will weigh in at

7,000 calories.

That's over three times the recommended daily intake for a woman

and the equivalent of scoffing 28 hamburgers at one sitting.

So if you're contemplating avoiding all of that excess, why not visit

our website at...

..where you'll find exclusive Family Life Swap clips,

tips and recipes, including some of the healthy options

Sarah's about to cook up for the Whewells.

Once she's been shopping for the ingredients, of course.

Come on, then.

Parsnips? Parsnips and carrots.

My agenda here is to show Helen

that she can have a healthier dinner.

I found some of these.

Without having too many sacrifices.

But also, it's going to be a bit better on her budget as well.

Fruit salad.

Yes. OK.

Mint, we need. What, like, After Eights? No, not After Eights!

Sprouts. Sprouts are over there.

No-one's going to be going cold turkey so much.

But I'm really strongly opposing any double cream.

Do you want fat-free Greek-style yoghurt?

Bio-live yoghurt? I don't mind.

I can't get excited about yoghurt at Christmas.

Let's see what you've got!

Put it back. Humbug!

It's like shopping with my mother.

Spray oil, Helen, is going to change your world.

You will never have stuff dripping in fat again. Yay(!)

You've got everything. You're going to be full after this.

You're eating with your eyes. Shall we go and pay?

Yeah.

Matchmakers.

SHE GASPS Somebody else...

Did you not have enough double cream last time?

Yeah, but just in case... I mean...

Let's imagine now that there was a natural disaster

and the creme fraiche was off. We would need a backup.

This is Christmas future. No, this... This is Christmas past.

Well, make it my Christmas present. Christmas past!

So how did we do, Helen? We did OK. We haven't spent...

What are the scores on the board?

We spent ?65, which isn't as much as I spent last week.

In fact, it is about ?90 less than I spent last week. That's good.

That is good, I take your point, that is good,

but the proof of the pudding is in the eating! The pudding.

Sarah's alternative Christmas fare will be low-fat

and will be served naked of cream, lard or goose grease.

All of the ingredients will be fresh, roasted or steamed,

but whether they'll come with any flavour

remains for the Whewells to decide.

But as our live-longer Christmas Day dawns,

and before anyone goes wild with the fat-free yogurt,

the Whewells need to realise one small fact. When tasting a Thompson

Christmas, food is not the first thing on the menu - exercise is.

Our house on Christmas Day, we go for a little jog in the morning.

So we thought we wouldn't want you to miss out on that little treat.

So, we have got some little Christmas outfits,

so let's go for a little jog.

Come on, Santa!

There is some method in Sarah's madness.

Exercise not only burns off the calories

and creates an appetite, it also kick-starts the body's metabolism.

Go away.

All the better to deal with any Xmas excess.

Very, very hard moving quickly with facial hair.

Come on, Helen and Bonnie!

A sort of speed walk gone wrong!

Well done!

I need eggnog and a lot of it.

It was good fun. Very invigorating.

And just when the Whewells have built up a guilt-free appetite,

Grinch Sarah's got another horror to reveal.

I've got a little surprise for you.

You know your puddings last week? Yeah.

How many calories do you think was in those five puddings?

All of them together? 10,000.

Any takers on that?

12?

30,514 calories.

Whoops.

That's like the equivalent of the international Welsh rugby team's

daily intake in those five puddings. Lovely!

The fat content was over 2,500 grams of fat. Which equates to...

HE LAUGHS

Oh, my God! 11 packets of lard. Lovely!

And that also equated to 600 grams of sugar.

Do you know when we went shopping and I said,

"We'll make a no-cream cheesecake"? Yeah.

Well, that is the amount of fat and sugar that is going to be in there.

So those are yours and that's going to be our pudding today.

That's an incredible difference. It's absolutely shocking.

It is quite scary

when you look at from one day's worth of consumption of fat.

To think that that could be flowing around your veins is

a bit of a worry.

That's gross.

I feel seeing that is a bit of a setback, really,

after everything we've done.

I am surprised, but I am not that shocked, really,

because of how much rubbish goes into the cakes she makes.

Yeah, your fault.

Poor Helen, taking the blame again.

Well, I feel quite shocked. Well, very shocked.

And I feel quite despondent.

I feel quite guilty, actually.

That I have inflicted all of this lard upon my loved ones. But...

You know, it's done now, you can only look to the future, can't you?

Christmas past, Christmas future. OK.

Blimey, Sarah - talk about taking a hammer to a Christmas nut!

Still, let's see if the Thompsons and the Whewells can't join forces

and crack this compromise Christmas dinner.

I got you a very special apron just for the occasion!

THEY LAUGH

Seeing as you are in charge, I'll let you wear it. Let's cook.

Let's do it.

Sarah's compromise dinner is really a simplified version

of the Whewells' gargantuan blow-out.

Many of the dishes will be the same, but instead of 27 of them,

there'll be just 12 - and the festival of fat

will be replaced by the fresh, the green and the lean.

Rather than goose fat, we are

going to use a couple of sprays of olive oil. Oh, my God.

Normally I'll drizzle them - well, drown them - in honey.

I am certainly less cynical than I was before I saw

the lard on the table, that has been a huge change for me.

So I am much more receptive to that idea.

And continuing the low-fat theme,

Sarah's also serving her unique take on stuffing.

When we were shopping the other night for the stuffing,

Helen said that she has never had any dill before.

So I thought I would put some dill into the stuffing

so it may smell very organic to Helen.

Smell.

Oh, it smells like a hedge!

THEY LAUGH

A hedge? Wonder what Helen's nose will make of the no-cream

strawberry cheesecake?

Smell that, Helen. You can't deny.

Hmm. It's a cross between Wimbledon and cough mixture! Cough mixture?

Am I convinced that that's going to taste as good as the cheesecake

I made? Yes.

Good. It's going to taste better.

Well, that certainly remains to be seen.

But after a remarkably chill and cordial three hours in the kitchen,

the ladies who have made lunch... That looks gorgeous.

..are just about ready to face their jury.

So we are ready now. Shall I go and be the waiter?

Find out what they want? All right, then, yeah.

For hors d'oeuvres, the choice is melon smile,

chicken tikka with low-fat yoghurt and mint dip, or roast butternut

squash and sweet potato soup with a decadent dollop of creme fraiche.

Ding-ding! Round one.

Whey!

Let's drink to a successful collaborative effort. Excellent.

Hear, hear. Merry Christmas, everyone. Cheers.

It's super stunning. It's really nice.

I would definitely have it again. Hint, hint, Mum.

Well, this soup is just phenomenal, it is really, really good.

And it's filling and it has got a lovely little kick to it,

so it's really good stuff, I'm very impressed.

How is the yoghurt and mint dip with your melon?

It's all right, actually. It doesn't go together too bad.

Well, I think the first course has gone remarkably well.

Helen has a recipe for the soup,

so that's all a step in the right direction.

And Jenni's verdict?

No, I'm not missing any of the traditional starters.

Because I didn't really like them, no offence.

THEY LAUGH

None taken!

Well, that's definitely round one to compromise Christmas. But round two?

Feathers are about to fly!

It looks OK. Probably a third of the size Mum would do.

I don't see how anybody can be unhappy about the portion sizes

they've had. Where is the rest of it? It's like a starter.

If somebody asks "Where's the rest of it,"

I'm going to say that is really, exceedingly greedy.

Can I have a second portion if it goes down well?

Warren may need a good lesson in portion control.

It's normally got to be built up like a skyscraper.

I think he's missing the boat, really.

My only complaint would be that there's not enough potatoes.

I think Christmas dinner could be different from now on.

It's nice to eat something that is so full of flavour

and we know it's something that's good for us as well.

If it was the actual Christmas dinner I was going to have,

I don't know, I still miss my cauliflower cheese.

I think this would be like an 8.5 compared to my mum's

because, like, she does an overload

and everyone just doesn't want to eat for, like, two days.

She makes us eat dessert because she's made all that effort.

And then we feel ill, then.

Perhaps Jenni and Bonnie need to be more forceful to their parents.

And they are really going to be the key to unlock it.

The question is, Mum, would you be brave enough to send Sarah

a picture of our Christmas dinner this year?

Mm. Bonnie, I might knock on the door

and check she's got no double cream hidden anywhere!

So far, it has gone so well.

They have liked the starters, they have liked the main course.

Going back to the lard mountain, I really hope they like their pudding

and particularly the no-cream cheesecake.

And lard is still very much in my mind.

But we'll see what happens with the next course.

For pud, there's a seasonal fresh fruit medley, plus the most

controversial dish on the menu - the no-cream strawberry cheesecake.

It is more of a blancmange texture than a cheesecake texture.

But that's because it has no cream.

It has no cream in it!

And it has very, very little sugar. What do you think, Helen?

I like it. It's lovely. SHE GASPS

That's exciting for me.

I miss my chocolate torte!

Sorry, I'm weak.

I really liked the starter. The main course was nice.

I couldn't eat it all, I was full.

Whereas maybe with Mum's portions I would force it down.

I enjoyed the meal, don't get me wrong, it was very nice.

Do I think it captures my version of Christmas?

Not so much.

But there are certainly elements that I can take to make

our Christmas dinner healthier, so I think that's a start.

Rosie, that is for you.

And a dash fine starts it is too, Helen.

That is for you. Oh, thank you. Merry Christmas.

After all, having spent the last 12 weeks on the dietary

straight and narrow, isn't it OK to go OTT just for one day?

Swiss roll!

THEY LAUGH

Well, that'll be entirely up to you, your conscience, and Sarah -

the ghost of Christmas present over there.

"Christmas calories don't count".

THEY LAUGH

Yes, they do.

Well, we've bought you these plates because you have very,

very large plates in your house. Just by having these plates,

you could cut your meal intake by 800 calories.

That's great, isn't it? Did Sarah keep the receipt?

But one last question - will there be any actual compromising

in the Whewell household when the real Christmas Day arrives?

Maybe a bit of creme fraiche in the leeks. Yeah, maybe. Maybe...

Give it a try. Maybe not drench the roast potatoes in goose fat.

They are good, though, aren't they? Maybe we'll still have the goose fat.

Oh, I wouldn't let Sarah hear you say that!