Good luck finding an open treadmill at the gym in the weeks after New Year’s.

It seems once early January arrives, everybody and their mother is looking to shed a pound or two after a gluttonous December.

And when you sit down to Christmas dinner, or wash down fruit cake with thick eggnog, it’s easy to see why: traditional holiday eating is a far cry from healthy eating.

But local chefs say when it comes to baking sweet holiday treats, there are a few easy tricks holiday revelers can take to make those holiday favorites a bit healthier, either by trimming the fat and calories, or opting for a gluten-free option. And, ditching your time-honored family recipes doesn’t have to mean giving up all the flavor that makes holiday feasting worthwhile.

At Bliss Cupcakes at Southlands mall, owner and baker Amy Gooch said there are plenty of simple options for home bakers looking to cut calories. But, she said, diners looking for lower-calorie options this holiday season likely won’t find those on Bliss’ shelves. Like any cupcake shop worth their frosting, Bliss proudly serves up treats made with all the butter and sugar you could want.

“We’re pretty fully loaded,” she said.

But when she cooks at home, Gooch is fond of taking the lower-calorie route when she bakes.

Usually, that means reaching for a jar of apple sauce instead of something with oil, like margarine.

“It usually doesn’t change the texture of whatever I’m making and that cuts down on the fat for sure,” she said.

According to applesauce giant Musselman’s, replacing a half cup of cooking oil with a half cup of apple sauce shaves the calories from more than 950, down to just 50. And the fat content plummets from 112 grams down to zero. And that’s with a one-to-one ratio on cakes and brownies — pretty much everything except cookies — so it doesn’t require an advanced mathematics degree.

Gooch said there are other options too when it comes to baking with an eye toward being healthy.

Recent years have seen a steady influx of low-calorie sweeteners like Splenda aimed at replacing traditional sugar. Swapping sugar for Splenda or some other low-calorie sweetener can be an easy way to lop off a few calories and still maintain the desired sweetness, but Gooch has a word of advice for bakers going that route: Be ready to try the recipe a few times, preferably on a forgiving audience.

“Try it first on your family — your immediate family,” she laughed.

If you are new to cooking sans sugar, it’s a pretty lousy idea to whip up a fruit cake destined for a company function. Make sure you know what you’re doing first — and you’ve tinkered enough that you’re using the ideal amount of sweetener to get the right level of sweetness.

If you’re looking to cut the gluten from your holiday baking, Monica Poole, owner of Deby’s Gluten Free bakery in east Denver, said it’s a much easier proposition than it once was.

There was a time when bakers had to mix a variety of different flours so they could get a gluten free mix that didn’t leave their Christmas cookies gritty or cracker like. Poole calls that the “voodoo dance,” but says it’s no longer necessary.

Poole said her shop at 2369 S. Trenton Way sells low-cost gluten free flour that allows bakers to simply replace their regular flour. No complicated formulas and conversions. Just one cup of gluten free flour in place of a cup of the regular stuff.

Poole said no matter what, whether a baker tinkering with Christmas recipes is going for gluten free or low calorie — and the two are not the same, as gluten free products often come with a hefty calorie count, too — it’s crucial that they’re willing to make a mistake or two. And sometimes more.

“Be brave and don’t be scared to make a mistake,” she said.

Still, there are plenty of bakers who say there’s nothing wrong with going full-calorie and decidedly unhealthy this time of year.

At Daniel’s of Paris, near East Iliff Avenue and South Peoria Street, pastry chef Katherine Dougherty specializes in French dishes that go all in when it comes to butter and cream and sugar.

Dougherty said that this time of year, bakers should feel free to bake something particularly unhealthy.

“That’s what Christmas is all about,” she said. “You have the whole month of January to work it off.”