Nutrition for Today: Holiday cocktails have a lot more calories than you might realize
Support local journalism. A digital subscription is incredibly affordable and worth its weight in gold. Click here and subscribe today.
Tis the season! This is the time of year we look forward to. We anticipate time spent with family and friends, holiday festivities, shopping, decorating and sight-seeing.
This is also the time of year when many people put on an extra 7-to-10 pounds. We’re already dealing with trying to shed COVID weight, and now we’re going to be faced with desserts, candies, pies, cookies and all of those yummy holiday cocktails.
It seems like every holiday gathering includes an array of special holiday drinks and concoctions. Some of these can contain more than 500 calories each. Yikes!
That can put a big dent in your daily allotment.
Studies have proven that liquid calories don’t provide the same satiety as solid food. Liquid calories are easier and quicker to consume and don’t satisfy hunger. So even though we may have have already consumed 600 calories of a holiday cocktail, we still go on to eat as much food as we would have if we had not had the cocktail. Make sense?
Packed with protein: Nutrition for Today: Getting enough protein? If not, you could suffer from several issues
Breast cancer: Nutrition for Today: Follow these diet-based suggestions to reduce risk of breast cancer
Stomach issues: Nutrition for Today: Do you suffer from irritable bowel syndrome? This may help
And we all know what alcohol can do to our willpower. So if you’re really trying to prevent holiday weight gain, it might just be worthwhile paying attention to those beverages.
To put it in perspective, a cup of eggnog contains 350-450 calories per cup. Add a shot of rum, and it jumps up another 100 calories.
A hot buttered rum racks up 350 calories, Kahlua and cream contains 355 calories, and a holiday margarita has 480 calories. Whew! We’re talking about a one-and-a-half hour power walk to burn off just one holiday cocktail.
It’s usually the mixers that get you in trouble. Alcohol is pretty consistent in the amount of calories it contains. One-and-a-half ounces (a “shot”) of liquor contains 100 calories.
So let’s talk about some lower-calorie alternatives to traditional holiday cocktails.
The simpler the better. How about a shot of cranberry vodka mixed with sparkling soda water and a slice of lime? Or a wine spritzer made with equal parts wine and sparkling water, and fresh raspberries. You might like a glass of diet cranberry ginger ale mixed with vodka or rum. Or even a non-alcoholic mug of hot apple cider, with only 120 calories. Sparkling apple-cranberry juice has just 110 calories without the alcohol.
And remember, non-alcoholic holiday drinks can pack a pretty big calorie punch too. A 16-ounce pumpkin spice latte contains 410 calories; a peppermint mocha has 470 calories; a holiday fruit punch contains 235 calories; hot chocolate with whipped cream, 320 calories.
If you enjoy lattes and other coffee drinks, order them with non-fat milk or almond milk. Skip the whipped cream, chocolate drizzles and candy sprinkles on top. Ask for fewer pumps of flavor syrup to cut down on sugar and calories.
It's not about depriving yourself of special holiday treats — it’s about finding new ways of enjoying old favorites that won’t lead to regret on Jan. 2.
Cheers!
Susie Bond is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist in private practice. Contact her at NutritionistOnCall@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Holiday cocktails have a lot more calories than you might realize
