Avoid gaining weight by consuming hot chocolate, buttered rum, champagne, or other celebratory drinks high in liquid calories. Find out how to reduce the calories in those holiday drinks and how much exercise is required to burn them off.
The truth about calories in holiday drinks
A common strategy used by those who want to avoid gaining weight over the holidays is to restrict their intake of high-calorie, high-fat, and high-sugar foods and treats. After all, this is the season of irresistible baked goods and candies in holidays drinks.
But if you’re not monitoring the calories from the liquids you consume, you might be doing more harm than good to yourself. Eggnog, pumpkin spice lattes, hot buttered rum, peppermint mochas, and other festive seasonal drinks can contribute significantly to excess calories.
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Think before you holiday drinks
It can be easy to forget that consuming liquid calories is faster and easier than chewing solid food. Because liquid calories don’t make you feel full like calories from food do, Bonci says it’s unlikely that you will cut back on food calories to make up for the calories in beverages. Additionally, the alcohol in holiday cocktails may increase your appetite and have a disinhibiting effect, which may cause you to overeat.
This does not imply that you should completely abstain from holiday drinks. According to Bonci, it just means you should watch how much you consume and think of these festive drinks as extra sources of calories and carbohydrates. A balanced diet won’t be destroyed by the occasional holiday drink.
By increasing your physical activity and making healthy recipe adjustments to reduce the calories, you can make up for the popular holiday beverages and still stay within your calorie intake limits. Moreover, you can engage in mindful eating by consuming these liquid treats in moderation (for example, by switching up your caloric cocktails at parties from club soda to lime) and by cutting back on serving sizes.
Eggnog
Made with milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and spices like nutmeg and cinnamon, eggnog is a rich and creamy drink, almost like a custard. It is often served with rum, brandy, or bourbon. While delicious, a serving contains 11 grams of fat and 20 grams of sugar.
Calories: 400 calories (8 ounces).
How much exercise to burn it off: 40 minutes of jogging at a 12-minute mile pace.
Healthy modification: If you make it at home, you can use evaporated skim milk instead of milk and cream.
Hot buttered rum
This traditional fall and winter concoction is full of sugar and saturated fat (almost half of the daily allowance), which is not surprising given that it contains rum, butter, hot water or cider, a sweetener, and spices like nutmeg and cinnamon.
According to Bonci, “the calories are really added by the butter and sugar.”
Calories: 420 calories (16 ounces).
How much exercise is needed to burn it off? 1 hour of singles tennis.
Healthy modification: To save calories, Bonci recommends using less butter, switching to whipped butter instead of stick butter, and cutting back on the sugar by up to one-third.
Peppermint mocha
A festive blend of milk, mocha sauce, brewed espresso, peppermint syrup and curls of dark chocolate, a peppermint mocha tastes like sipping a mocha through a candy cane. Although it’s scrumptious, it comes at a hefty calorie cost, as well as 16 grams of fat and 54 grams of sugar, which is equivalent to 13 teaspoons of sugar.
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Disclaimer: The opinions and suggestions expressed in this article are solely those of the individual analysts. These are not the opinions of HNN. For more, please consult with your doctor.
