Crystal Hann
health WISE
Crystal Han is a freelance writer and artist. She graduated from San José State
University with a BFA in Animation/Illustration and is an aspiring novelist, currently
working on two books.
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry the Healthy Way this Holiday Season
T
he general rule for food is: the better it tastes the worse it is for you. Let’s face it, holiday foods taste amazing. Loaded with
fats and sugar, our decadent feasts are a danger zone for our waistlines. But what’s the holiday season without great food?
The trick to enjoying the festivities without packing on unwanted pounds is to know which indulgences make the naughty
list and which ones are a little nicer.
The Main Course Desserts Spirits
Turkey — perhaps the trickiest of the
holiday main courses, turkey by itself
isn’t the worst contender. Six ounces
of dark meat with skin is about 350
calories, one turkey leg is around 334
calories, and six ounces of light meat
is about 216 calories. But it’s never just
the turkey, is it? The real flavor is in
those sneaky toppings. Basically the
fattiest parts of the bird strained into a
liquid with added butter, gravy tacks
on around 375 additional calories per
cup. Stuffing, another holiday favorite,
has about 320 calories per cup. Home-
made cranberry sauce has around 209
calories, while the canned varieties have
about 86 calories per slice. Pecan Pie — Waistlines beware! Al-
though this pie contains nuts, which are
full of healthy fats, those health benefits
are literally drowned by all of the butter,
brown sugar, corn syrup, and molasses
mixed in with them. One slice of pecan
pie contains about 503 calories. Add a
scoop of vanilla ice cream and you’re
looking at a whopping 769 calories! Eggnog — What happens when you
mix cream, eggs, sugar, and alcohol into
a drink? Liquid danger, that’s what. One
glass of eggnog has around 343 calories,
and it goes down so easy that you might
reach for another without a second
thought.
Prime Rib — comes from the fattest
part of the cow. Just one slice can have
up to 750 calories and 45 grams of fat.
And that’s without any extra sauce or
seasoning! Eight ounces of prime rib
also has 450 milligrams of cholesterol,
which is 100 more that the USDA
recommends you consume per day.
Ham — the second most popular
Christmas dish, actually isn’t as bad
as you might think. Six ounces of ham
contains about 350 calories. Similar to
turkey, the danger is in the glaze, espe-
cially if you’re watching your sodium
intake, so it’s best not to go wild with it.
Roast Beef — if you’re looking for a
healthier alternative to something like
prime rib, roast beef is a good choice.
Two ounces of roast beef, which is
about two regular slices, amounts to
70 calories.
Apple Pie — like pecan pie, the apples
make it seem healthy, but it’s also loaded
with sugar and fat. One slice contains
around 296 calories, and A La Mode
bumps it up to 493.
Hot Buttered Rum — With ingredients
like butter, rum, and brown sugar, you’re
looking at a great tasting drink that
sneaks in around 220 to 350 calories.
Pumpkin Pie — of all the pies,
pumpkin is the healthiest contender,
weighing in at around 260 calories. Champagne — Compared to the first
two drinks on this list, champagne
is fairly tame. One flute is about 133
calories. The catch is that the bubbles in
champagne will actually make you tipsy
faster than other drinks, so be careful.
Holiday Cookies — they seem so
small and harmless, but two traditional
sugar cookies have about 226 calories,
and that’s without all of the decorative
frosting. One large gingerbread man
cookie is about 340 calories, while the
smaller ones are around 160. If you can
limit yourself to just one, cookies can be
the best dessert choice if you’re looking
for a sugar fix without a ton of calories. Wine — As far as holiday spirits go,
wine is the best choice. One glass of
red or white wine is about 120 calories.
Plus you get some resveratrol with it.
Don’t let all of this calorie listing ruin
your holiday fun. Instead, figure out
which foods mean the most to you and
which you can do without. If you love
pecan pie, go for it! Just try not to go
overboard on everything else.
Sources:
Narins, Elizabeth, “13 Holiday Foods with Insanely High Calorie Counts”, Cosmopolitan,
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/advice/a33669/high-calorie-holiday-foods/
Swanner, Rebecca, “How many calories are in your favorite holiday foods?”, BeachBody On
Demand, https://www.beachbodyondemand.com/blog/many-calories-favorite-holiday-foods
Duffett, Becky, “The Highest Calorie Holiday Foods”, FitBit, https://blog.fitbit.com/high-calorie-
holiday-foods/
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
december 2018-january 2019
gmhtoday.com
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