THE HOLIDAY season is filled with parties and festivities. Whether it's an an office party, family dinner or New Year's bash with friends, there is always one thing in common: holiday drinks.
Beverages, especially alcoholic ones, contain many empty calories that can quickly add up to the calories of an entire meal. This could surely sabotage your weight-loss goals. To keep you on track over the holidays, here are 10 tips for healthy holiday drinking:
1. Stay hydrated. Staying properly hydrated is critical at all times but especially during the holiday season, when many of us are stressed and rushing about and not always eating or drinking properly. The body's preferred beverage is good old-fashioned water.
If you are going to indulge in holiday libations, drink plenty of water throughout the day and, at the party, chase each alcoholic beverage you drink with a glass of water.
2. The calorie count. Alcohol is a big fat carbohydrate. That's right. It's made by fermenting starches and sugars.
It has little to no nutritional value, but 1 gram of alcohol does have a whopping 7 calories. That makes it almost twice as fattening as 1 gram of either protein or carbohydrate, which have 4 calories per gram. By comparison, fat has 9 calories per gram.
That means that an ounce serving of your favorite 100 proof rum equals a scale-tipping 125 calories.
3. Brew news. If you are big on the brewsky, know that two bottles of beer will set you back 300 calories.
4. Bursting the champagne bubble. The elegant bubbly is quite delicious, but a typical 6-ounce glass has 165 calories. When it comes to champagne, best to sip and savor only one glass.
5. Just desserts. Dessert liqueurs, hugely popular during this time of the year, are loaded with empty calories. A 5-ounce serving of Bailey's Irish Cream has 475 calories, for example. That's almost 500 calories in one drink!
You could have an entire meal - green salad, 4 ounces of baked salmon, a cup of broccoli and a small sweet potato - for a lot less.
6. E is for eggnog. A typical cup of eggnog contains about 350 calories and 20 grams of fat - and that's without the liquor. Add two shots for a whopping 600-calorie drink.
7. What about wine? Yes, there's been lots of research that suggests moderate wine consumption is good for you. The question is, what's "moderate consumption"?
The answer: 5 ounces.
The USDA recommends that women have no more than one 5-ounce serving daily; for men, the recommendation is two 5-ounce servings. Anything above that increases your health risks.
Besides, if you are drinking for the antioxidants, just eat dark grapes or drink 100 percent dark grape juice, because the anti-oxidants are in the grapes not the alcohol.
By the way, a glass of white is 120 calories, a glass of red is 130, and dessert wine is 270 calories per serving.
8. Mixing it up. I understand that sometimes you just can't avoid festive holiday mixed drinks, so here's my advice: Ask for small portions of the drink and sip slowly to make it last.
For example, margaritas have become a really popular drink, one frequently requested by the ladies. Though quite delicious, one 6.5 ounce margarita is a jaw-dropping 455 calories. To make matters worse, many restaurant servings are double that. Ouch!
Those are a lot of calories, girls, that would require about 2 ½ hours of running to burn off. You can see where I'm going with this.
9. Don't drink and drive. This may be stating the obvious, but just in case you need a reminder, please be safe this holiday season.
Alcohol impairs our reactions and our judgment. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 2004 annual report estimated that alcohol was involved in 39 percent of fatal crashes and accounted for the deaths of 16,694 people.
Moreover, about three in 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related car accident at some time in their lives.
10. Celebrate you. This year, make a toast to your health. Start the New Year off right without doing any damage to your diet. *