We’ve decked the malls with boughs of holly, strings of lights and jolly Santas are making weekend and matinee appearances, Bing is crooning away on the radio and I’m checking out my window every half hour for snow. The holidays are upon us!
For us dieters, the holidays can be a gauntlet of snack laden parties, gift boxes of candies, and of course the family dinners loaded with turkeys, hams, rich gravies, cheesy casseroles, and mini marshmallows suspended in jello and topped with whipped cream that someone’s Aunt keeps calling “salad”.
It’s a lot of fun, but it adds up fast. There are lots of tips and tricks for making it through without undoing months of discipline, one of the first is keeping alcohol consumption down. That’s good advice for a lot of reasons but we’re talking strictly calories here. For instance, a ½ pint of beer is good for 115+ calories, and for a 6oz glass of wine you’re looking at 80+ calories. Put a few of those on top of Grannie’s pumpkin pie, and you’ve earned yourself an extra 5lbs to stuff into your New Years Eve dress. Many dieters will turn to the spritzer. (2oz wine, 60z club soda = 40 calories)
In my opinion, if you enjoy a glass of wine…it’s hard to enjoy a spritzer.
It came up at my last weigh-in that the spritzer can be disappointing, but apparently, there’s a trick to it. As it turns out, wine is denser than soda. So, if you pour your wine first and put the soda on top, it just sits in the bottom and tastes like bitter water. If you pour the wine on top of the soda, it filters down and although it’s not the same, there’s still a nice flavour evenly distributed throughout the whole drink.
Whatever you’re drinking over the holidays, remember your designated driver and get home safe.
