Holiday Tasting Traps

If your health goal this holiday season is to maintain and not gain weight, keep an eye out for those sneaky sampling calories that can creep up on you. Every sip you drink and every bite you take can add up quickly and make a big difference. Consider paying a little more attention to those tiny tastes that can total big calories.

Cooper Clinic Registered Dietitian, Elana Paddock, RD, LD, CDE offers this scenario to ponder:

Taste 1: Cookie Bite

You woke up early this morning to bake some holiday cookies for the office. There’s a very small broken piece that came off the baking sheet. You don’t want to throw it away so you have a bite. One broken piece of a cookie = 30 calories!

Taste 2: Gingerbread Latte Taste

On your way to work, you stop by your favorite coffee shop to get a boost of caffeine. You’re planning to order a medium cup of coffee, but at the counter, you can’t help but notice some enticing samples. You taste the tiny cup of gingerbread latte topped with a dollop of whipped cream. A 1 oz sample cup = 25 calories!

Taste 3: Brownie Nibble

Next to the latte samples, the seasonal peppermint brownie sample is staring you in the face. You don’t plan to buy a whole brownie so why not take a little nibble! One nibble = 37 calories!

Taste 4: Handful of M&M’s

After you set down the cookies in the employee break room, you walk past your co-worker’s desk and there sits a glass bowl of holiday M&M’s. You try to resist, but you give in to the temptation and those 13 M&M’s = 56 calories!

Taste 5: Cashew Cluster

Later in the afternoon, you take a water break and pass by a dish of mixed nuts. You pick out your favorite, the cashews, and try to count out just six. Six cashew halves = 51 calories!

Taste 6: Cheese and Crackers

After work, you head over to the grocery store. You have just a few items to pick up. You need to buy some fresh vegetables and you pass the cheese counter on your way to the broccoli. There’s a table set out with gourmet cheese and crackers. That one bite cheese cube and cracker = 71 calories!

Taste 7: Pumpkin Ale

You have one more stop to go and pass by the beer and wine aisle. There is a tasting of several kinds of beer and ale. You want to try the pumpkin ale—just a little sip: 2 oz. = 30 calories!

By now, you have consumed an extra 300 calories that you didn’t plan on eating. You would have to walk briskly for about one hour and 15 minutes to burn that off!

Instead of tasting everything in sight, try chewing a piece of sugar-free gum or popping a Tic Tac in your mouth. Stop and ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” Plan to eat a satisfying snack later and remind yourself that you don’t need the extras today. A little nibble here, a little bite there—don’t deprive yourself, but be aware.

For more information about Cooper Clinic Nutrition Services, click here or call 972.560.2655 .