Holiday Cocktail Calorie Count!

by Susan Cross | Posted: December 15th, 2011 | No Comments »

The Holiday season is full of celebrations – cocktails and toasts almost every night from now right through New Year’s Eve.

Today I’m sharing the calorie count in your favorite cocktails. If you’ve worked hard all year to maintain your health don’t let it unravel over a few cups of spiked eggnog.

Moderate drinking, which means one or two drinks, does offer some health benefits. Red wine has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease. Scientists believe the antioxidants, called flavonoids reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in three ways: by reducing the production of LDL (the bad) cholesterol, raising HDL (good) cholesterol and helping to reduce blood clotting.

However, if you imbibe heavily every night from now through the New Year, you will do damage to your weight and your health. Try to limit your alcohol intake to a few nights a week. Choose lower calorie drinks like a glass of good red wine, a white wine spritzer, champagne, or best yet, my Venus Skinny Cocktail.

How can a few hundred liquid calories effect your weight loss? Here’s how: food, which contains nutrients (proteins, fats and carbohydrates), can be stored in the body and used as fuel. Alcohol has no nutritional value, or what we refer to as empty calories. Alcohol can’t be stored in your body – and the calories need to be used immediately. So your body stops burning fat until all the alcohol is processed – approximately 1.5 hours for each drink consumed. After a few holiday parties that can add up to a lot of fat storage!

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: The ounces are the total alcohol content.

White Wine – 5 oz. 100 calories
Red Wine – 5 oz. 105 calories
Dry dessert wine – 5 oz. 198 calories
Sweet dessert wine – 5 oz. 344 calories
Champagne* – 5 oz. 85 calories
Spiked Egg Nog – 8 oz. 350 calories
Frozen Mudslide – 6 oz. 450 calories
Bailey’s Irish Cream – 1.5 oz. 375 calories (1.5 oz.!)
Peppermint Schnapps – 1 oz. 110 calories (1 oz!)
Cognac – 1 oz. 80 calories
Margarita – 6.3 oz. 400 calories
Cosmopolitan – 2.5 oz. 160 calories
Manhattan – 3 oz. 180 calories
Rum and Coke – 12 oz. 361 calories
Screwdriver – 7 oz. 208 calories
Daquiri – 2.7 oz. 225 calories
Martini – 2 oz. 119 calories
Gin and Tonic – 7 oz. 189 calories
Beer – 12 oz. 150 calories
Light Beer – 12 oz. 110 calories
Dark Beer – 12 oz. 170 calories
Non-Alcoholic Beer – 12 oz. 70 (why bother) calories
Scotch, Bourbon, Vodka -1.5 oz. 120 calories
Bloody Mary – 5 oz. 120 calories
Kamikaze – 3 oz. 250 calories

*I knew champagne was my favorite for a good reason – those monks knew what they were doing!

For every 250 calorie drink you consume, you will need to do one of the following activities to break even:

-70 minutes of power walking
-30 minutes of jogging
-40 minutes of swimming
-30 minutes of spinning

Please enjoy the Holidays and always drink responsibly!