‘Just some Xmas shopping fuel…’ 🥤

At this time of year all the coffee shops bring out their range of festive coffees and hot chocolates. You’re out Christmas shopping, or meeting up with friends and family, so you just grab a quick festive drink and a snack to enjoy and get you in the festive spirit and help fuel that shopping. You’ll drink it in minutes, and the snack will disappear without really thinking or noticing. But that’s ok, because it’s just a festive hot choc, and it’s Christmas….

These drinks do vary but are all pretty high calorie. This particular example is a Costa Terry’s Hot Chocolate (medium, semi-skimmed milk) and comes in at 353 cals, 40g sugar and 13g fat. The slice of Chocolate & Caramel Nutcracker Cake is around 472 cals (41g sugar and 23g fat). That’s a grand total of 825 cals.

On the other hand that whole chocolate orange comes in at almost the same calories – 822. Now whilst I’m sure you could eat a chocolate orange in one sitting (I certainly could) most people probably wouldn’t . You’d probably spread it over a few hours or possibly days, rather than eating it all in one go and certainly wouldn’t have any extra snacks with it (unlike the hot choc).

Christmas is definitely a time to relax a bit on calories and certainly a time to focus more on sharing memories and happy times with people you care about. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of the calories in some of the treats you are having.

Knowledge is power so being aware of the calorie content of things, and also of our own perceptions of the things we consume is always a good thing.

If you want the festive drink – have it and enjoy it. If you want to eat your way through a chocolate orange in one go then go for it. Just be aware of the calories so you’re making an educated choice!

Merry Christmas 🎄
Xx