It’s Christmaaaaaaaaaas!
So short and sweet today, no calorie comparisons! And because it’s Christmas, chocolate is definitely a perfectly acceptable breakfast food this morning!

Enjoy! Merry Christmas 🎄🍊🍫xx

Just a few festive nibbles…’ 🎄

At this time of year there tend to be treats out all over the place – boxes of open chocolates at the office, at home, in shops, mini mince pies out in the tea room, crisps at home etc. It’s certainly a time when we should relax a little enjoy some of these foods we like but so often it becomes mindless snacking just for the sake of it. You grab a lindor ball as you walk through to the kitchen, where you idly shove a few crisps in your mouth, before popping a celebration in as you head back to the living room.. Sound familiar? You probably won’t even remember you’ve had them! And you almost certainly won’t attribute excess calories to these little nibbles here and there.

But as you can see – it’s quite easy to consume more than a substantial meal’s worth of calories in ‘just a few nibbles’ . The meal pictured is a Zizzi dish of roasted mushroom risotto – not a specifically low calorie meal. It comes in at 669 cals. The nibbles – 5 celebrations chocolates (337 cals), 2 lindor balls (146 cals), mini mince pie (114 cals) and some crisps (30g Kettle chips) – are a hefty 751 cals – and you’d probably still go and have dinner as well….

So whilst I definitely wouldn’t suggest you avoid all the festive snacks, it might be worth just being a little bit mindful of them. If you want them – have them and actually enjoy eating them, rather than just popping them in your mouth without a thought. Be aware of the calories so you’re making an educated choice!

Merry Christmas 🎄
Xx

The office Christmas party… 🥂

At this time of year there are bound to be lots of festive social events – whether it’s the office/work party, drinks with neighbours, school parent gathering or a family party etc.

Now whilst it’s obviously only one month of the year and it’s perfectly fine to just indulge as much as you want, for many there’s a desire to maintain some sort of control to stay on track with their goals.

If you do want to stay vaguely on track then you’re going to have to make some compromises. So this may mean choosing which events to ‘splurge’ at and which to be a little more careful at. That doesn’t mean you have to shun all the festive treats, or not go to the event, you could just modify what you have or have smaller portions of the same things.

So rather than having say 3 large glasses of red wine and a glass of champagne, you could instead have 2 double gin and slimline tonics and a glass of champagne. Rather than mindlessly shovelling 150g of crisps and a couple of mini mince pies in your mouth, you could just have one decent sized bag (40g) and one mini mince pie. In doing so you’re saving yourself over 1000 cals and still having fun without being a ‘party pooper’.

You can still enjoy the festive period and enjoy festive treats but you can also choose when to indulge and when to moderate things a bit. You’re in control and knowledge is power so just be aware of what you’re consuming if you want to stay on track!

Merry Christmas 🎄
Xx

‘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