Calories in A Holiday Meal

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Happy Holidays from Diet Bites

How to Trim Your Holiday Calories While Trimming Your Tree

The average holiday dinner contains about 4,000 calories and enough fat to raise the Titanic - and your weight scales.

To compound matters, the traditional holiday meal is filled with gassy objects such as sweet potatoes, turkey, ham, fruit salad, nuts, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and Aunt Freda's homemade baked beans. That's enough gas to blow up the Titanic - and your weight scales.

If we only consumed one extremely-loaded-in-calories-and-fat meal on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day, it wouldn't be so bad. Naughty? Oh yes. Bad? Yes, a teensy bad - but if followed by a few days of 'I'm watching what I eat today to make up for the holiday' - then everything can be brought into balance.

However, most of us are very naughty, and eating one meal on a glorious holiday is just unthinkable. In turn, those 4,000+ calories end up doubling into 8,000 calories for those who enjoy a Titanic Lunch & Dinner.

And we can't forget all those slices of luscious pies and cakes we munch on throughout the day - not to mention, all the rich candies, nuts, cheese balls and cookies. It's enough to make a grown dieter cry. Twice. 

Especially when the calories from our breakfast meal are heaped onto the daily calorie intake. Who can resist homemade cranberry nut bread hot out of the oven on Christmas morning?

But don't panic just yet!  This is how to trim your holiday calories while trimming your tree.

Calories in a Holiday Meal - A Sample of a Traditional Holiday Meal

Here is how to save three-fourth's the calories on the following foods:

Turkey

Roasted Turkey - 6 Ounces Dark + White Meat, Untrimmed = 450 kcals

Roasted Turkey - 3 Ounces White Meat - Trimmed (no skin, no fat). White meat contains a little less calories than dark.  Add 30 more calories if you prefer dark meat. 130 kcals

Stuffing

1 Cup of homemade stuffing = 400 kcals
1/2 Cup of boxed stuffing prepared with light margarine = 110 kcals

Giblet Gravy

1 Cup of Giblet Gravy = 300 kcals
1/3 Cup of Giblet Gravy = 100 kcals

Mashed Potatoes

1 Cup of homemade Mashed Potatoes prepared with butter and whole milk = 350 kcals
1/2 Cup of Mashed Potatoes prepared with skim milk, light margarine = 100 kcals 

Stuffed Celery

1 stick stuffed with cream cheese = 100 kcals
1 Stick of stuffed celery prepared with reduced fat cream cheese = 40 kcals

Relish Tray

2 Sweet Pickles, 10 Black/Green Olives = 125 kcals
2 Black Olives, 2 Green Olives = 25 kcals

Sweet Potatoes

1 Cup of Candied Sweet Potatoes = 400 kcals
1/2 Baked Sweet Potato with a small pat of margarine, dash of cinnamon, a couple of packs of no calorie sweetener = 100 kcals

Cranberry Sauce

1/2 Cup of Cranberry Sauce = 200 kcals
 1/6 Can of Cranberry Sauce - Jelled or Whole Cranberries = 100 kcals

Dinner Rolls

2 Rolls With Butter = 300 kcals
1 Roll With 1/2 Pat of Butter = 125 kcals and even less when using light margarine or reduced fat spreads.

English Peas

1 Cup of English Peas with Butter = 150 kcals
1/2 Cup of English Peas with refrigerated no calorie butter spray = 60 kcals
 

Holiday Beverages

2 Glasses Sweetened Tea, Wine, Punch or Cider = 300 kcals
Unsweetened Beverages - Unlimited = 0 calories

Fruit-Based Pie

1 Slice of Pumpkin Pie With Topping = 450 kcals
1 Slice of Autumn Pumpkin Pie - 150 kcals

Nut-Based Pie

1 Slice of Pecan Pie = 650 kcals
1 Cup of Fruit Salad = 100 kcals

Egg Nog

1 Cup of Egg Nog = 400 kcals
1 Cup of Holiday Egg Nog = 100 kcals

Grand Total of higher calorie selections: 4,575 kcals
Grand Total of lower, healthier calorie selections: 1,240 kcals

WOW!  We trimmed our mega meal down to about 1/4 the original calories!  

Diet Tips for the Holidays

Here are some more tips that will help keep you from tipping the scales this holiday season:

Skip those tempting appetizers.  

Each luscious and sinful bite contains about 100 calories or more a pop!  It's not worth it. Instead, focus on enjoying an entire slice of pie with your holiday meal.

Opt for unsweetened beverages.

Sweeten with no calorie packets.  A lemon or lime will add beauty to your beverage without spiking up the calories.

Speaking of spiking - trot away from the holiday spirits and save a ton of calories (and hiccups to boot!).

Allow the no calorie butter sprays to become your very comfortable crutch!  If you opt for real butter/margarine, try to use sparingly - about one half the amount you usually use.

Cranberry sauce is very high in calories.  It's very deceiving because it's made from fruit (the cranberry).  In fact, the innocent looking cranberry was probably the culprit in the Garden of Eden rather than the good apple.

Pecan pie. "Just say NO."  

It's pure unadulterated sugar!  White sugar, brown sugar, and syrup AND nuts.  So, steer clear if you are watching your waistline.

Leave the cheese balls and the nut dish alone.  Let your skinny Aunt Freda devour at will.  As for the nuts, they contain about 400 calories per cup and are extremely high in fat.

Don't feel obligated to eat anything that you don't want to.  Many times, people innocently concoct a holiday goody that's loaded with so much sugar that it would give an army of bats rotten teeth.  

If you find yourself locked in a situation where you just can't say no, then take the treat and discretely find a method of disposal.  (Don't give kitty or puppy anything containing chocolate.) (Don't flush large objects down the toilet.)

Eat very slowly and savor each and every bite.  It takes about 20 minutes before your stomach registers what your mouth put inside.

Dinner - try to eat very light OR skip entirely.