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Bottoms Up … Not Out
What you put in your glass could add to your waistline
Counting calories has practically become an American pastime, but when it comes to cocktails, we often forget to include them in our daily intake. And they can add up, particularly during the holiday season’s gatherings and parties aplenty.
Gail Posner, a registered dietician who runs Healthy Ways Nutrition Counseling in West Bloomfield, says that with a little knowledge, we can reduce the amount of calories we’re consuming in liquid form.
“The biggest culprits are the frozen drinks,” says Posner. She notes that the average 6-ounce frozen margarita contains about 350 calories. Same goes for piña coladas and daiquiris – have just a couple and you may have taken in more calories than you bargained for. Specialty martinis and dessert wines are also high in calories, she notes.
After-dinner coffee drinks are another calorie cow, with the various liqueurs and added creams doing the damage. Just 1.5 ounces of Kahlua, Amaretto or Bailey’s has between 100 and 150 calories. Add milk, whipped cream and other fattening ingredients, and you could be getting more calories in your cup than on your dessert plate.
Counting calories
When trying to determine how many calories are in your drink of choice, start with the size of the glass.
“Some wine glasses are huge,” says Donna Morrison, a registered dietician with Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. “Though wines are your lowest-calorie alcoholic beverage, with 3.5 ounces running around 70-75 calories, measure out just less than half a cup into your wine glass at home to see what that serving really looks like.”
Your friendly bartender may be giving you a double pour, upping your innocent glass of merlot closer to 140 calories.
Other good choices are light beer (about 100 calories for 12 ounces), and hard liquor (75 calories per ounce) served on the rocks or mixed with diet or club soda. Posner notes that one of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking that tonic water is equal in calories to club soda. Tonic water averages about 10 calories per ounce, while club soda has zero. “[Tonic water] has actually the same calories as a sugary pop,” Posner says, adding that juices also contain as many calories as pop.
Finally, if you’re looking for a good routine to cut your cocktail calories, try starting with a low- or noncaloric drink, such as a glass of sparkling water or club soda with a splash of cranberry juice. Switch between that drink and your alcoholic beverage of choice all evening and you’ll save a few hundred calories – and likely a headache the next morning, too.
Cheers to Low-Cal Cocktails (and a Mocktail, Too)
Skinny Red Dragon
From The Emerald Theatre, Mount Clemens
1.5 ounces Three Olive cherry vodka
4.5 ounces Power-C Dragonfruit Glaceau Vitamin Water
Splash of sour mix
(96 calories, 0g fat)
Diet Shot
From Town Pump Tavern, Detroit
1⁄2 shot Smirnoff orange vodka
1⁄2 shot Smirnoff citrus vodka
Squeeze of lemon
Top off with Sugar Free Rockstar Energy Drink
(64 calories, 0g fat)
Detroit’s Breakfast House Fizz
From Detroit’s Breakfast House & Grill
Club soda topped with your choice of a splash of apple, orange, grapefruit,
pineapple or cranberry juice
(0 calories, 0g fat in club soda; 10-20 calories provided by juice, as calories
vary by type and amount used)