Hey Chicks!
Happy Wednesday!
It’s our last week of bootcamps and classes for 2011…I can’t believe another year has flown by. Even though we will be back on Jan 10th to sweat up a storm, I would never leave my chicks without help to steer clear of some of the major holiday saboteurs (well, not steer clear but to be able to decide which ones are worth it!)
Last night at my Toronto Bootcamp class, we got into talking about holiday calories. While I don’t ever want my chicks to become calorie counters, sometimes we just aren’t realistic about how much we can pack in in a few short meals. So I wanted to share our top 5 holiday diet busters that are calorie-fat-sugar bombs that you can decide if they are part of your holiday plan. Hopefully they aren’t all your faves – but if you must indulge in one of the diet busters, remember portion control! Try to only have one or two of the following items with your holiday dinner.
TOP 5 HOLIDAY DIET BUSTERS
1. Eggnog
Nog is just a fat and sugar nightmare! One cup of this fatty drink logs in at 350 calories, 20 grams of fat and over 20 grams of sugar! That’s not to mention the rum that most peeps spike it with will add another 100 cals. CalorieKing says to burn off 1 cup of eggnog, you would have to walk for 95 minutes, cycle for 52 minutes, jog for 39 minutes or swim for 29 minutes! If you must, try a light eggnog – or add a splash to your coffee to get the noggy taste! And if you’re following one of those personalized medical weight loss programs, I’d highly recommend you to stay away from eggnog.
2. Mashed Potatoes
Traditional mashed tend to be full of cream and butter. Unless you are making them yourselves, try to stick to “naked” veggies at dinner. 1 cup of mashed can have upwards of 450 calories! (and one cup ain’t very much!)
3. Gravy with Drippings
Gravy always tastes extra delicious when it’s made from the drippings of the bird – but it adds mucho fat and calories. a 1/4 cup servings can add as much as 350 calories and 18 grams of fat to your meal! Don’t go for the packaged pre made gravy (too many chemicals) so my advice – have it on the side so can see how much you use.
4.Cranberry sauce
This innocent looking condiment is a total sugar bomb. A mere 1/4 cup has 100 calories and 25 grams of sugar! Plus, who knows what is in the pre made stuff. What to do..make your own! Fresh cranberries, orange juice and sweeten to taste using honey.
5. Stuffing
If you cook the stuffing inside the bird, it absorbs the fat and an have over 350 calories per cup. That goes up if you add high fat ingredients like sausage meat or nuts. Note to self: Prepare as a side to prevent adding extra “stuffing” to YOU this holiday
What’s left to eat? Tons of veggies, lean turkey or ham and roasted veggies like sweet potatoes and parsnips are all good choices. To drink, create holiday cocktails with soda water, splash of cranberry and oranges (and it looks so pretty) or red wine (only a 140 cals a glass..just don’t drink the bottle!). And remember, stay away from the packaged stuff..yuck!
Hope these help you out and if you have any holiday tips that work for you, please share!
Make today fabulous!
Your head chick, Laura xo
PS Just a quick note as to what’s going on in the world of FC – we are wrapping up this year on a high note with a little giving back to your local community under our ‘Chicks 4 Change” charity initiative and running our FC Holiday food drive this week at all classes. Don’t forget to bring in your non perishable food items to class for a chance to win a free 4 week bootcamp (each item is a eligible for a ballot in the draw!)
Also, to celebrate the launch of our new online FC Store we have FREE SHIPPING on all orders in Canada placed by Friday, Dec 16th as well as our “What motivates you to be fit & fabulous?” contest to win one of our new “Fierce, Sassy, Sexy” FC Signature T-Shirts! Make sure to enter..they are super cute!
