Christmas is such an exciting time of year, lights are twinkling, families get together, children eager anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus, and indulgent food is all around.
Selection boxes, mince pies, and Christmas pudding feature frequently, and the calorie and sugar content might surprise you. Many people find that they gain weight over the festive season, and struggle to lose the excess pounds come the New Year. The indulgent treats unfortunately contain quite an amount of free sugars, thus contributing to a higher calorie intake than usual. Unless we are active enough to cancel out the treats, they will show on the weighting scales. It is possible however by being Sugar smart with our food choices, to enjoy a little of what we fancy, without it resulting in unwanted weight gain. Have a look below to see how your choices fare. If you find your sugar intake is high, be sugar smart and choose a smaller portion and less often.
| Food | Sugars (g) | Equivalent teaspoons
(1 teaspoon = 5g) |
| Average mince pie | 22 | 4.5 |
| Iced finger slice fruit cake | 24 | 5 |
| Individual Christmas pudding (100g) | 43 | 8.5 |
| Individual festive Bakewell tart | 17 | 3.5 |
| Fruit crumble (1 serving) | 47 | 9.5 |
| Trifle | 27 | 5.5 |
| Cheesecake | 17 | 3.5 |
| Selection box | 106g | 21 |
| Cranberry sauce | 8.7 | 1.5 |
December 2019