To burn off excess calories gained during party and festivities you are probably keen to get on with an after Christmas diet plan.
Probably just like me you allowed yourself to eat and drink more promising to turn excesses in sacrifices one day. Where do we start from?
By far the best drink after water is tomato juice seasoned with salt and lemon, full of antioxidants and vitamins.
The best cocktail to pick up is a Bloody Mary, then. A deep red cocktail created 80 years ago by a bartender at Harry’s Bar in Paris. Served in the morning, it is also a real blessing for those who have to fight dehydration and vitamin deficiencies caused by the hangover.
- 1 oz. to 1½ oz. (30-45 ml) vodka
- 3 or 4 ice cubes
- Tomato juice
- Celery stalk for garnishment
- 1 dash ground black pepper
- 1 dash tabasco sauce
- 2-4 dashes of worcestershire sauce
- ½ lemon (to squeeze)
- A pinch of salt
You can prepare it directly in a highball glass, adding the vodka together with ice cubes, tomato juice and all the other ingredients. I suggest to stir it, not to shake it. In fact If you shake a Bloody Mary you will get a lot of froth from tomato juice and the ice will melt quickly making the cocktail insipid before you can finish it. Garnish with a celery stalk and a skewer of olives, pickels and carrots, if you fancy. Serve it fresh.
Distinguish between lighter and heavier drinks
Maybe the topic “low-calorie cocktail” is just an excuse to introduce you to this healthy cocktail. It is not my intention to further pursue this subject, indeed. I think it is quite pointless to warn you that a Pina colada contains much more calories than a Margarita. I’d rather not to remind that to myself either since I would probably start following a drastic diet based on temporary and pointless restrictions.
What I think would be more useful instead is to give a general look at the amount of calories contained in cocktails and to acquire some knowledge useful to distinguish between lighter and heavier drinks.
The reason why a White Russian has more calories than a Bloody Mary, for example, is the sugar and alcohol content, with the main contribution coming from alcohol. 1 gram of it contains 7 calories. As a consequence if you follow a diet you should avoid large quantities of alcohol and start gaining an insight into calories contained in different spirits. Let’s see how.
On each bottle you can read a percentage: the alcohol content. With a little of mathematics and a couple of notions of physics you will come to know how much calories that percentage corresponds to.
How many calories are there in your favourite cocktail?
The alcohol content is expressed as a percentage of the total volume of alcohol. For example, a liter of wine showing 12% vol. contains 12 cents of gallons of alcohol (ie 12 cl or 120 ml).
If the specific gravity of alcohol is equal to 1, 120 ml correspond exactly 120 grams of alcohol. The specific gravity of 0.79 of alcohol is, in other words, a liter of alcohol weighs 0.79 kg. The grams of alcohol contained in a liter of 12 degrees wine is therefore 120 × 0.79 = 94.8 grams. Finally, multiply by 7.
The formula is: Degrees = kcal × (quantity in liters) × 7.9 × 7.
Ok, I do not blame you if you use the calculator to work it out or if you forget about calculus and just consider that highest percentages correspond to more alcohol which corresponds to more calories.
Wines contains less alcohol. The last two cocktails I have suggested (Bellini, Happy Honey Pear cocktail), based on a sparkling wine (even more lighter than red wines), can be considered a good choices in terms of low calories drinks.
In conclusion I have just one simple suggestion: if you wish to order a long island tea, knowing that it accounts for around 750 calories, just associate it to a lighter dinner. And maybe stop dreaming, just like me, of a world in which a tea has 300 calories and a pina colada only 30. Less drastic restrictions and a little more moderation and awareness make us healthier drinkers.
