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Naughty and Nice Drinks

Five Most & Least Fattening Cocktails
Ah, the holidays ... we eat, we drink, we indulge -- and then we pay for it. According to the National Institutes of Health, pounds put on during the holidays account for half of all weight gained annually. The unsuspected culprit is alcohol.
"Calories from cocktails don't fill you up like calories from food," explains Tara Gidus, M.S., R.D., national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "And, after one or two drinks, you may be more likely to say yes to that pecan pie."
For every alcoholic drink, you should down two glasses of water to fill you up and keep you hydrated. Then, pick your potion wisely.

Five Drinks to Avoid
1. Eggnog: Six fluid ounces of eggnog without alcohol, has 257 calories and 14 grams of fat (more than a Snickers bar). Add some distilled spirits and your drink of choice is more than 300 calories.
2. Hot Toddies: A hot toddy with 2 ounces of liquor is about 200 calories, and that's without the whipped cream. Creamy liquors like Baileys, Kahlua, Amaretto and Schnapps are particularly dangerous averaging about 100 calories an ounce.
3. Martinis: Anything that has a sweet taste and a sugar rim is probably bad news (think lemon drops, appletinis, cosmopolitans).
"Most martinis have 2 to 5 ounces of liquor, and the sugary syrups they're made with can add up to more than 800 calories in one drink," says Gidus.
4. Margaritas: A regular margarita has about 400 calories. Couple it with a heavy Mexican meal and you have a recipe for diet disaster.
5. Mixers: One and a half ounces of 80-proof spirits is 65 calories. Add 6 ounces of calorie-laden soda or a variety of syrups and you’re well over the calorie count for a "light" drink.

Five Smarter Sips
1. Champagne: At 100 calories, ringing in the New Year with this traditional toasting beverage won't wreak havoc on your waistline.
2. Wine Spritzer: With 3 ounces of wine and 3 ounces of club soda, wine spritzers top out at about 60 calories and zero grams of fat.
3. Wine: The typical glass of wine weighs in at 100 calories. Opt for red and you’ll get a healthy dose of disease-fighting chemicals called flavonols, too.
4. Beer: Light or regular, a bottle of beer is a much better option than most cocktails.
"Drink from the bottle instead of the larger servings from draft beers," says Gidus. Regular beer has 150 calories to the bottle, while light has about 100.
5. Vodka (or Gin) & Soda: Most mixers with 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits and diet or club soda have less than 100 calories and no fat.

--Amy Paturel, M.S., M.P.H.