Best & Worst Cocktails - By Calories not taste.

8 September 2011

Most girls love cocktails, there's pretty much something to suit everyone's taste.
I myself am a sweet kind of girl favoring a similar type of cocktail. I mostly like the fruity ones. A Cosmo, Woo Woo, Singapore Sling, Mai Tai, Peach Crush, you get the kind I mean.

I'm also partial to an Amaretto Sour and if there's a cocktail with cherry in it you can count me in. Now that I think about it there's a also a couple that are less sweet that I can sometimes get on board with too....Long Island Iced Tea always go down very well and definitely gets me in that party mood.

Basically there's A LOT I love!

How many calories in cocktails? You'll be surprised.

However, when it comes to choosing that's where it gets complicated for me. A long while back the sheer enjoyment of having a cocktail was taken down a peg or two for me. I read an article about the calories in a selection of cocktails. To say that I was shocked by what I read would be an understatement. Needless to say from that point on I've been a little more conscious of my cocktail choices. 

Now, if you would like to go ahead enjoying guilt free cocktails then I suggest you stop reading this now.

If, like me, you prefer to be informed so you can still make the wrong choices but at least burn off a few extra calories the next day or have 'good day' then I've put together a brief list for your reading enjoyment (horror).


Top 5 Worst Cocktails by Calorie Content (not deliciousness)! 

Long Island Iced Tea - Clocks in at around a whopping....prepare yourself...780 Calories per drink! Go ahead Google it, I'm not making that up. Effectively if you drink three of these (2,340 calories) you've probably consumed more than your recommended daily intake of calories without having anything else that day. If your supposed to be sticking to the average calorie consumption for a healthy weight loss which is 1,200 calories then I suggest you avoid this drink. Which is exactly what I didn't do last Saturday night!

Margaritas - So good. Especially the frozen fruit ones and let's face it if you're going for Mexican food you almost have to have one. Beware though there's usually a fair amount of tequila, triple sec and a very sugary lime/fruit mixer.. They're also never that small in size. I personally have to use two hands to pick up the ones at my favorite Mexican restaurant. No surprise really that they can be up to 740 calories! Or was it?!

Yes I drank that, the whole 740 calories of delicious frozen raspberry Margarita, actually...
...maybe I had two......ahhh cr*p! Next time I might have to choose more wisely :(

Pina ColadaAnother of my favorites I forgot to mention before. This drink says vacation to me. Its creamy and fruity which doesn't seem like a match made in heaven but oh my it really is!! Such a good mix of rum, coconut milk and pineapple juice (or sometimes pineapple premix, full of sugar) that it's perhaps the most famous beach drink in the world! Made with the sugary mix this will average about 640 calories. It'll be a little less if it's made with fresh pineapple. My advice to you, avoid this at home and enjoy it on your vacation when calories don't count! Haha!

White Russian - The first on this list that I don't actually love. Woohoo! This is made with vodka, coffee liqueur and cream. It's not as bad as the previous few, containing around 420 calories per drink. However, the thing about this drink is not only does it contain quite a bit of sugar it also contains FAT. The same goes for other cocktails made using milk and cream, like Mudslides, which are sadly delicious!

Mai Tai - Another from my list. Oh Dear! This is such a sweet scrumptious cocktail that it just has to be high on calories. Made with two different rums, light and dark, and creme de almond. It's mixed with sweet and sour mix and pineapple juice. It has about 350 calories. Better than all my other favorites at least!

Which cocktail has the most calories? I'll give you a clue, it's not the obvious answer.


How to do 'Diet Friendly' Cocktail Night.

It's not easy to choose what to drink when you're on a diet. Avoiding alcohol altogether is the best way to save yourself from consuming the empty calories. Being a dieter myself I know that it's not always possible to cut out alcohol altogether though. Sometimes it's part of being social with your friends or perhaps it's been one of those weeks!

Whatever the case you have a few options...

Choose vodka and diet soda. Vodka's calories are the lowest of the spirits. This is the drink that will give you the most bang for your buck calories.  On average it's about 70-80 calories for a measure depending on the type. There are also lots of flavoured vodkas to add a bit of variety. If you have diet soda then it will be under 100 calories per drink. Rum is also not too bad if you just mix it with diet soda.

If you really really have to have a cocktail than the best choices are...

Bloody Mary
HighBall
Manhattan
Moscow Mule
Mojito

These all have about 150-200 calories each.

For some further reading on ways to make the best alcohol choices check out this article on CocktailAtlas.com...It's All in the Mix.

I hope I've not ruined anyone's weekend by posting this. I just like being able to make informed decisions. To me it's about finding the balance between enjoyment and guilt. For me that balance is a Mai Tai!

Please let me know if you thought this post was helpful or not by leaving a comment. I hope you'll follow me too on here using the links to the right or on Bloglovin'...

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xxx

2 comments:

  1. Eek those calories are a bit scary! Thank god my favourite drinks are vodka or rum with diet coke :D Those cocktails do look lovely though!

    http://victoriasprocrastinationproject.blogspot.com

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  2. They were so delicious! So sad I now know the truth though :(

    They'll never be quite the same again!

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