Beware of the small bites — they add up to big calories

Continuous tiny tastes of food throughout the coming days from now through the New Year can result in unwelcome weight gains.  Alice Henneman from the University of Nebraska has a short video, “Tiny Tastes Can Total Big Calories over the Winter Holidays,” that shows how bites can add up to excess pounds.  You will enjoy watching it if you can here on YouTube.com.

But if you can’t here is the jist of the video.

Let’s see how a day full of tiny tastes can add up.  You get up early to bake cookies for the family and one breaks as you take it off the cookie sheet.  You deserve it don’t you-after all you did get up early! 60 calories.

Someone brings homemade peanut brittle to the break room.  You will eat just one small piece. 80 calories.

During your lunch break you stop at the grocery store and they are giving samples of cheese and crackers.  Oh good, that will tide you over until you stop at the fast food restaurant on your way back to work. 40 calories.

When you do stop to get your fast food meal they are giving away one-fourth cup samples of their new holiday flavored coffee.  You can’t resist. 20 calories.

Back at the break room some chocolate covered cherries have appeared.Chocolate is good for us right? And I will only eat one. 60 calories.

At the party after work you might want to move away from the table with that yummy dip — you have already had three dips full. 75 calories.

That old-fashioned eggnog sure looks good.  One cup can’t hurt, right? 200 calories.

There are only a couple of tablespoons of sweet potato casserole left, you might as well eat it.  60 calories.

You are helping dish up dessert and you take one tablespoon of candy cane ice cream just to sample. 70 calories.

So how many calories do you think you sampled in just small bites today?  A total of 665.  Since one pound of body fat is made up of 3,500 calories if you ate this many extra every day between now and the first of the year you would gain eight pounds!

During the holiday season it is hard to resist sampling the food you are preparing or baking.  Plus, there are more special social occasions with great food.  Being mindful or aware of the problem is a great first step.  Here are a few strategies to curb the tendency for taking many tiny tastes:

Volunteer to take fruit and vegetable trays to family dinners and parties to ensure that you have something healthy to snack on.

Be the last in the food line, taking a plate of food, eating it, and moving out of reach from the buffet table.

Select one favorite holiday treat to take to all the events you plan to attend, then spend one day making and then freezing them.  Then stay out of the kitchen and spend time decorating or making non-food presents.

Commit to writing down every bite down so you can see what you have consumed and be aware of all those small bites.

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