How many calories is too many?

[haley17]

I try to eat in moderation, and enjoy higher calorie foods on occasion. However, especially around the holidays, it seems like very high calorie foods abound. I have been looking for recipes and came across three that looked good, until I looked closely at the ingredients and stats, and I learned that the (very beautiful) cake was over 1100 calories a slice, the egg nog was over 550 calories a serving, and a single cookie for 375 calories. Do you usually go ahead and call it a splurge or do you have a limit that you keep in mind?

[vabelle35]

The things that my family eats that are high in calories are the home made Italian pastries. We have these once or twice a year at the most, so I don't sweat it.

I'm making cheesecake, too, and I haven't made a cheesecake in at least 4 years.

This time of year, I splurge only on the special stuff that we don't eat often and don't overindulge in everyday stuff.

For example, I avoid chocolate chip cookies and other ordinary stuff that is out there and save my calories for the home made fudge and bourbon balls and crab dip that only comes around once a year.

[wallycat]

I periodically splurge.
Weight gain doesn't happen overnight. You can balance how you eat the rest of the week, up your exercise a bit, and do not feel guilty when you indulge or you have defeated the joy of eating that food!
Happy Holidays!

[ChristyMarie]

Oh no no no no no!

You aren't supposed to check the calorie count on special occassion foods! Bad foodie!

I go ahead and make whatever I want - full fat, full calorie versions. It is all about balance. You can't served baked, skinless, boneless chicken breasts on Christmas. Just wouldn't be right.

Besides, holiday calories don't count, everyone knows that.

[LiaHuber]

I do kind of a combo -- I splurge on the "real deal" in small amounts, and then try to make healthier (lower calorie) choices for things that I'm not so invested in, if you know what I mean , for an overall balance.

I think you'd enjoy a piece called Making Sense of Moderation, about getting loads of pleasure from food while still making healthy choices . . . which is what we're all about on Nourish Network.

Great question!

[GayeC]

I agree about splurging only on the special stuff (although I'd have to think twice about an 1100 calorie piece of cake!) and balancing it out with more exercise and lower-calorie choices on the regular stuff. Around the holidays I definitely avoid high-calorie foods that serve no useful purpose (chips, store-bought cookies, etc.).

[SusanMac]

I focus on the foods I really, really like. Also, I work to make the Tday & Xmas meals pretty healthy. I mean, I don't think sweet potatoes really need tons of butter & cream to taste awesome, for example. For me, personally, I would find another great cake to make.

I also make sure to not slack off on exercise during the holidays. the exercise helps not just with the increased calories, but with the stress, too!

I don't want to sound too noble, though. We put back tons of cookies, bourbon balls & spiced nuts during the holidays :-) And, OMG, do I love egg nog. I can never decide between 'low fat' (which is basically like drinking straight HFCS) or the full-on stuff

[swedish cook]

I agree with wallycat. A long time ago I was told that the human body can only make 150 grams (5,3 ounces) of fatty tissue in one single day - no matter how much you eat. If you gain more it's retained water.
Enjoy Thanksgiving or that piece of rich cake and watch what you eat the rest of the week!

[yasicat]

I agree with all of the above - I try to use common sense and moderation. If I'm the one doing the cooking, I usually go out of my way to try and find lower fat or lower calorie ways of doing so - like the example of the sweet potatoes another poster mentioned - I've made the full-fat and the lightened versions over the years and I actually like the lightened version better. There are some things that I believe you have to go full fat on (pie crust is one of those, for me), so I just accept that and I try to maybe limit myself to smaller portions or single servings of the foods I know are rich. Since my husband is lactose intolerant, we've moved to Silk Nog . For me, it's the same flavor, just not as thick and rich, and far lower in calories which actually works out better (sometimes egg nog is just too rich for my taste). As for a cake with 1100 calories/slice, I guess I would ask myself how special or unique it is - there are a lot of good cakes out there that clock in more around the 600-800 cal/slice, and I still think that's a little on the high side. If it was me, I'd probably end up looking for another recipe, or if I was really attached to that cake recipe, I might cut back on other desserts I would be making.

[vabelle35]

I'm guessing that a slice of cake at 1100 calories is probably very rich and dense and you couldn't eat a very big piece of it anyway.

I know I have some cheesecake recipes that take 32 oz of cream cheese and are so heavy and so dense that you can only about 3 tablespoons of it.

[oct2189]

My everyday eating is really healthy, but at special dinners and holidays, I splurge on the treats I really love. I do generally have small quantities, especially when it comes to sweets.
I found that if I ignore the "pull" of the pumpkin pie, I'll just keep nibbling on other supposedly healthy things only to discover I would have been better off calorie-wise to just have the dang pie!