Christmas dinner: how many calories does the most anticipated dinner of the year have?

Counting calories is a practice that many nutrition specialists do not recommend because it sometimes generates guilt and restriction. However, there are cases where it can be useful and helps you know which foods to choose instead of others. In this note, we tell you the calories in the main Christmas dinner dishes.

Why not count calories?

This is because many times, by trying to eat fewer calories, we consume foods full of artificial colorings and flavorings that provide little energy but due to the substances they contain, they could affect our intestinal microbiota, which is so important for our immune system.

Eat without guilt

The first thing we must keep in mind is that Christmas or New Year’s dinner is just one of all the ones we will eat throughout the year. Although it is delicious thanks to the number of different dishes that are prepared for these days, it is not necessary to eat everything and everything. We must learn to listen to our body, choose what we like, make the combinations we want and if we already feel satisfied, internalize that both December 26 and January 1 are official “reheated” days, and on many occasions , until two or three days later you will continue eating turkey and panettone. So we should not think that it is the last supper or the only one.

Another important point is that the day after eating, we do not have to “oxidize calories.” It is not necessary to exercise a lot or walk too much to make up for what we have eaten, and having this habit tells us that perhaps we could have a bad relationship with food. If you want to do sports, the morning of January 1 is great because you give your body endorphins and health, but if this has become an obligation, it is time to think about why you are doing it.

Among the number of dishes that are prepared at Christmas and New Year, there are some that are more nutritious than others. This is true. We have preparations that are made in the oven, others fried or in the pot. How we prepare a food will affect the quality of the nutrients it normally provides. So, if you currently have a health problem such as high cholesterol, diabetes, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, obesity, the ideal would be to talk to your nutritionist and ask him or her what culinary techniques are best for you and what at the same time they allow you to enjoy a good time with your family. In the end, food is not just calories, it also has a cultural and social connotation.

Calories of main dishes

We know that you are reading this note, because you are interested in knowing how many calories the turkey you will eat has or how many calories the panettone with chocolate has. What’s more, some are already with the calculator in their hands. And no, that is not our goal.

There are special cases, such as someone who has a chronic non-communicable disease or who is following an eating plan because they have a specific objective that this information would be useful to them.

Source: USDA’s FoodData Central / MINSA Food Composition Table

Source: USDA’s FoodData Central / MINSA Food Composition Table

Remember that you can take this information as a reference, but remember that what we eat is not only calories, it is also proteins, carbohydrates, fats (good and bad), vitamins and minerals. The nutritional quality will depend on what ingredients and culinary techniques we use, let’s choose the most nutritious ones, and if not, let’s enjoy and remember that we can always start healthy habits the next day.