Christmas Dinner - How Many Calories?

I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that, Holy Moly, Christmas is tomorrow. If you celebrate like my family does, the day goes something like this: Eat, open presents, eat, play with new presents, eat, lounge, eat, lounge, half-heartedly help mom in the kitchen, eat a huge meal (the others were just snacks in comparison), eat dessert, pile everything into the dishwasher, lounge some more, then go to bed. It's a pretty perfect day, if you ask me, but all that eating can add up.

The big meal of the day, of course, is Christmas dinner. And after a day of constant snacking, a large meal can put you way over your recommended daily caloric intake. But by just how much?


The answer, according to this article from the BBC, is 956 calories and 48 g of fat. Here's some of the breakdown:

• Roast turkey (90g) = 149 calories, 4g fat
• Roast potatoes (85g) = 127 calories, 4g fat
• Stuffing (100g) = 231 calories, 15g fat
• Roast parsnips (90g) = 102 calories, 6g fat
• Gravy (50g) = 17 calories, 1g fat
• Cranberry sauce (30g) = 45 calories, 0g fat
  
• Mashed Potatoes (1 cup) = 237 cals, 9 g of fat

You'll notice, of course, that this doesn't include dessert -- that tacks on another 250-500 calories, depending on what you have.

All in all, 956 calories isn't the end of the world, but if you're watching your weight, be sure to keep your daytime snacking to a minimum and avoid seconds of anything other than veggies.