Diet cocktails

However hard you are trying to stick to your diet, there are times when you just crave for a special treat, especially during festive times. My honest advice is don’t give up, indulge yourself and enjoy the parties! After all, who can resist a glass of wine with a festive meal or a glass of champagne to celebrate a special occasion?

A little bit of planning and careful selection of what you are going to be drinking can make all the difference to your waistline. Remember that you can either balance your calorie intake by choosing lower calorie dishes for your meals or you can omit snacks and desserts for a few days after.

• Don’t be too hard with yourself, life is often hectic and it is impossible to follow a strict weight loss plan if you want to enjoy yourself.
• Alternate alcoholic drinks with low calorie non-alcoholic drinks or water.
• Ask for low calorie or diet mixers such as diet coke, diet red bull and diet tonic water whenever possible.
• Make your wine into a spritzer, or your lager into a shandy - both have fewer calories.
• Plan your alcohol into your daily calorie quota. If you plan to be drinking during the weekend, try to save some calories each day in advance, so you can eat normally before you go out. Skip on desserts and snacks during a few days after your excesses.
• Dieting is an important start to achieving a new fitter you, but it is only part of the story. You also need to combine it with some exercise. During a night out do not just sit and drink, take advantage and exercise, go dancing. The more you dance the more calories from the alcohol consumed you will be burning.

Kir Spritzer Royale

For one person:

1 table spoon Crème de Cassis

75 ml. dry white wine, chilled.

75 ml. sparkling mineral water, chilled.

This is a lighter version of the Kir Royale -Creme de Cassis and Champagne. For this light cocktail you add the sparkling water to lighten alcohol content and make a longer drink. The cocktail contains an average 75 calories per serving.

To prepare it, place the Crème de Cassis and dry white wine in a wine glass and stir to mix. Top up with sparkling mineral water and serve.

This drink originated in British colonial India when the British population would mix their medicinal quinine tonic - a prophylactic against malaria- with gin to make it more drinkable. Yes, believe it or not Tonic water is flavoured with quinine which is what gives it it’s distinctively bitter taste.

Medicinal matters apart, a gin and tonic is one of my favourite drinks for a night out. It is clear -so your dry cleaner will thank you if you spill any on your dress- and tasty. As an added bonus, if you don’t mix it with anything else you will not suffer from a hangover the day after. It is also a funky drink when clubbing because it goes fluorescent under ultraviolet light.

For one person:
2 oz gin
4 oz tonic water or even better diet tonic water
a lime wedge

Pour both ingredients into a short glass over ice. Stir and garnish with a lime wedge.

If you are not sure what to drink to avoid destroying your weight loss plan, personally, I always go for a glass of champagne. With less than a 100 calories per glass it is perfect for a touch of glamour. And if glamour is not enough to turn your preferences to the bubbly, what about the idea put forward by the author of the bestseller French Women Don't Get Fat. The author defends the idea that French women don’t get fat because of what they eat and drink. In this respect the glamorous Champagne is famous for its health benefits among the French because it contains magnesium, potassium, zinc and lithium all of which help to maintain a healthy weight!

I don’t need any other reason... Cheers!