The Health Guru

Facts, Hints, Tips, Advice and Inspiration on everything to do about health & weight loss.

Nutrition Facts: Calories in Cocktails

Posted on | December 1, 2009 | 5 Comments

Let’s face it.  Cocktails taste delicious.

Singapore Slings from the legendary Raffles Hotel

Singapore Slings from the legendary Raffles Hotel

They look good, taste delicious and really get the party started.  But what alot of people don’t consider is how many unnecessary calories & sugar they are happily drinking.

The average cocktail contains 2 x 30ml pours of liquor  (average about 90 calories / 30ml).  They are then mixed with either fruit juice, sugary soda and more often than not – contain cream of some sort.  You do the math:  180 calories of alcohol + 1/2 cup juice containing 80 calories + cream 100 calories……..  yup………. the answer is massive.

I’ve decided to pick on Singapore Slings!!  (Only due to having recently entertained friends at Raffles hotel & having some incriminating photos for evidence)

Singapore Sling Ingredients:

  • 30 ml Gin  (73 Calories)
  • 15 ml Cherry brandy  (77 Calories)
  • 120 ml pineapple juice  (73 Calories)
  • 15 ml lime juice (10 Calories)
  • 7.5 ml Cointreau  (25 Calories)
  • 7.5 ml Dom Benedictine (27 Calories)
  • 10 ml Grenadine (23 Calories)
  • Dash of Angostura Bitters  (3 calories)
  • Garnish with a slice of pineapple and cherry  (5 calories &  29 calories)

So…. in total (including eating the garnish) there is total of:

345 Calories per Singapore Sling.

IMGP1292

Peanuts at Raffles Hotel

Now……  if like every other person at Raffles that happily munch on the peanuts & throw the shells on the ground…  for every small handful eaten that’s another 160 Calories.

So…… lets just call it a neat 500 Calories in 1 cocktail + some peanuts.

That’s considered the average calorie requirement in 1 meal for a male or an active female.  And approximately 1/3 of the average persons daily requirement of energy – not even factoring in the amount of sugar and fat also consumed.

That would take a person about 1 hour of running or 80 minutes of brisk walking to burn off.

Scary isn’t it.

So next time – consider what you’re drinking.  Ask yourself if you really need that Cocktail (1 glass of wine is much less damaging) or it’s even better if you can completely avoid alcohol all together.

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Comments

5 Responses to “Nutrition Facts: Calories in Cocktails”

  1. kim66
    December 1st, 2009 @ 10:43 am

    OMG!!! I LOVE cocktails! Especially pina coladas and I bet they are twice as bad as Singapore Slings, with all that cream in them! No more of them for me!!!!

  2. beccagreen
    February 19th, 2012 @ 6:54 pm

    500 calories is “more than half” a person’s daily caloric requirements? Isn’t the minimum supposed to be 1200? Below that is considered unhealthy, isn’t it?

  3. Health Guru
    February 19th, 2012 @ 7:14 pm

    Hi… thanks for your comment. I did just go back and re-read that post – and it’s a mistake I’ve made. I’ll go back in and edit it – thanks for that.

    Regarding calorie requirements per day, it’s recommended that for general adults that it’s kept to a minimum of 1200 calories. In my experience from working in Asia now for a while, I have found that it does tend to be much lower for the Asian population when using a predictive equation using age, height and weight. Therefore, each case is individual – and I should make a special mention of that fact at the end of each of my posts about calories to make it clear from what is recommended and what i’ve found treating clients.

    Thanks!

  4. dablacky761
    May 8th, 2012 @ 12:55 am

    Great website. I picked up quite a lot. I hope to come back on your future updates. Keep up the great work.

    Best Hotel in Singapore

  5. Health Guru
    May 8th, 2012 @ 7:45 am

    Thanks! Appreciate the comment.

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