Christmas is a season full of food. Wonderful luscious summer fruit – stone fruit, cherries, mangoes and more! Plus all the treats of traditional Christmas eating – turkey stuffing, Christmas pudding, cakes and fruit mince pies. Be still my beating heart!

I personally try to keep many Christmas foods to Christmas and Boxing Days so they remain extra special, and to ensure I can enjoy them. However, many Christmas foods come in bulk – like Christmas cake – consider freezing these foods in single serve portions sizes for other social occasions.

Here’s a guide to the carb content of some Christmas time foods. I’m not suggesting you should attempt to eat all or any of these, but just in case you choose to…

Remember, though, if your food has a label the nutrition information panel will provide a more accurate guide for your specific choice.

Food	Serve size	Amount of carbohydrate per serve
Brandy flavoured custard	¼ cup, 70g	12g
Candy cane	1 small, 15g	15g
Christmas dark fruit cake, uniced	1 slice, 90g	47g
Christmas light fruit cake, uniced	1 slice, 80g	43g
Eggnog	1 cup, 265g or 250mL	23g
Gingerbread man	1 average, 35g	24g
Mince pies	1 small pie, 60g	38g
Panettone	1 serve, 50g	27g
Pavlova, not including cream or fruit	1 serve, 13g	11g
Rum balls	1 ball, 24g	12g
Summer pudding	150g	32g
Traditional Christmas pudding	100g	50g
Turkey stuffing	1 heaped tablespoon, 25g	6g
Yorkshire pudding	1, 90g	27g
White Christmas	1 slice, 25g	10g
Fruit	Serve size	Amount of carbohydrate per serve
Apricots	1 large, 60g	4g
Cherries	50g	6g
Grapes	1 cup, 170g	26g
Mango	1 medium, 295g	37g
Nectarines	1 medium, 150g	12g
Peaches	1 medium, 145g	10g

Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas, everyone!

By Dale Cooke APD

Carb counting your festive favourites

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Carb counting your festive favourites

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