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‘Tis The Season For Holiday Foods…But What’s In Those Seasonal Specialties?

December 22, 2014 5:01 AM

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Hadas Kuznits

Hadas Kuznits has been as a news writer/reporter for KYW Newsradio...

By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The holidays can certainly leave you feeling bloated, but how unhealthy are the foods we eat this time of the year, really? A local nutritionist has the answer.
Nutritionist, chef and author Christina Pirello says it’s true, we tend to consume specialty foods this time of the year, like egg nog.
“We imagine that we gain all this weight between Christmas and New Year’s, and the fact is, we gain on average about one to two pounds,” she says. “The problem is if you don’t take that one to two pounds off and then it accumulates, but we really don’t do that much damage with things like egg nog.”
Pirello says the worst foods are the ones you’re not likely to see on your holiday table, like fast food. And what about people that order their feasts from restaurants?
“Well, they’re getting a lot more salt, fat and sugar and calories than they want,” Pirello says.
Should we worry? Is one big meal not so bad, or really bad?”
“It depends if that one big meal starts on Thanksgiving Day and ends on January 1st,” Pirello says. “But if you have a couple of really big feasts throughout the holiday season and you’re not going nuts all the time and you still manage to get to the gym and eat well during the week and get lots of veggies and whole grains, you’re probably okay by January 2nd.”
Listen to the entire interview with Christina Pirello:

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