When you're out to dinner, you probably make special requests to slim down your meal: sauce on the side, no butter, hold the salt. You can also to the same for your favorite cocktails! When we sidle on up to the bar or pour a drink at home, we can treat ourselves without bankrupting our calorie bank for the day. Many cocktails served in bars and especially in restaurants are super sized, loaded with caloric garnishes and overpriced. Find out how you can slim down five of the most popular--and caloric--cocktails out there. (Some of these requests and recipes are more suited for home, but you can always ask the bartender to specially make your drink.)  Mudslide Mudslides are like grown-up chocolate milkshakes. Made with coffee-flavored liqueur, vodka, cream or ice cream and chocolate sauce, the sugar and the alcohol will both have you buzzing. Top your drink with whipped cream and more chocolate and you've got a drinkable dessert. The bottled versions have 500 calories and 12 g fat in six ounces, and at a restaurant mudslides can have 750 calories and 32 g fat, 20 of them saturated. That's more calories and saturated fat than a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese! Yowza! Madeover Mudslide Our version is more grown-up chocolate milk than milkshake. Skip the cream, the whipped cream and the supersize glass, and you'll have a mudslide with less than a quarter of the calories and almost no fat! Blend 1 oz each of coffee liqueur and vodka and 1/2 c lowfat chocolate milk with six ice cubes. Serve with a straw to savor the flavor. (TIP: At a bar, ask for coffee liqueur, chocolate vodka and regular lowfat milk.) 200 calories 1.5 g fat Top with 2 T fat-free whipped topping (another 15 calories).  Pina colada "If you like pina coladas"… you're not alone. These tropical cocktails are the perfect mix of creamy coconut and sweet pineapple, along with enough rum to let you forget how many calories you're consuming. While not quite as bad as a mudslide, the pina colada is a heavyweight at 700 calories and 16 g fat for 12 ounces. That's the equivalent of seven coconut macaroon cookies! Nada Colada You get the flavor of pineapple and coconut in our version, without the calories. Yes, the "creaminess" is missing, but so are most of the calories. Mix 1 oz coconut rum with 4 oz pineapple juice, then top with a splash of club soda. Serve over ice. It's so light and good you'll be dancing in the rain in no time! 140 calories 0 g fat  Strawberry daiquiri Strawberry daiquiris are the berry tasty compadre of the pina colada. While at 350 calories and no fat, they look relatively slim next to their coco-nutty brethren, they are still pretty hefty. Commercial versions of daiquiri mix contain very little fruit but are heavy on corn syrup and other sweeteners. Strawberry daiquiri done right! Skip the mix and grab the berries. A cup of strawberries pureed in a blender with 1 oz light rum and a handful of ice cubes will yield a light and fruity cocktail. If your berries aren't in season, you might need to add a bit of sugar or simple syrup to your drink, but during summer when strawberries are ripe and plentiful, the berries will shine on their own. 135 calories 0 g fat  Margarita Margaritas are traditionally made with tequila, a splash of orange liqueur, and a squeeze of lemon or lime, nothing more. They're served over ice with salt on the rim. The frozen versions at Mexican restaurants that come in glasses so big they could be used as birdbaths, often have an icy base that's presweetened, adding even more calories. They can weigh in at 470 calories each! Get it on the rocks to immediately cut the calories almost in half. Mini Margaritas Squeeze a couple of lime and orange wedges into a glass. Add 1 oz of tequila and a splash of sweet and sour mix (optional). Either blend with ice cubes or serve on the rocks. 80 calories 0 g fat  Cosmopolitan The ladies on "Sex and the City" popularized this cranberry-flavored cocktail. Shaken and served in a martini glass with vodka, orange liqueur, cranberry juice and lime, these can have 220 calories each. Not as bad as some of the frozen concoctions, but cosmos are strong--and we can slim them down! Cosmo Lite Squeeze a wedge each of lime and orange into 1 oz of cranberry flavored vodka. Top with club soda and serve on the rocks. 75 calories 0 g fat Or sip on 4 oz of cranberry juice and 1 oz vodka, a splash of OJ and a squeeze of lime topped with club soda for a cocktail that would bring a smile to the faces of Carrie, Miranda and all their friends. 140 calories 0 g fat Easiest Low-Cal Cocktail And the easiest way to slim down your cocktail order? Ask for a flavored vodka or rum with club soda and a twist of lime on the rocks. 75 calories 0 g fat Remember that alcohol holds a tenuous position in a healthy diet. Women should have no more than one a day and men no more than two. At 7 calories a gram, it contains no nutritional value and adds only empty calories. And the jury is still out on whether drinking in moderation is actually good for us. Still, a cocktail or glass of beer or wine is a treat that many of us enjoy on occasion. Plenty of things in life aren't good for us, but we do them anyway, right? Oh, and while we might be tempted to ask for diet soda in our Cuba Libre or Long Island Iced Tea, don't. Artificial sweeteners can speed up inebriation, according to experts. Energy drinks are also an off-limits mixer. I'm more of a wine and beer fan, but I have been known to order a cherry vodka and soda. For an extra treat, I ask for a lime and a cherry in it! Yum! Do you imbibe from time to time? What is your favorite cocktail? Do you ever make special requests to slim it down? |
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