This document discusses how small tastes of food throughout the day can add up to significant calories over the winter holidays. It provides an example of one person who consumed 635 calories from 9 small tastes of food, which could lead to a pound of weight gain per week if continued regularly. The document encourages being aware of these "tiny tastes" that are totaling big calories and offers tips for using leftovers quickly and avoiding overeating at parties.

1. Know how. Know now.
Tiny Tastes Can Total
BIG Calories
over the
Winter
Holidays
Alice Henneman, MS, RD,
Extension Educator
UNL Lancaster County Extension
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2. Extra calories can sneak in
over the holidays...
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3. They don’t
always come
in large
portions!
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4. They can tiptoe in through tiny
tastes throughout the day...
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5. Let’s look at
how the
calories in
tiny tastes
can add up
in one day.*
5 *Calories are approximate

6. Taste 1
Eating a cookie
that broke while
removing it from
the baking sheet
– I deserve it for
getting up early
to bake these
cookies before
heading to work.
6

7. 30
7 Approximate Calories

8. Taste 2
Someone brought
holiday candy to
work today! I’ll
just have one
small piece of the
peanut brittle.
8

9. 80
9 Approximate Calories

10. Taste 3
Gotta stop at the
grocery store over
the noon hour.
Great – they’re
offering cheese
and cracker
samples. That’ll
tide me over until I
can swing through
10
a fast food place.

11. 40
11 Approximate Calories

12. Taste 4
The fast food place
is giving out 1/4
cup samples of its
special flavored
holiday coffee.
12

13. 20
13 Approximate Calories

14. Taste 5
Chocolate-covered
cherries in the break
room! It’s still a few
hours before the
dinner party tonight.
Chocolate’s good
for you – right? And,
I’m just eating one!
14

15. 60
15 Approximate Calories

16. Taste 6
The party is great
– but maybe I
shouldn’t stand
near the snack
table. I’m dipping
my third chip.
16

17. 75
17 Approximate Calories

18. Taste 7
Who can pass up
old-fashioned style
eggnog. I’ll have
just a half cup.
18

19. 200
19 Approximate Calories

20. Taste 8
There are just a
couple of
tablespoons of
candied sweet
potatoes left.
Someone should
enjoy them so
they don’t go to
waste – it might
as well be me!
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21. 60
21 Approximate Calories

22. Don’t let your
stomach
become a
“waist”
basket.
Use or freeze
leftovers within
3 to 4 days.
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23. Taste 9
Helping dish up
dessert lets me
take a little
“preview” taste.
One heaping
tablespoon of
candy cane ice
cream coming
right up!
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24. 70
24 Approximate Calories

25. Guess the total tasting
calories for the day ...
635
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26. If such “tiny
tastes” are
continued
through the
holidays, you
might gain ...
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27. • A pound a week!*
Which could
add up to about
5 pounds
(or more!) between
Thanksgiving and
New Year’s Day!
* Consuming an additional 3,500 calories
above your body’s needs and expenditures
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can lead to gaining a pound a week.

28. Maybe those
“tiny tastes”
aren’t so tiny
after all!
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29. What “tiny
tastes” are
totaling BIG
calories for
YOU?
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30. The End
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31. “Thank You!” to the following people
for reviewing these materials and
adding their suggestions:
Mary Balluff, Chiquita Briley, Cindy
Brison, Joan Davis, Vicki Jedlicka,
Jackie Johnson, Shannon Muhs, Dave
Palm, Vicki Rethmeier, Kathy Retzlaff,
Carie Schneider-Miller, Kathy Tack,
Kathi Taylor, Kathleen Upton, Amy
Vore
This is a peer-reviewed publication.
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32. Know how. Know now.
Extension is a Division of the Institute of Agriculture
and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–
Lincoln cooperating with the Counties and the United
States Department of Agriculture.
University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension educational
programs abide with the nondiscrimination policies of
the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the United
States Department of Agriculture.
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