Tag Archives: margarita

Work it Off: 3 Ways to Burn Off a 612-Calorie Margarita

This week I met up with a couple of girlfriends for a welcome home dinner. We went out for healthy Mexican food at Porque No?, one of my favorite restaurants here in Portland. They have tasty fish tacos, homemade tortilla chips, and delish guacamole. They also make a mean margarita. I ordered one, but I got way more than I bargained for—a margarita served in a full-on pint glass. (As in, way bigger than the one below:)

margarita

A pint of margarita means essentially two cocktails in one, at least. Margaritas are already known for being one of the more sugary, calorie-loaded cocktails out there so I knew I was breaking some sort of rule by drinking it. (At least I stopped at one!) When I checked the calorie count for this tequila spiked treat I found that a 3.3 fl oz serving has 153 calories. Not bad, until you factor in that the one I had was around 16 fl oz! Multiply that number by 4 and you’ve got over 600 calories in a glass!

(Too bad they weren’t following our recipe for a Skinny Margarita!

What are a few ways I could have burned off the 612 calories in this big and tasty drink? (more…)

SkinnyGirl Cocktails Eliminated from Whole Foods’ Shelves

Natural grocer Whole Foods recently decided to pull the popular SkinnyGirl cocktail line from their shelves.

Whole Foods claims that the low calorie alcohol beverages contain unnatural ingredients. Lisa DeFazio, MS, RD, and Hollywood Nutrition Expert, said that Whole Foods allegedly removed the popular beverages because they contained caramel coloring, which was not within their definition of “natural.”

According to the Whole Foods blog, natural can be quite a complicated definition.

“‘Natural,’ on the other hand, doesn’t have a strong governmental definition when it comes to food, so my team (the Quality Standards Team) spends quite a lot of time defining which ingredients make up the natural foods we sell in our stores. The basic tenets of our standard require that our products are free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats,” Joe Dickson, Global Quality Standards Coordinator for Whole Foods wrote.

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February 22 is National Margarita Day

February 22 is National Margarita Day! 

The original Margarita was invented in 1948 by a wealthy resident of Acapulco, Margarita Sames. During a party at her home, Margarita began experimenting with ‘the drink’. Looking for something to cut the dust of a hot afternoon, she mixed Tequila, Cointreau and fresh lime juice. This cocktail kept her party going for an astounding two weeks.

Today, the Margarita is the #1 most popular cocktail in the United States, representing 18% of all mixed drinks ordered in the U.S. On average, Americans consume 185,000 of the fruity drinks in one hour, with the highest rates of consumption being reported in Atlanta, Dallas, Miami and Nashville. On the rocks, blended or frozen, salted or unsalted, this tequila beverage is a yummy treat any day of the week.

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We Love SkinnyGirl Margarita

Whether you are actively trying to lose weight or just maintain a healthy lifestyle, drinking alcohol should not be a typical part of your dietary intake. Being told to stick with ice water or club soda at parties can get boring after a while. Sometimes, a girl just wants to kick back and enjoy a cocktail without killing her diet. How can you responsibly enjoy a margarita when a typical mixed drink can set you back more than 500 calories in a 4 ounce serving?

Enter Bethenny Frankel to the rescue. Yes, Bethenny Frankel of Real Housewives of New York City fame. Before she was famous for her reality show, Frankel was a mixologist and a chef and was known for creating lower calorie versions of high calorie or unhealthy foods. On an episode of Real Housewives, she created her own, low-calorie version of a margarita and the response that she received from viewers convinced her that she needed to make a version available for purchase. (more…)