The Holiday Currency Diet - How Much Will Eating All Those Canapes Cost?

The next weeks are some of the most festive of the year - whether its work colleagues, family or friends, parties are de rigeur for the holiday season - in every direction, there's plenty of temptation.

For those of us who want to insure we don't over indulge, we need to keep an eye on everything we put in our mouth.

But how to figure out what will keep us nice or what will make us feel naughty?

Personal trainer and fitness expert Brent Bishop knows that no matter how committed an individual is to their personal health, the holidays provide a challenge.

Who doesn't want a butter tart, piece of shortbread or a couple of glasses of red wine? And what will it cost our health and our wallet?Bishop has just published his first book, The Think Factor, a guide to help those who want to attain a higher level of fitness and knows that the first place to start is the mind.

"A lot of people don't have any awareness of what they're eating," explained Bishop, "and once you know what you're eating, you can also make the decision to eat more healthy." He added many people tend to make more excuses in the month of December, thinking they can delay dealing with their health until January.

Bishop has created the Holiday Currency Diet, a way of looking at what common items are eaten in the holiday season and how much it will take to work it off. Walletpop Canada took it a step further with adding a monetary value - seeing how much we'd be shelling out for holiday indulgences if we had to pay.

For example, the typical cocktail party - two or three glasses of red wine would be a normal indulgence for the party-goer. According to Bishop, each glass equals approximately 200 calories, if you had to pay for the glass it could average $8.00 ($24.00). And to burn off 600 calories - 200 burpees.

If you decide to indulge in a decadent glass of eggnog - it equals 350 calories, so consider yourself paying $10 for an adult eggnog and to burn off the 350 calories - 100 jump squats.

Now for those favourite sweet nibbles - 1oz shortbread cookie equals 210 calories, one chocolate chip cookie 140 calories, and a small butter tart can have 90 calories. Although the investment for each of these items may only be between a loonie or a toonie, how about 30 minutes of running intervals or 30 minutes of rowing to burn calories from each nibble?

And for the focus of the holidays - the turkey dinner - which depending on the sides, can easily equal 1200 calories for one meal. Would you be willing to go running for an hour and a half and possibly pay $30-$35.00 for the dinner?

Bishop says the best thing is to think before you eat, it will help you make the right choices and maybe even keep your pocketbook filled for gifts and activities instead of just decadent tastes.

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