Lightening Up

I've tried a lot of different diet strategies in my lifelong quest to maintain a healthier weight.  No matter what worked, I always found one thing that absolutely doesn't -- deprivation. Saying I "can't" have something is guaranteed to make me crave it even more, which then leads to me beating myself up over the fact that I want it. It's an awful cycle and completely non-productive. So as a general rule, I try to control portions of the treats I enjoy, limit how often I have them or find a "lighter" version of the original if I can.

I enjoy the occasional cocktail, but the calories in alcoholic drinks add up pretty quickly. Luckily, the latest trend I've noticed in the restaurant industry is offering "skinny" cocktails. I was having dinner at a local bar with a friend a few weeks ago and asked the server what makes a drink "skinny." In some cases, they use lower calorie versions of the alcohol itself. Lightening up the calorie content of the mixer is also key.

Then I was at the grocery store looking for margarita mixer for the weekend and I noticed they're beginning to carry reduced calorie mixes. Or in the case of the one I picked -- ZERO calories.

I've always wondered how something can be completely devoid of calories and still be edible, but I guess I just need to brush up on my organic chemistry for that one. I was curious about exactly what was in this mix so I compared the label to the mix I normally buy. The biggest difference was the lack of sugar. My regular mix is flavored with high fructose corn syrup which accounted for most of the 110 calories per serving. This calorie free mix seems to get most of the flavor from sodium and citric acid.

But the big question is taste. Many "light" foods I've tried have either left me cold in the flavor department or were simply awful. I was actually pretty pleased with the margarita I made. The mix is a little more tart than some people might like owing to the lack of sugar, but I like my margaritas on the tart side anyway.

If you're watching your calories like me, try a skinny margarita and say goodbye to deprivation!