Soda vs. Tonic - Start with Your First Resolution

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Jan 1st 2006 @ 12:19AM

vodka, soda water, and splash of citrus As we spend anywhere from two to eight hours ringing in the new year in style tonight, we most certainly will be fueling the festivities with all kinds of alcohol. I'm not going to go into all the guidelines we hear about every year around this time about spacing out our cocktails, drinking water between alcoholic drinks, etc.

Rather, if your regular poison is a cocktail rather than beer or wine, here's a good way to stick to that #1 New Year's resolution that you share with every other person on the planet - save a few of those empty calories so you can keep indulging in the worthwhile ones (I hatehatehate the word "diet").

Once the clock strikes midnight and we have stepped over to 2006, switch from tonic to soda water and a splash or twist of citrus as your requested mixer. Tonic water has 10 calories per ounce whereas soda water has zero calories, and a splash of citrus is negligible. It doesn't sound like much - 10 calories, but the standard mixed drink has anywhere from 8 to 12 ounces of tonic mixed in with your vodka or gin. That's potentially 120 calories per drink. And if you're having one before dinner, one during dinner, and who-knows-how-many as your shaking your groove thang on the dance floor...you do the math. Let's just say that it's a good thing you burn 400 calories per hour "aerobic" dancing.

Citron with soda has been "my drink" for I don't know how long, but that was only because I didn't like how sweet tonic was. Now I feel even better about it. Bartender, pour me another!

Filed Under: Drink Recipes
Tags: alcohol, cocktails, drinking, food and drink, FoodAndDrink, gin, liquor, vodka