Holiday Drinks: Hot Chocolate or Eggnog? -- Which is Healthier

By Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D. Associate Nutrition Editor for EatingWell Magazine

The past few weeks have seen the return of two seasonal drinks -- hot chocolate and eggnog. Both taste sinfully delicious, but one of them trumps the other in terms of healthfulness.

Although I like both, I'm partial to hot chocolate. Its silky richness hits the spot on cold winter days. But as a registered dietitian and associate nutrition editor of EatingWell magazine, I had to find out if I was making the healthiest choice.

Eggnog cons: Made of whole milk, cream, eggs and sugar, eggnog is rich and its nutritional profile reflects that. A half-cup serving has 180 calories and six grams of saturated fat (30 percent of the daily recommended limit).

Eggnog pros: All that dairy translates into one major pro for eggnog -- calcium. A half-cup delivers 13 percent of your daily dose. You'll also get five grams of protein in this small serving.

Hot chocolate cons: Depending on how it's made, hot chocolate's nutritional profile can vary greatly. Assuming the worst, a standard coffee-shop hot chocolate with whole milk and sweet chocolate syrup will set you back 175 calories per cup (although, let's face it, most coffee-shop servings are at least 12 ounces, meaning the caloric damage is likely higher). Add whipped cream and the calorie count goes up to 210. Saturated fat is three grams per cup without the whipped cream, six grams with.

More from EatingWell:
How Many Calories Are in That Coffee Shop Drink? 4 Drinks to Watch Out For
4 More Health Reasons To Eat Chocolate
4 Holiday Foods to Skip (and What to Eat Instead)
'Bad' Foods You Should Be Eating

Hot chocolate pros: Unlike eggnog, you can tailor your hot chocolate order -- or make it yourself -- to slash calories and saturated fat, while keeping the calcium (20 percent of your daily value per cup) and protein (seven grams per cup). Swap out the whole milk for skim and you'll save 55 calories per cup. And when hot chocolate is made with natural cocoa powder (the nonalkalized kind), it will give you a healthy dose of antioxidants -- the kind that are shown to quell stress and lower your risk of heart disease.

The Verdict: Classic hot chocolate and eggnog are actually quite similar, nutritionally. Considering a serving of hot chocolate is eight ounces and a serving of eggnog is four ounces, per serving each drink has about 175 calories, similar amounts of saturated fat (four in the eggnog, three in the hot chocolate) and sugar (21 grams -- about five teaspoons). The hot chocolate has an edge, though, in the calcium department. Boasting 20 percent of your daily dose of calcium per cup, it trumps the 13 percent offered by eggnog. And considering it may be hard to stick to just four ounces of eggnog, hot cocoa is the safer bet if you don't want to overindulge.

Healthy hot chocolate recipe

If you're making it yourself, try this easy recipe for the healthiest cup:

Combine 1 tablespoon natural cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon sugar in a mug. Swirl in 1 cup steaming low-fat milk. Spice it up with one of these add-ins:
• Orange peel and ground cloves
• Ground cardamom and vanilla
• Chili powder and cinnamon

(Or try this Spiced Hot Chocolate for a delicious variation.)

What do you like better -- hot chocolate or eggnog?

By Kerri-Ann Jennings

Kerri-Ann, a registered dietitian, is the associate editor of nutrition for EatingWell magazine, where she puts her master's degree in nutrition from Columbia University to work writing and editing news about nutrition, health and food trends. In her free time, Kerri-Ann likes to practice yoga, hike, bake and paint.

 

Follow EatingWell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eatingwell

Comments

[butchcliff]

06:38 AM on 12/24/2011

mmmm hot choclateee. Make it with low fat milk

[bobbyrtd2]

04:16 AM on 12/24/2011

Oh for God's sake. Drink up, chew or,do something! It's the holidays! Quit working yourselves into a dizzy over a darn drink. Have two while you're at at! Merry Christmas folks!

[ArkansasWisdom]

12:10 AM on 12/24/2011

Definitely eggnog!

[Havana Thinks]

08:04 AM on 12/24/2011

w/rum or brandy!

[racendirt]

10:50 PM on 12/23/2011

I watch and listen to people who are supposedly health conscious. They'll rant about what's healthy and not. Many of them drink and smoke. Who are they kidding? Other countries eat large meals but they don't consume the crap this country does. We gorge on additives, preservatives. What difference is eggnog/chocolate? Grow an organic garden and taste the difference. It's amazing how few people cook from scratch. These premade foods are hell on our health. Sugar, salt, fats, oh....and don't forget the sauces. It goes hand and hand with obesity. A healthy vegetable means nothing when you're ingesting junk food.

[sb1285n]

12:16 AM on 12/26/2011

Your body needs sugar, salt and fat. Stop trying to tell people how to eat, especially when you yourself don't know how. Generalized comments like yours lead to eating disorders in other people.

If you are talking about over indulging, over indulging on anything will make you sick.

[racendirt]

10:12 AM on 12/26/2011

The amount of salt and sugar your body needs pales in comparison to what is being consumed. One slice of commericial bread exceeds the daily limit of salt. I'm horrified at the obesity in this country, most especially in children. For so many children to be suffering heart attacks is unforgivable and I applaud Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver for trying to make a difference. Other countries consume large amounts of fats but they're healthy fats and natural. What other country ingests more preservatives? The hot lunches, our schools serve, are warmed up messes. No longer is it freshly prepared, whole food. Wow, surprise that so many children fall ill. Not enough people are complaining. They should. Instead of fast foods, get off their fat behinds and cook with some forethought. You only have one body, take care of it.

[terre46]

06:17 PM on 12/23/2011

I guess it's eggnog for me. I don't like chocolate, and never have. Actually, it gives me major heartburn, but do like egg nog however, and do drink it as a Christmas Drink (gives me heartburn also), but baking soda and water take care of that. No other time of the year however, as to me, it's a Christmas drink. My wife love's chocolate, and that's ok. I make it for her, the way she likes it and I have what I choose.

[natal plum]

05:37 PM on 12/23/2011

Eggnog is great for weight control. Eat it before and during your holiday meals or with snacks and you'll projectile vomit up your stomach before long - and you won't be hungry for hours.

[hlnpayne]

05:29 PM on 12/23/2011

i like both..but sadly i cant have them due to health issues

[Towers2000]

04:47 PM on 12/23/2011

Dilute Egg Nog with ice cold water. This makes sense. Save money and calories. Egg Nog is too think anyway. No extra calories when you add a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg. Manja!

[Itsafact]

06:55 PM on 12/23/2011

Huh?

[freeetob]

09:58 PM on 12/23/2011

Your problem is you left out the rum.

[Havana Thinks]

08:23 AM on 12/24/2011

that's the ticket, freeetob, faved.

[Joseph Zarr]

03:58 PM on 12/23/2011

Hey look! Another 'dietitian' who clearly has no understanding of fats. When in this modern age will people understand the saturated fat myth was propagated by the same individuals who created the USDA food pyramid - entirely based on subsidies. Whole fats and shelf-stable fats have always been, and will continue to be, infinitely more healthy than rancid poly-unsaturated vegetable fats and/or reduced milk fat products. It isn't the fats in egg nog or whole milk that is the danger, it is the industrial sugars; potential chemical treatments; and most assuredly pasteurization methods.

[natal plum]

05:33 PM on 12/23/2011

Wrong. It is the homogenization process that turns milk deadly. The release of Xanthine oxidase into the bloodstream by the process causes untold damage to the human body. Industrial sugars and potential chemical treatments are much safer than the homogenized milk they are added to. They only serve to make a more lethal cocktail

[Joseph Zarr]

06:47 PM on 12/23/2011

Natal, perhaps I was obscure with 'pasteurization methods' - but, I include homogenization processes (particularly ultra-homogenized) when I say this. However, I believe you are differentiating between the lesser of two evils. Within the pyramid of grass-fed free-range raw milk-producing animals down to CAFO low-fat ultra-homogenized milk producing animals there's a boatload of options and ultimately, as a consumer, you are often left picking one product that is 'better' versus one that is 'not as good'. Coupled with the unruly and ridiculously biased policing practices of the USDA toward honest small-scale family milk farms, and one is often left with very few truly healthy choices...

[bobnglenwood]

03:57 PM on 12/23/2011

I have to disagree with you all. I know for a fact that there are no calories in anything that tastes good during the Holiday Season. I was told this by my grandmother when I ws a chubby little boy. I am now 6' and weigh 175 at the tender age of 64. Doesn't seem to have hurt me thus far so I will stick with Grannys advice. Merry Christmas to all.

[natal plum]

05:34 PM on 12/23/2011

Yeah but if you hadn't eaten all that stuff you'd only be 52 right now instead of 64.

[Itsafact]

06:55 PM on 12/23/2011

Huh?

[Tom4]

02:52 PM on 12/23/2011

Chocolate is NOT healthy for many people.

I have read several books that say caffeine in chocolate is very bad for women with fibrocystic breast disease due to its caffeine content. Chocolate gives some people headaches.

[GOODDOC1]

04:13 PM on 12/23/2011

It can cause problems for some. On the other hand, dark chocolate has antioxidants which we need. I think it's a toss-up. If chocolate causes problems for some, they should avoid it I guess.

[Hlynn]

11:00 AM on 12/23/2011

Egg nog. It's only once a year and I really like the vanilla spice and pumpkin varieties--we just buy it; don't make our own. And we don't drink alcohol, so we can have as much as we want and still be safe on the road. Too, we cut it with rice milk which sounds odd, but the egg nog by itself is too thick and cloying, so I usually have a cup of rice milk and add some egg nog to it for the flavor--and then grate nutmeg over the top. YUM!

[GOODDOC1]

04:14 PM on 12/23/2011

I've seen a lowfat eggnog in the stores, but I haven't tried it. I love eggnog with nutmeg, but I haven't tried the pumpkin.

[Hlynn]

07:44 PM on 12/23/2011

If I'm going to indulge in eggnog, it's going to be full fat. It's only once a year, so I go for it. However, my favorite cold weather comfort drink is hot spiced cider. I love drinking it from fall through winter with different ciders and different spices.

[hilarioledbetter]

01:09 AM on 12/23/2011

Get free samples of Emergen-C vitamin drink mix from "Get Official Samples" Request it and enjoy free samples of these vitamin drink mixes.

[sfkjeld]

12:34 AM on 12/23/2011

I think the story is, egg nog is twice as bad for you. Ounce for ounce, which is how I look at it.

[xpus]

04:59 PM on 12/23/2011

Eggnog has things that people need, like energy and nutrients in dairy. This whole idea of "bad" foods is offensive and unscientific. Not everybody is fat or on the verge of getting fat.

[sfkjeld]

05:30 PM on 12/23/2011

"Eggnog has things that people need", so does lard.

Since you probably did not read the article, my point was that the calories and fat were fairly close numerically, but they compared twice as much cocoa to eggnog. And btw, just because you are not fat, does not mean extra calories and fat are good you.

[Laura Kimmick]

11:33 PM on 12/22/2011

Hot chocolate is much better. I don't like the smell or taste of egg nog.