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If you love eggnog – and you’re trying to keep thing healthy this holiday season – we feel your pain:  Just a single cup of eggnog can pack in 400 calories and TWO DAYS worth of sugar.  But there are a few better-for-you alternatives, so today we’re Getting the Skinny with Molly on her top eggnog picks – and the worst of the worst – in today’s Love it, Like it, Hate it!

 

Nutrition Facts listed are for a half-cup serving, standard for eggnog nutrition facts

 

 

LOVE IT!

 

Bolthouse Farms Holiday Nog | 80 calories – 1 grams sat fat – 12 grams sugar – 4 grams protein

  • Ingredients include: milk, water, agave, cane sugar, whey protein, carrot juice and egg yolks.
  • 60% fewer calories and 80% less sat fat than traditional egg nog. Rich & creamy like egg nog.

 

Califia Farms Holiday Nog | 50 calories – 0 sat fat – 9 grams carb – 8 grams sugar – 1 gram protein

  • Dairy Free, Soy Free, Vegan.
  • Ingredients include almond milk, cane sugar, fruit & vegetable juice for color, ginger, sea salt, sunflower lecithin, locust bean gum, gellan gum, nutmeg
  • 75% fewer calories than classic egg nog.

 

MALK Pecan Milk Nog | 73 calories – 0.5 gram sat fat – 5.5 grams carb – 3.5 grams sugar – 0.5 gram protein

  • Dairy Free, Soy Free, Vegan.
  • Ingredients include water, organic pecans, organic maple syrup, organic vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg

 

 

LIKE IT!

 

So Delicious Coconut Nog | 90 calories – 3 grams sat fat – 16 grams carb – 15 grams sugar – 0 protein

  • Dairy Free, Soy Free, Vegan.
  • Ingredients include organic coconut milk, organic coconut cream, cane sugar, guar gum, sea salt, nutmeg, xanthan gum, annatto for color
  • Nearly 60% fewer calories than regular egg nog; thicker consistency than Almond Breeze or Silk Nog

 

Almond Breeze Almondmilk Nog | 80 calories – 0 sat fat – 12 grams carb – 11 grams sugar – 0 grams protein

  • Dairy Free, Soy Free, Vegan.
  • Ingredients include almond milk, cane sugar, guar gum, sea salt, fruit & vegetable juice for color, sunflower lecithin, gellan gum, spice
  • Noticeably lighter & thinner than traditional egg nog.

 

Silk Nog | 80 calories – 0 sat fat – 13 grams carb – 11 grams sugar – 3 grams protein

  • Dairy Free, Vegan.
  • Ingredients include soymilk, cane sugar, sea salt, carrageenan, turmeric & annatto (for color)
  • Noticeably lighter & thinner than traditional egg nog; color is more yellow than classic egg nog

 

 

HATE IT!

 

Classic Eggnog + Organic Eggnog

180-210 calories – 5-6 grams sat fat – 25 grams carbs – 17-24 grams sugar – 4 grams protein

  • Two day’s worth of sugar in a single cup
  • ~400 calories per cup
  • Standard ingredients include milk, cream, sugar (as sugar, HFCS, and/or corn syrup) and egg yolks, with nutmeg & annatto/turmeric for color

 

Reduced Fat, Lowfat, or “Light” Eggnog | 140 cals – 1.5 grams sat fat –~ 24 grams sugar – 4-6 grams protein

  • Reduced fat milk or skim milk is first ingredient, but also includes high fructose corn syrup or sugar.
  • Typically only 25% fewer calories than classic eggnog with same high sugar content of two day’s worth of sugar in a single cup!

 

 

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Want more from Molly?  Click here to sign up for Nutrition Bites, her weekly e-newsletter with links to her Get the Skinny TV segments here on WGNO, and her weekly column in NOLA.com|The Times-Picayune!   And you can follow Molly on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram:  @MollyKimballRD