As the year is coming to a close, and the ground is wrapped in a blanket of snow, many holiday treats are being made, decorated, and consumed. My cousin found a fantastic dairy-free pumpkin pie recipe and I’m about to make my third one since Thanksgiving. I absolutely love chocolate chip cookies, and my favorites my grandmother used to make are thumbprints with giant chocolate chips on top. I’ll be the first person to agree that holiday treats add a layer of joy to this season that is not to be missed.

I’m sure you’ve been asked the question or even have asked it yourself. Do broken cookies have calories? In my circle of family and friends, the answer is no, broken cookies do not have calories. Since broken cookies don’t have calories, we can eat as many of them as we want! How exciting. But what about the cookies that aren’t broken? Can we eat those too?

It’s easy to get stuck demonizing calories and believe they are bad. Calories are a unit used to measure how much energy a food contains. It’s necessary we eat food with calories to sustain our lives. The number of calories in a food is determined by factors such as its macronutrient breakdown. Carbohydrates and protein contain four calories per gram and fat contains nine calories per gram. Many cookies contain quite a few grams of carbohydrates and fat and therefore are typically a calorie-dense food. 

Now that we have this information, we can use it to our advantage. It’s important we are mindful of our daily caloric consumption. However, I’d argue it’s even more important we are aware of our food intake in terms of macronutrients. When we aim for one to two servings of protein, one to two cups of vegetables, and a serving of complex carbohydrates and healthy fats at each meal, we can ensure we are fueling our bodies well. If we are fueling our bodies well on a regular basis, we will be more equipped to handle the burden a cookie will have on our digestive system and blood sugar levels, and therefore, a cookie is not to be worried about. It is when we are not fueling our bodies well that over-consumption of treats high in sugar and fat becomes more challenging for our bodies to handle.

Pretending that broken cookies don’t have calories creates a loop of shame and guilt that is difficult to escape from. When we ignore the facts about food and refuse to acknowledge how different foods affect us, we run away from the opportunity to use food to our advantage. We also deny ourselves the opportunity to truly enjoy the foods we eat, especially those we most likely have an emotional connection to, whether it’s just the food or the memories that come along with eating it. 

Instead of giving the cookie all your power, I’d like to encourage you to look at the cookie for what it is. The cookie is a food that is high in calories from carbohydrates and fat. The cookie is also full of love, joy, memories, and cheer and should not be deemed unworthy of its place on the holiday table. Once we can move past the lies we hide behind about food, we can move toward accepting all food for what it is and truly enjoying what different foods have to offer. Fuel your body well, and when it comes time for the cookie, don’t hide behind the stories you usually tell yourself. Acknowledge the cookie, tell yourself the truth about it, and enjoy every single bite, whether it’s broken or not.

Xoxo

Coach Maggi