The Holiday Treat Danger Zone

When you are trying to make healthy food choices, the holidays can test even the strongest resolve. It is hard not to snack between meals, when you're surrounded by some of the tastiest morsels known to man -  mince tarts, eggnog, boxed chocolates, Christmas pudding, brandy butter etc.

Before you give into temptation, consider this list of just how many calories each of those tempting holiday treats carries, and what you'll need to do to burn them back off...

There are 185 calories in a mince pie. To stop all that delicious pastry from going straight to your hips and thighs, you'll need to do 15 minutes of moderate effort on a stationary bike.

In just one cup of eggnog, there are a whopping 343 calories. (Add a tot of rum and you put in at least another 80 calories.) To compensate for drinking that much fat in a glass, you will need to dance up a storm for at least 40 minutes.

A very thin slice of Christmas pudding (a 1 ounce serving) is around 80 calories. Not too bad, providing that you don't cover it in whipped cream! All you need to to work that festive treat off is spend 25 minutes ironing.

Partaking in a glass of mulled wine will set you back 245 calories. 20 minutes of snowshoeing will put you back on track.

Grabbing a handful of nuts will cost you 256 calories, which can be burned off with an hour of bowling.

If these facts aren't enough to put you off, consider this: We need only take in an extra 3500 calories to put on a pound in weight. So, 10 cups of eggnog over a week will do just that. As hard as it is to be good over the holidays, you'll pay a heavy price for overindulging once they are over.

*In these examples, calories burned are approximate and calculated to show the number of calories that would be burned by somebody who weighs 200 pounds. The number of calories burned in any activity varies according to a person's weight and level of fitness.