Holiday Foods Face-Off: Which Is Healthier to Eat?

Spiral ham is lean—supplying 126 calories, 4 grams of fat, and less than 1 gram of saturated fat in 3½ ounces. The calorie and fat content of roast beef depends on the cut. For instance, bottom round roast has 169 calories, 5 grams of fat, and 2 grams of saturated fat in 3½ ounces cooked. The same size serving of bottom sirloin (tri-tip) roast has 193 calories, 10 grams of fat, and 4 grams of saturated fat; top sirloin has 173 calories, 6 grams of fat, and 2 grams of saturated fat. Rib eye roast has 307 calories, 24 grams of fat, and 10 grams of saturated fat.

So while the ham might look like the healthiest option, beef is better if you choose a lean cut. Spiral hams are cured, which means they contain nitrates and nitrites, which, when they interact with protein, create compounds called nitrosamines—which may cause cancer. Plus, ham is very high in sodium: 986 mg in 3½ ounces. (You should get no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day.)

Better pick: Roast beef

Both sweet and white potatoes are “ridiculously rich in a lot of nutrients,” says Joan Salge Blake, RDN, a nutrition professor at Boston University. Both contain vitamin C and potassium, a blood pressure-lowering nutrient that most Americans fall short on.

Of course, we’re not exactly comparing potatoes to potatoes here—your choices are white potatoes mixed with butter and cream vs. sweet potatoes made even sweeter with marshmallows. But the sweet potato casserole gets a slight edge because those potatoes have a wider range of nutrients, including the antioxidant beta carotene, than do the white ones.

Better pick: Sweet potato casserole

Ounce-for-ounce, both have roughly the same number of calories and grams of carbohydrates. While cornmeal has some vision-protecting lutein and zeaxanthin, neither option provides a ton of nutrients, and that’s okay. Not every item on the plate has to be a superfood. Cornbread can be enjoyed plain, however, while a roll will probably be slathered with butter or drowned in oil, Salge Blake says.

Better pick: Cornbread

These two starters have a lot in common, starting with the fact that they’re both easy to overeat, as foods that are high in carbohydrates and sodium tend to be. Cheese and dips both pack a lot of sodium, and—unless you’re talking about vegetable- and bean-based dips like salsa, guacamole, or hummus—saturated fat.

Calorie-wise, the choices are even. Five Ritz crackers with two cubes of Swiss cheese or an ounce of potato chips with 2 tablespoons of onion dip provide about 200 calories.

But with cheese and crackers, you get a decent amount of calcium, says Lona Sandon, PhD, an associate professor of nutrition at UT Southwestern. Two cubes of Swiss cheese have 267 mg, about 21 percent of the daily value (1,300 mg). The cheese also supplies 8 grams of satisfying protein, and there’s evidence that cheese may not be as harmful to your heart or your weight as was once thought. And if you choose thin slices of cheese and eat them sandwiched with pieces of fruit like apples or pears in place of crackers, you’ll get filling fiber and loads of flavor.

Better pick: Cheese and crackers

Though you may try to convince yourself that any food that contains pumpkins or apples is a healthy choice, pie is still a special occasion dessert. Calories, carbohydrates, and fat are realities either way. Pumpkin pie, though, will have about 100 fewer calories per slice than apple pie, primarily because it has only one crust, says Salge Blake. More crust means more calories and saturated fat from the butter or shortening used to make it. (Or try CR’s Crustless Pumpkin Pie recipe.)

Better pick: Pumpkin pie

You might think that a mini foil-wrapped Santa or a few chocolate coins would be similar nutritionally to a piece of fudge, but that’s not the case. An ounce of fudge has 23 grams of added sugars—or about 6 teaspoons, the amount the American Heart Association says should be the daily limit for women (for men, it’s 9 teaspoons or 36 grams). An ounce of milk chocolate has 15 grams of added sugars. Fudge is lower in calories (119 vs. 151) and saturated fat (1.5 grams vs. 5 grams), but the teaspoon of added sugar you save makes milk chocolate slightly better.

Better pick: Milk chocolate

The recipes for these cookies share the same basic ingredients list, in similar proportions. The major difference is the addition of cream of tartar to the snickerdoodles, which gives them a softer texture than sugar cookies—and doesn’t affect nutrition. But a crisp, hard sugar cookie is a better vehicle for colorful holiday icing, which only adds more sugars.

Better pick: Snickerdoodles

Doughnuts get a bad rap because they’re fried. But with a dough typically made with butter and cream cheese, rugelach isn’t necessarily the better choice. A lot depends on the size of the treat and what’s in the recipe, but in a few recipes for small jelly doughnuts we saw, one doughnut has 135 to 145 calories and is surprisingly low in added sugars, about 5 grams. One rugelach cookie—and who eats just one?—can have 100 to 150 calories and 3 to 9 grams of sugars.

Better pick: Sufganiyot

All pure alcohol contains 7 calories per gram and little other nutritional value. But that’s just the beginning of the story. Bartenders may add intrigue in the form of mixers like pomegranate or cherry juice, which make some cocktails sound like wellness tonics. But the juices still add extra calories.

What’s more, mixed drinks can include far more alcohol than you realize, which can make all of your other thoughtful decisions about what to eat go out the window. With champagne, you know exactly what you’re getting, says Salge Blake. Better to opt for the drink where you can see how much alcohol you’re sipping. Whatever your choice, though, stick to one drink and enjoy it.

Better pick: Champagne

If you think, “Duh, fruit cake is better. It has fruit!,” you’d be right, but the differences aren’t as great as you might think. Of course, it depends on the recipe, but in general fruit cake is higher in fiber (4 grams per slice in the recipe we used compared with 1 gram in the red velvet cake) and lower in sodium (378 mg vs. 503 mg). Fruit cake has lower overall sugar content, too—though both have a lot, 36 grams per slice of fruitcake vs. 44 grams in the red velvet cake in the recipes we used—and some of fruit cake’s sugar is what’s naturally present in the dried fruit it’s made with. But they’re both high in saturated fat (13 grams per slice) and fruit cake has more calories (639 vs. 513).

Better pick: It’s very close, but fruit cake wins by a nose.