How fattening does nougat?
Christmas is coming and with it a time when menus are heavy, sweets abound and drinks cannot be absent. In the case of sweets, it is one of the most characteristic of this time: polvorones, marzipan, panettonne , and nougat. Any of them is likely to be taken at some point during the holidays but the one that surely cannot be missed is the nougat. The calories in this sweet and the sugar it contains makes us wonder how much nougat really makes you fat?
The diet seems somewhat incompatible with Christmas, a time when feasts and heavy dinners are present day after day and in which nougats of all kinds are the main protagonists. To survive until January without falling into regret later, it is good to know how much calorie it has , the benefits it brings and the different types that exist.
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Benefits of nougat
Many times, above the calories, there are other nutritional values that can classify a food as healthy or condemn it to the category of unhealthy. Both for its amount of vitamins and its essential amino acids, nougat does not have to be bad, on the contrary, it contains multiple benefits :
- Essential amino acids : nougat contains between 7 and 9 essential amino acids that the body needs. Most of them are unsaturated and similar to olive oil.
- Proteins and carbohydrates : proteins are present in two of the main ingredients of this Christmas sweet, the egg and the almonds . What makes it a more balanced food are also the carbohydrates present in sugar and honey.
- High value in vitamins and minerals : Through the nougat vitamins such as A, E and type B (B1 and B2) are obtained , and thanks to the almond we absorb minerals such as magnesium, iron and potassium.
- Energy value : Due precisely to its calories, nougat is the perfect snack to gain energy . Therefore, it is recommended to take extreme physical exercises such as those in the mountains. It will provide energy, calories and will help our body maintain the desired sugar levels .
Types of nougat and their properties
There are many kinds of nougat , which is why it doesn’t hurt to know more or less how many calories each of its types has. Whether your goal is not to gain weight or have a healthy weight , attending to the calories of each one of them still makes you think twice about which one you choose from the tray full of different nougats.
- Soft nougat : the famous Jijona nougat is made from almonds, icing sugar, honey, cinnamon and egg white, in addition to being known for its long history and tradition, soft nougat could also be so because it is the most fattening. Each serving, the serving being one-tenth of the tablet, contains 134 calories, but what gives it the top spot is its fat intake. About 8.4 grams of fat are collected in each serving, an amount that can increase further depending on whether the almond is cooked with caramel .
- Hard nougat : from the province of Alicante, hard nougat could take second place in the ranking. Closely following the soft, each serving of the hard contains 125 calories and about 6.5 grams of fat content. The ingredients are practically the same as for soft nougat, only with less egg whites and less sugar .
- Toasted egg yolk nougat : a classic that this time has its origin in Catalan cuisine, the ingredients are the same again, only this time the yolks are multiplied . This means that the yolk nougat contains about 120 calories per serving and a contribution of 6.5 grams of fat.
- Guirlache nougat : known for its caramel that sticks to the teeth, guirlache nougat is also based on the same ingredients, only this time it contains about 110 calories per serving and a fat content of 6 grams per serving. That is, they remain in line with the rest of nougats.
- Chocolate nougat : who would have thought that chocolate would be among the least caloric on the list . Yes, the reality is that chocolate or chocolate nougat with rice is one of the ones with the least calories, about 92 per serving. It is also the one with the least fat content since it has about 3 grams per 25.
In short, nougats contain an average of 92 and 150 calories per serving. Taking into account that the recommended daily calories range between 1800 and 2100, depending on whether you are a man or a woman and your metabolic age, it is necessary to keep a little control of the amount of nougat you eat. But as it has been exposed at the beginning, the important thing is not so much the calories or what makes you fat but the nutritional contribution of the food. Preferring homemade options to more industrialized ones is preferring the best for our health.
I began to be interested in nutrition from a very young age (I am currently 25 years old), but it was not until adolescence that I knew that I would dedicate my life to this career. I am the mother of a beautiful 5-year-old girl whom I adore and plan to instill in her all the values that guide us towards a healthy and balanced life. I was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, where I currently live, and have my own practice where, of course, I practice my profession as a nutritionist.