CNY Feastin': How many calories are hiding in your festive treats?

Festive Snacking: How many calories are hiding in your favourite CNY treats?

Shelina Assomull

30 Jan 2018

updated the 31 January 2018 à 17:04

1/10
Love Letters
Although small and light, these addictive snacks make for great empty cals. Just 3 love letters contain 336 calories. Let’s be real, that is the minimum we’re having when tucking into these. They contain up to 25 grams of sugar, accounting for your total sugar intake for the day, according the World Health Organisation’s recommendations. Snap!
It would take you around 45 minutes of cycling to burn these off.

Photo: tangssg (Instagram)
2/10
Kueh Lapis
Just 1 slice of kueh lapis would stock you with 157 calories. With less sugar, but a higher fat content, you’re looking at around 11g of fat per slice. This could be burnt off in just 20 minutes of swimming time. Swim hard, eat hard, that’s our motto this year!

Photo: straitslapis (Instagram)
3/10
Bak Kwa
So delicious! But this one definitely tastes calorific, with 1 slice equalling about 370 calories. That’s 7 bowls of rice! Okay, that totally sucks, and would take about one hour to jog off. We recommend going for one of the smaller medallions instead.

Photo: Bee Cheng Hiang
4/10
Pineapple Tarts
Oh my sweet lord, the pineapple tart, the mother of all CNY treats worth celebrating. Somebody got it right when they came up with this bad boy, but wrong when they were thinking of us fools calorie controlling. One pineapple tart contains 74 calories. This doesn’t sound TOO bad, but when you take into account we rarely stop at one, you have a high calorie recipe for much-needed exercise. To burn off two pineapple tarts you’d have to walk for about 45 minutes. Perhaps walking to your parents place before indulging is a good compromise.

Photo: Getty Images
5/10
Kueh Bangkit
This one may be your friend during the festivities, fairing in at 23 calories a piece. Not too bad, and only around 5 minutes of solid running to burn one off.

Photo: hcooksg (Instagram)
6/10
Dried Shrimp Roll
One dried shrimp roll only has 23 calories. But be warned, as these are deep-fat fried, its means they’re high in saturated fats, which can really mess with cholesterol levels. A serving of just four of these will have you doing 20 minutes of aerobics.

Photo: Epicurious
7/10
Nian Gao
Okay ladies, apologies but we have no cure for this one, as one serving is around 482 calories. We recommend sitting this one out, or if you really can’t say no one hour of cycling would compensate for it.

Photo: missollaaa (Instagram)
8/10
Melon Seeds
Surprise, surprise... Just because this snack is a seed, doesn’t make it super healthy. A 100 gram portion of melon seeds would contribute an additional 510 calories to your intake. However, they’re not all bad, as they are a great source of protein! To square things out, you’d have to walk for around an hour and 40 minutes.

Photos: Aliexpress
9/10
Peanut Cookies
One small plate of these (about 6 cookies) would provide you with 432 calories – uh-oh. Don’t fret though, jogging for just under an hour should cover you for this one.

Photo: Pinterest
10/10
Twisted Cookies
Just three pieces of these would provide you with 201 calories. Not too bad and equal to about 30 minutes of circuit training. Compromise with your bod and cut down your portion on these to spare yourself the calorie counting.

Photo: wdish

‘Tis the season for pigging out on sweet treats, but want to know how much exercise you’ll need to burn them off?

Chinese New Year is fast approaching (hooray!); and we know it’s not the nosy relatives you’re looking forward to, but the sweet pineapple tarts and indulgent bak kwa.

The festive season always brings with it a self-proclaimed ‘get out of jail free’ card when it comes to over-snacking on our favourite treats. Although feasting is the best part of CNY, it can often bring with it a calorific load we weren’t planning on.

For instance, did you know that those decadent slices of bak kwa that you love amount up to 370 calories (i.e. the equivalent of seven whooping bowls of white rice)? To put it into perspective, the average daily calorie intake for women ranges between 1500 to 2000 calories.

It is therefore unsurprising that 45% of people gain an estimated 1.7 kilograms over Chinese New Year, according to the Health Promotion Board. To avoid piling on the calories, scroll through the gallery above to check out the calorie content in some of your favourite CNY Snacks, and a guideline on how much exercise it takes to burn it off.

Shelina Assomull

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