The 411 on alcohol and your health...
Many people may skip directly to this blog to find out what we are going to say about alcohol before they decide whether or not they want to engage with our information at all. This is because many diets prohibit the consumption of alcohol. Good news! We will not tell you that Happy Hour is only a thing of your past. What we will say is that it is no secret that alcohol is not a health food, but there are definitely wiser choices than others when it comes to deciding what to order at the bar!
In order for your nutritional lifestyle to be sustainable, life has to remain both enjoyable and manageable. And, for many of us, that includes being able to have drinks with friends after work or wine with dinner. So, go ahead and exhale. That being said, here is the 411 on alcohol.
Alcohol is essentially a sugar bomb.
Before we start talking cocktails, here is the skinny on booze…it's basically just a form of sugar and behaves like poison in your body. Sorry to say that, but it is the real truth. It’s a bummer, we know.
And, since we have discussed that sugar, not fat, is what makes us fat, we need to think about how we drink. Also, there are reasons that your doctor asks you at your annual physical how many drinks you consume in a week. Back to the piece about how it acts like poison and can lead to bad diseases.
While we don’t focus much of our nutritional lifestyle on calories, when thinking about drinking, it is important to consider.
When it comes to cocktails, the trick is to think about not just the calories in the alcohol itself, but what it is being mixed with. Who doesn’t love a margarita, right? A small, 4 oz margarita has around 200 calories and 11-13 g of sugar. But, has anyone actually ever seen a 4oz one? Many margaritas are served in huge glasses and can top 500 calories and 50 g of sugar! That is the equivalent of eating a really big piece of pie.
The good news is that when you add alcohol to other substances that have a lot of sugar (think: rum and Coke) you compound the impact on your body. Changing the kind of alcohol you drink can make a big difference and what you mix it with can make an even bigger one.
7 “healthier” alcoholic beverages:
1. 5oz (1.5 oz vodka)Vodka soda with lime (130 calories, 0 g of sugar)
2. Vodka or gin martini: 1.5oz vodka, ⅓ oz vermouth (120 calories, 1 g sugar)
3. 5oz Red wine (avg. 120 calories, less than 1 g sugar)
4. 5oz White wine (avg. 112 calories, 1.5 g sugar)
5. 5oz Skinny margarita: 1.5 oz tequila, lime juice, soda water (100 calories, 1 g sugar)
6. 12oz Light beer (avg. 104 calories, .3 g sugar)
7. 12oz Craft beer (avg. 200 calories, .4 g sugar)
Compare those above to these calorie and sugar bomb drinks:
1. 8oz Gin and tonic (170 calories and 15 g sugar)
2. 8oz Sangria (215 calories, 16 g sugar)
3. 10oz Long Island iced tea (256 calories, 14 g sugar)
4. 7oz Mojito (217 calories, 24 g sugar)
5. 12oz Pina colada (656 calories, 84 g sugar)
6. 4oz Cosmopolitan Martini (167 calories, 9.7 g sugar)
7. 8oz Moscow Mule (210 calories, 20 g sugar)