It is advised when you are thinking about your health and especially weight loss that you abstain from consumption of alcohol or at least greatly reduce your consumption. Alcoholic beverages tend to add “pointless” calories which means they have no nutritionional value. And sometimes when consuming alcohol it  may loosen your resolve to lose weight and make you eat without thinking. 

Your typical light beer has about 90 calories and your typical diet soda and whiskey drink has about 90 calories as well. A glass of wine on average is about 110 calories. And those low calorie beers, ah lets say 54 calories? Well those things have very little alcohol in them so you might as well drink non-alcoholic beer because that is what those low calorie beers are.

Here are some things you should know about alcohol and nutrition. These are some facts that run counter to what many people believe:

• Alcoholic beverages all contain calories, and most of the calories come from the alcohol. (We are speaking about straight spirits, wine, or beer—not mixed drinks made with added ingredients, which can bring calories to, well, staggering levels.) Ouch!
•  Alcohol is not a carbohydrate. 
•  Your body processes alcohol first, before fat, protein, or carbs. Thus drinking slows down the burning of fat. This could account for the weight gain seen in some studies.
•  Hard liquor is distilled and thus contains no carbohydrates. The current “Zero Carb” campaign for vodka and whiskey is hog wash and may encourage mindless consumption. It’s like bragging that a candy bar is “cholesterol-free.” Ha!
• When grapes are made into wine, most of the fruit sugars (carbs) convert to alcohol, but a few carbs remain. A 5-ounce glass of wine typically contains 110 calories, 5 grams of carbohydrates, and about 13 grams of alcohol (which accounts for 91 of the calories). A 5-ounce glass of wine supplies roughly the same amount of alcohol and number of calories as a 12-ounce light beer or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits.
•  Beer, too, contains carbohydrates. The new low-carb beers are not new at all, though this type of beer does indeed have fewer carbs. Low-carb beers are simply the old light beers with a new label and ad campaign. The old Miller Lite has 96 calories and 3.2 grams of carbs in 12 ounces. The “low-carb” Michelob Ultra has 96 calories and 2.6 grams of carbs. Coors Lite has 102 calories and 5 grams of carbs. The differences are tiny—hardly worth mentioning. In contrast, a regular beer has 13 grams of carbs and 150 calories.  And I already mentioned those really new low calorie beers which really aren’t beer at all – at least the alcoholic kind!

What it all boils down to  in spite of the strong implication that “low-carb” somehow means low-calorie.  Can low-carb foods in general can help you lose weight?  Or are they “health foods”?  There is no evidence this is so and that is topic for another article at another time.  But this low-carb stuff being good for you, particularly, when it comes to beer, wine, and liquor? I think not!  Alcoholic beverages have calories because alcohol has a lot of calories—not because of carbs. The implication that low-carb beers and wine or carb-free spirits are a boon on a weight-loss program is simply deceptive advertising. To be honest I think most adults get this, so I would rather call it “illusional advertising.”

So sorry to burst your bubble but alcohol is not in your diet if you are trying to lose weight or become healthy. Well you can still drink just keep in moderation, just like everything else!

Until next time- Kathie

Visit Kathie’s Life Coaching Site for more info: www.bodyandlifedesigner.com Thank you!

photo/flickr.com/cunning_stunt