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649848 tn?1534633700

Which Alcoholic Beverages are Best for Weight Loss?

I don't know how many of you drink alcohol, but with the holiday/party season approaching, here's and article that might interest you, if you do like to have a drink (or two) when you join your friends and family at gatherings.  
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(CNN)I often tell people to steer clear of alcoholic beverages when trying to lose weight. After all, they don't exactly provide nutritious calories, and consuming them can make it increasingly more challenging to lose weight. But that doesn't stop people from asking me, "what is the best drink to have on a diet?"

Clearly, some alcoholic beverages are more waistline-friendly than others. So the short answer is: If you're looking to shed pounds, some of your lowest-calorie bets are a shot of spirits (for example, a 1.5-ounce shot of vodka, gin, rum, whiskey or tequila contains an average of 97 calories), a glass of champagne (about 84 calories per 4 ounces); a glass of dry wine (approximately 120 to 125 calories per 5 ounces) or a traditional martini, with an average of 124 calories for a 2.5-ounce serving. A light beer (approximately 100 calories) or a glass of reduced-calorie wine (about 90 to 100 calories) are other lower-calorie options.

But if you want to know why some alcoholic beverages contain more calories than others, read on.

Pure alcohol contains 7 calories per gram -- that's less than a gram of fat, which has 9 calories, but more than protein and carbs, which have 4 calories per gram each -- but other variables of your drink influence the calorie count. The amount of alcohol, the total volume of a beverage, the amount of carbohydrates and sugars and mixers all play a role.

Generally speaking, the biggest difference in calories in beverages comes from the alcohol content, but the presence of carbohydrates in alcoholic beverages also contributes largely to its calories, according to Dwayne Bershaw, who teaches winemaking classes in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University.

Any carbohydrates in wine consist of small amounts of sugar, which may either be left over from the original grape sugar after most of it ferments into alcohol or added from grape juice or some other source, in order to balance the acidity of the wine. Unless we're talking about a dessert wine, this amount of sugar is generally small and does not contribute a significant amount of calories to wine.

Beer is made from grain, which stores carbohydrates in the form of starch -- specifically large, branched sugar molecules, which are chopped into pieces by naturally occurring enzymes in malted barley during the brewing process. The smallest sugar pieces are converted to alcohol by yeast, but some larger pieces remain that cannot be broken down by yeast, according to Bershaw. These remaining carbohydrates contribute to the overall calorie count for most beers.

Generally, beer has more calories than wine, but the calorie difference in the two primarily comes from the leftover carbohydrates in beer, as the sugar content for most wines is fairly low.

Low-calorie beers have an additional enzyme added during the brewing or fermentation process, and it breaks down all of the starch molecules into simple sugars so there are no remaining carbohydrates. These beers also have a relatively low alcohol content to keep the total calorie count quite low, according to Bershaw.

And generally, spirits -- including vodka, tequila, rum and gin -- do not contain any carbohydrates or sugars. Some producers may add small amounts of sugar to combat any perceived bitterness, according to Bershaw, but like wine, this small amount would not bump the calorie count much. Though they have higher alcohol by volume (up to 40% or more), the volume of a standard shot is small (1.5 ounces), making them a relatively lower-calorie option -- that is, as long as you can stick to one shot or mix it with a zero-calorie beverage, like a diet cola, soda water or seltzer.

Other ingredients -- including mixers, tonic water, juice, soda, syrups, cream and coconut -- all pack sugar and fat calories on top of alcohol and should be consumed with caution, explained Ginger Hultin, a registered dietitian, spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and author of the blog ChampagneNutrition.

"Margaritas and pina coladas can have close to 500 calories per drink, depending on the size and how it's made, and could be a real challenge for anyone with a weight loss goal," Hultin added.

Lisa Drayer is a nutritionist, an author and a CNN health and nutrition contributor.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/09/health/alcohol-diet-food-drayer/index.html
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So there you have it... a drink isn't going to derail your entire diet, but you might want to plan for it by eating a little less.  You can also slow the absorption of alcohol by making sure you eat some food with it.  For most of us, this will help prevent that "tipsy" feeling.  

Please make sure you have a designated driver if you're going to drink; drinking and driving is illegal all over the country...
7 Responses
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649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
I agree that any addiction would be very difficult to break without counseling.  From what I can see, there are so many factors involved in any kind of addiction, including genes, environment, upbringing, even circumstances at a particular time.  I don't think anyone is really immune to any type of addiction and perhaps it's easy for one type of addiction to be replaced by another?? For instance, drug addiction to be replaced by smoking or smoking addiction to be replaced by an eating addiction, etc... That would be one of the great benefits of counseling - to learn to why one needs those crutches and to be able to that need.

I do think the stigma of counseling deters a lot of people from seeking help, or at least, talking about it and it should become a regular part of medical care.   Studies show that there are medical reasons why we crave certain foods (supposedly we crave salty foods when we're dehydrated, etc), but we also need to be able to deal openly with the emotional aspects.
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134578 tn?1693250592
I think it would be very hard to break any addiction without counseling help. Even food addiction, which seems pretty mechanical. It's like one has to fix what ails them emotionally before the desire to overdo drops away.
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649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
"Look at people who are addicted to food.  They find comfort in eating.  Their emotional state is the same as someone who is addicted to drugs, alcohol, exercising, gambling etc.  It's a vicious cycle until you face those demons. "

There's the key -  understanding the emotional state and taking care of those demons, whatever they may be, along with making sure we maintain the right environment.
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1 Comments
I honestly believe having a food addiction would be harder to deal with than the others as food is everywhere
649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
Have you ever noticed when you go to a bar (and some restaurants) that there are often salty snacks (peanuts, pretzels, popcorn) in front of you?  I used to help tend bar in  "Small Town", Iowa once in a while; the salt in the snacks tends to make you more thirsty, so you'll buy more drinks and I was instructed to keep those snack bowls full.   In addition, most restaurant food is more salty/heavily seasoned, as well - yep, drink up... lol

That said, my husband and I used to be a pretty heavy drinkers, but I usually didn't eat much when I drank - nope; not filling the space with food because then I couldn't drink as much!!  

Anyway, those days are long past, thank goodness.  My husband doesn't drink anything but regular cola (to the tune of a 2 liter bottle/day) and milk now.  I'm not sure that's any better for him than the alcohol.  Luckily he's tall and thin so weight-wise it doesn't take a toll, but in other ways, it does...

My drink of choice, now, is water, but I do drink coffee when I get up in the morning.  Once in a blue moon, I'll drink a beer or two, but I still usually don't eat when I'm drinking the beer so it's not encouraging me to eat more.

As Annie says, alcohol has a tendency to release inhibitions and we're all different, so it might release different inhibitions in each of us.

I think red wine "is" healthy, but it's one of those things that can unhealthy quickly if one over-indulges... I've also read quite a few articles that say studies suggest children of tee-totallers are more likely to be alcoholics than children of people who drink moderately... of course, there are other studies that suggest otherwise, so who really knows???
Helpful - 0
7 Comments
Many studies have shown it is in our "genes".  If you grow up in an alcoholic home like i did it can be a monkey see monkey do thing especially in those teen years.  Families are so dysfunctional and it is an escape from reality for many of us.  Drug abuse is also considered a disease to most and i have a hard time with that too only because i know how my little brain works.  If i look at it like a disease i am afraid i would use that as an excuse to drink or drug again.  This is just MY opinion by the way!  Sorry i got off track as i know this is about weight loss.......

Now about that tequila......and this one time at band camp!!  lol

I know they say drinking and drugs are a disease and I guess they really are,  but a lot of ways, that implies that there's little or nothing that can be done about it - it would be too easy to still be drinking, telling myself "I'm sick" and there's nothing I can do about it... I quit smoking, there wasn't any reason I shouldn't have been able to quit drinking...

Not to worry about going off track - all of these things are related - everything we put into our body has  do with weight management, as does stress control (or lack of), etc...

Tequila?  Band camp?  Hmmm  
My mom was the daughter of a strict teetotaler, and says she could hardly wait to go to college so she could do such sophisticated things as drinking, in resistance to her prissy and puritanical mother. She finally gave it up years later, when she decided she was at least partly on the road to becoming an alcoholic (her behavior when drinking had gotten over the top, to us kids. We were all glad she quit. She sought out Women for Sobriety and ended her drinking. It took that, though. She didn't just go tra-la-la I'll stop.)

But there was more to the genetics of alcoholism and the family than just one person rebelling against her prudish parent. The brother of my mom's mother (the strict teetotaler) was an alcoholic. Apparently the genes that alter how a person metabolizes alcohol came down the family line in a hit-or-miss fashion. In Uncle George it manifested, in other family members it didn't. His behavior did change my grandma's attitude about alcohol to a puritanical one, possibly out of fear. Who knows, Grandma could have even had one or two bad experiences and so put it behind her forever.

My sisters and I (five of us) went round the group once about 20 years ago when we were talking about Mom and her heightened behavior when she drank, and answered the question "Do I think I have the potential to have a problem with alcohol?". The answers were varied. One or two knew for sure they did not, they had experienced that they could take it or leave it alone. Another thoughtfully said she didn't know for sure. Another knew that she did have the potential to have a problem. By then we were all adults with our mom's negative example to look at and all had experience drinking, so I think our answers might have at least partly reflected whether we have the genes that make people more susceptible. And interestingly, the answers have proven out in the past 20 years since we had that conversation.

I think it's not all genetics. but certainly if one has the genetic susceptibility one would be more likely to get the disease. And in my family it seems to be like a shotgun blast, with some getting hit and others not.
I didn't grow up with anyone who drank excessively... my mother hardly drank.  My step-father drank more, but only when they partied until later in his life after my mother died; then he did actually become a very heavy drinker -  probably an alcoholic, but by then I was grown and away from home with a family of my own.  

My husband and I started innocently enough - a drink after work, once or twice/week and one leads to another, then it becomes every night and quite a few drinks.  Neither of us ever missed a day of work, drank during the day or anything like that...but it was enough to create dysfunction in our home - actually, the dysfunction was already there... but that's a different story.  :-)

Anyway, my husband just decided to quit when I quit smoking 11 yrs ago because he said the alcohol gave him headaches; I followed suit a few yrs later, though as I said, I do still drink a beer or two now and then.  I'll buy a 6 pack and it might last a week or it might last a month...
It's interesting to hear about other families and how alcohol or lack of have affected the outcome of lives.  Discussing anything in our home was unheard of.  We were to feel what my mother wanted us to feel and that was that.  My dad drank from the time i remember until my youngest was born in 1983.  We were supposed to hate my dad due to his drinking, instead i loved him more and started drinking myself.  My mother by this time was actively partaking in the drinking game too but that was different she claimed.  I guess it was my dads fault???  My brother dealt with his demons the same way but quit sooner than i did.  Plowing into the garage did it for him and that was the last drink he had.  My grandpa's brother actually died on the real skid row in LA.  Seems to be some real "mutant" genes running thru this families genetics!!  lol
I think it is interesting, too. So many different permutations. And so much family misery.

I've heard people say that if someone has an "addictive personality" they will find other things to get addicted to if they stop drinking, maybe another way to put that is that we have pits and gaps (or craters) in our personal needs that we fill with whatever we stumble across to fill them with (excessive shopping and excessive exercising are sometimes mentioned in this connection). But I do think it's been studied often enough to safely say there is a biological element to the addiction to alcohol. Obviously it's not all genetics, one has to also get exposed, have the justification, etc. But it's kind of like getting hit in the head with a blackjack, if there is also a biological weakness.
I found it interesting when i started this recovery process that no matter what a person is addicted too the same feelings were present.  Look at people who are addicted to food.  They find comfort in eating.  Their emotional state is the same as someone who is addicted to drugs, alcohol, exercising, gambling etc.  It's a vicious cycle until you face those demons.
134578 tn?1693250592
It's also not just what's in the drink itself, it's the way alcohol can release one's inhibitions about what one eats. My husband and I both eat more (or at least differently) when drinking. If my husband is drinking beer with buddies and watching football, he will snarf down whatever really crappy snack foods are being offered, even things he wouldn't do more than nibble on otherwise. I also tend to eat at least a little more if I drink wine with dinner, though  not junk, just more. (It seems that as we talk and relax due to the effect of the wine, we stay at the table longer, and go for seconds or thirds.) It's interesting that our biggest food overindulgences when drinking have to do with the presence of other people in a social setting.  I'm a light to nonexistent drinker at home, and my husband has one glass of wine with dinner. I don't know if either of us actually gains weight specifically from the effect of alcohol on our food intake, but if so it would be him more than me, because of the food choices where we drink. It would be harder for me to gain weight on seconds on flank steak or salmon and salad, than it would be for my husband to gain on potato chips and nachos.
Helpful - 0
495284 tn?1333894042
I hear you on the tequila!!!  lol  Thank god there was no social media when i was actively living in a drunken stupor!!!  I'm still amazed people can actually have a drink or 2!  lol
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
This IS that time of year where I'm offered more 'adult' beverages than usual.  After all, we are celebrating (something) aren't we? I'm not much of a drinker.  I like a glass of merlot.  Not diet merlot (did NOT even know they made diet or low calorie wine!) and not a dry version. So, I make bad choices with this.  If I get a mixed drink, the sweeter the better.  A shot of tequila takes me back to another era of my life that I'm still trying to forget. :>)  

I get a tiny bit annoyed with all the conflicting information regarding red wine.  Heart healthy?  Too much is bad for you.  blah blah blah.  
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