What's the Best Alcohol to Drink when on a Diet?

The question is oftern asked, "If you are going to go out and have a drink or two with friends, which drink is the best when you're on a fat loss program? Would it be wine or a vodka mixed with soda? Is champagne better or worse than the other two?"

For a complete list of the calories contained if your favorite alcohol drink click here.

If your goal is to get leaner then the question "which alcohol is best?" is not conducive to you achieving it.

Your quest for the "best drink" therefore assumes that:
(a) you ARE going to drink and
(b) a best choice exists.

If you asked, "how much damage would I do to my body and how much would I slow down my results if I drank drinking during my fat burning program?" you might get a different feeling towards alcohol. This type of question presupposes that there WILL be a down side, it's only a question of how bad it will be.

If you think about the consequences of drinking, instead of how you can best "get away with it," it may change your emotional outlook towards alcohol.

Athletes asking about alcohol and fat loss are usually seeking some kind of justification for their drinking.

Instead of providing you such "permission" it is useful instead if you consider:

On fat loss programs, drinking alcohol is not recommended at all because alcohol suppresses fat oxidation and adds unnecessary calories to your diet, which either displaces nutritious calories or erases your caloric deficit.
For lifelong maintenance, it is recommended that if you choose to drink, that's fine, but only if you do so in moderation (1-2 drinks a day is considered moderation according to most health authorities)
Daily drinking is not recommended as part of a fitness lifestyle, because daily drinking can become habit forming. It is preferable if you can limit drinking to weekends, holidays and/or special occasions.
Try and ALWAYS be cognizant of the calories that are added to your diet through alcohol and above all else know how many calories are in your drinks.

If someone really MUST know which alcohol is worst on a fat burning program, then it would be the one with the most calories. Conversely, the lesser of evils would be the drinks with fewer calories.

For example, that would mean choosing light beers over regular beers. Bass Ale and Sam Adams lager both contain 160 calories per bottle. Guinness extra Stout packs 176 calories per bottle. By comparison, Amstel light contains only 99 calories, Michelob Ultra has 95 calories and Beck's Premier Light has 64 calories (Beck's pulled off that feat simply by lowering the alcohol content).

Champagne has about 96 calories per 4 oz glass. White wine such as chardonnay has about the same caloric content as champagne.

Any pure distilled liquor will contain about 65 calories per fluid ounce at 80 proof. When mixed with other calorie containing liquids, the calorie count goes up. A 6 ounce screwdriver will give you about 130 calories. A whiskey sour about 169 calories. Naturally, mixed drinks may contain even more calories due to the sugar in the drink mixes. A margarita is one of the worst, with an 8-ouncer packing about 500 calories and a huge dollop of sugar! A couple of those with your cheese Nachos and enchiladas, refried beans, sour cream and guacaomole, and you've just knocked back about two days worth of calories in one meal!

For a complete list of the calories contained if your favorite alcohol drink click here.

Fat loss is first and foremost a matter of calories in vs calories out, so the calorie counts are what you look at first.

If you wanted other criteria to judge the "best" alcoholic drink, you could also look at whether there is any health value, as in red wine, or whether there are any nutrients in the drink, such as what you might find in the vegetable juice of a bloody mary or the orange juice in a screwdriver. However, I think that's a pretty moot point when you consider the far superior way to get those same nutrients: eat whole vegetables and oranges.

The fact is, you can certainly get leaner while drinking, as long as you stay in a caloric deficit, but that doesn't mean it's the smartest thing to do for your body and your health.

Successful weight loss is all about oxidizing (or burning), more calories than you eat. When they go on a diet, many people choose low-calorie alcoholic drinks, mainly because they contain fewer alcohol calories than their regular counterparts.

However, drinking too much has a far more damaging effect than you can predict simply by looking at the number of alcohol calories in a drink. Not only does it reduce the number of fat calories you burn, alcohol can increase your appetite and lower your testosterone levels for up to 24 hours after you finish drinking.

According to conventional wisdom, the infamous "beer belly" is caused by excess alcohol calories being stored as fat. Yet, less than five percent of the alcohol calories you drink are turned into fat. Rather, the main effect of alcohol is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy.

Some evidence for this comes from research carried in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Eight men were given two drinks of vodka and sugar-free lemonade separated by 30 minutes. Each drink contained just under 90 calories. Fat metabolism was measured before and after consumption of the drink. For several hours after drinking the vodka, whole body lipid oxidation (a measure of how much fat your body is burning) dropped by a massive 73%.

Rather than getting stored as fat, the main fate of alcohol is conversion into a substance called acetate. In fact, blood levels of acetate after drinking the vodka were 2.5 times higher than normal. And it appears this sharp rise in acetate puts the brakes on fat loss.

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A car engine typically uses only one source of fuel. Your body, on the other hand, draws from a number of different energy sources, such as carbohydrate, fat, and protein. To a certain extent, the source of fuel your body uses is dictated by its availability.

In other words, your body tends to use whatever you feed it. Consequently, when acetate levels rise, your body simply burns more acetate, and less fat. In essence, acetate pushes fat to the back of the queue. To learn more about how your body converts the food you feed it into fuel click here

So, to summarize and review, here's what happens to fat metabolism after the odd drink or two.

A small portion of the alcohol is converted into fat.

Your liver then converts most of the alcohol into acetate.

The acetate is then released into your bloodstream, and replaces fat as a source of fuel.

The way your body responds to alcohol is very similar to the way it deals with excess carbohydrate. Although carbohydrate can be converted directly into fat, one of the main effects of overfeeding with carbohydrate is that it simply replaces fat as a source of energy. That's why any type of diet, whether it's high-fat, high-protein, or high-carbohydrate, can lead to a gain in weight.

Appetite

The combination of alcohol and a high-calorie meal is especially fattening, mainly because alcohol acts as a potent appetizer. A Canadian study shows that an aperitif (an alcoholic drink taken before a meal to increase the appetite) increased calorie intake to a greater extent than a carbohydrate-based drink.

Researchers from Denmark's Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University report similar results. When a group of men were given a meal and allowed to eat as much as they wanted, they ate more when the meal was served with beer or wine rather than a soft drink.

Not only does too much alcohol put the brakes on fat loss, it's also one of the most effective ways to slash your testosterone levels. Just a single bout of heavy drinking raises levels of the muscle-wasting hormone cortisol and increases the breakdown of testosterone for up to 24 hours. The damaging effects of alcohol on testosterone are made even worse when you exercise before drinking.

The effect of alcohol on testosterone could be one reason that people who drink a lot carry less muscle. In fact, a 1993 study shows that alcoholic men have bigger waists and smaller muscles than teetotalers.

This doesn't mean you need to avoid alcohol completely.

A recent study, published in the November 2004 issue of the International Journal of Obesity, compared the effect of two different diets over a three-month period. Both diets contained 1500 calories daily, one with 150 calories from white wine and one with 150 calories from grape juice.

Weight loss in the grape juice group and white wine group was 8.3 pounds and 10.4 pounds, respectively.

The bottom line

Although an alcohol-rich meal does increase your metabolic rate, it also suppresses the number of fat calories your body burns for energy -- far more so than meals rich in protein, carbohydrate, or fat.

While the odd drink now and again isn't going to hurt, the bottom line is that alcohol and a leaner, stronger body just doesn't mix.

Amino acids help with the hangover resulting from excessive alcohol

The hangover after excessive alcohol intake occurs as a result of alcohol metabolism to acetaldehyde in the body.

Acetaldehyde is alcohol's primary and most toxic metabolite.

Acetaldehyde is a highly toxic compound that builds up within your body when you consume alcohol.

The amino acids glutamine and alanine activate gluconeogenesis (the generation of glucose), thus expediting the metabolism of alcohol and acetaldehyde.

Branched Chain Amino Acids (valine, leucine, isoleucine), arginine, and glutamine boost the liver function, thus promoting alcohol metabolism.

If you consume these amino acids before/after drinking and the day after, they will aid liver function and relieve the discomfort of a hangover, that we have helplessly accepted until now.

To learn about an amino acid sports drink that contains all of these amino acids to help cure your hangover click here

You may also find the following links to resources on this website to be of interest:

Athletes & Alcohol

Alcohol is discouraged in an athlete’s diet. When competing at an elite level, you cannot afford to impair your performance and give your opponent the advantage by consuming alcohol. Because you want the best possible performance for yourself you should limit your alcohol intake.

Alcohol impairs sporting performance by causing:

Decreased reaction time.
Problems with movement, balance, coordination, accuracy, concentration and effective decision making.
Blurry eyesight.
Changes in attitude.
Dehydration (alcohol is a diuretic).
Nausea and headaches.
Early fatigue.
Impaired temperature control.
Interference with glycogen synthesis post-exercise.
Delayed healing of soft tissue injuries.
Weight gain.

Guidelines for sensible alcohol intake

When you have finished training rehydrate with sports drinks and other non-alcoholic drinks before drinking alcohol.

If you are injured while exercising, avoid alcohol for at least 24 hours. Alcohol causes more blood to flow to the injured area, increasing swelling and bleeding, which may slow recovery or make the injury worse.

When you are competing you want to be in peak form, so avoid alcohol for at least two days before the event.

When you do drink, keep it to no more than two standard drinks each day for women or three standard drinks each day for men.

On any one drinking occasion, drink no more than six standard drinks for men or four standard drinks for women. A standard drink is one glass of beer or one glass of wine or one pub measure of sprits.

If drinking alcohol, do so in moderation. Alcohol can negatively affect every part of your body. Alcohol can contribute to being overweight as it is a concentrated source of energy providing few other nutrients.

Eat some food when you drink.

Dilute alcoholic drinks with plenty of water or mixers and lots of ice.

Do not binge drink. For example, on any one drinking occasion drink no more that six standard drinks for men or four standard drinks for women. A standard drink is one 300ml glass of beer, one nip of spirits or one glass of wine.

Do not drive.

When you are hosting a party provide non-alcoholic drinks like fruit juice, soft drinks and water, as well as plenty of food.

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