Alcohol is very misunderstood. Many people believe it’s just empty calories, so if you stay under your calorie limit for fat burning, alcohol is okay. That sounds good, but there’s more to it than that.

When you drink alcohol, you’re getting extra calories, true, but you’re also giving your body an additional fuel source. Your body has to burn off the alcohol first, so fat burning stops. Not so bad, you say, because that happens when you eat a meal. The problem comes when you eat while you drink alcohol, there’s no place for your body to put the food calories except in your fat cells.

Your body uses alcohol for energy first. So if you’re drinking alcohol and eating, most of those food calories are going right to your fat cells. That’s why it’s so dangerous to drink at a bar while snacking on pretzels and chips, processed carbs! You’re feeding those fat cells big time.

One last problem to keep in mind before we get to some positives: Alcohol can depress testosterone the anabolic hormone that not only contributes to your muscle growth but also helps lean you out. In other words, lowering your T by drinking will make it more difficult to build muscle and burn fat.

For the good news, moderate alcohol consumption can be good for you. Two 150 ml (five-ounce) drinks a night is the limit in most cases. A few studies have shown red wine to have fat-burning properties as well, which is kind of strange considering alcohol can lower testosterone to a degree.

 

Is living like a monk the only way to get the body you want?

No, you can drink alcohol and still lose weight, just as long as you’re sensible about it.

From my personal experience, as a red wine lover, here are few recommendations to minimize the alcohol effect on weight management:

• Eat a healthy meal with some healthy fat (nuts, avocado, olive oil, fish…) an hour or so before you start to drink. Include some cheese or nuts because fat slows digestion.  Also understand that drinking alcohol lowers your blood sugar; it doesn’t raise it the way a meal does. So drinking alcohol with no food in your stomach will get most people ravenously hungry. That’s the reason for all of those bowls of chips and pretzels at your favorite bar. When people drink, their body tells them to eat. A healthy meal before will help.

You’re much more likely to binge out of control if you’re buzzed and your stomach is empty, plus, you get zonked faster. You could kill an entire week of dieting in one crazy binge-blasting night.

• If you have to eat while you are drinking ovoid fast carbs and processed food (avoid chips, bread or replace it with crackers and fresh vegetables). Have a glass of wine, piece of lean red meat and one portion of vegetables, it’s a great healthy meal and it will not affect your body fat.

When you allow your self to have a pizza, or a cup of white rice with your meal… Try to not drink alcohol in the same time. It’s a choice to do: junk food or wine. See which really will make you happier, and enjoy it. Don’t go for both! 

 

According to the January ’10 Prevention, eating some asparagus before you partake of alcohol can reduce headaches and other hangover symptoms the following day. Apparently, the vegetable is packed with specific amino acids that help metabolize alcohol.

• If you have the habit to drink while you watching the TV or surfing on Internet or Skyping, etc., keep the glass of alcohol in the kitchen away from you. The fact that you have to walk to the kitchen to have a sip will increase your awareness. If you drink with your meals, just help your self one glass and put the bottle away from the dining room. It will be easy to limit yourself to one glass.
• If you're really trying to lean out fast, or get to a very low body fat (less than 18% for man and less than 22% for women) having a few drinks on cheat day is okay, but try to keep it at one glass, one or two a week only. Remember it’s just for few months. When you reach your ideal weight you can adjust your consumption. You can do that for three months, right?
• Alternate whatever you’re drinking with water, especially sparkling water. So you would have a cocktail… then a glass of water… then a cocktail… and so on.
• If you have no preference keep the beer as your last choice, cocktails with low-calories mixers are a good choice (Skinny Bitch cocktail: Gin + Soda Water + Squeezed lime) and wine, biensure, is the best choice.
• Promise yourself and make the decision: no drunk food tonight! It’s 2am, 4am or 6am depending on what city you just tore up.  You don’t have a special someone to cuddle up with. You haven’t put food in your body since 8pm.  And that pizza / Asian noodle bar / ice cream gallon is drawing you in. Don’t do it.  Go home, chug some water and go to bed.

 

Red or white? You have read that red wines are more healthful for you than white wines, but do you know why? Both types contain polyphenols, but reds have a higher concentration. Reds also contain three to 10 times more Saponins than whites. Saponins inhibit cholesterol absorption and inflammation that may lead to heart disease. Reds are more potent because to make red wines, you throw whole grapes into the vat, skins, seeds and so on. All of those extras give red wines a much higher concentration of protective compounds, like polyphenols.

We all know that two drinks a night for men and one for women can be good for your health. But what does that really mean? According to Drs. Roizen and Oz in their Health IQ column in the October ’06 Reader’s Digest, “A drink is defined as five ounces of wine (150 ml), 1.5 ounces of spirits (45 ml) or 12 ounces of beer (350 ml).” Anything over about 2 1/2 drinks daily for men and 1 1/2 drinks for women is overdoing it, if health is a concern.

By the way, you can’t save up all your daily drinks for one week and have them on Saturday.

 

Wrapping Up

Rule #1 – Get a protein-fat healthy meal one hour before you start your drinking night.

Rule #2 – Junk food or wine, don’t go for both.

Rule #3 – H20 Drink lots of water.

Rule #4 – No Juice, No Regular Soda, Wine or Skinny bitch. If you love pineapple vodka, who am I to say you can’t drink them. Adjust your pre-drinking diet, and have fun.

Rule #5 – No Drunk Food

Follow my five rules and you can drink heavy while moving toward your goals.  You won’t take three steps backward every time you go out.

However, yes, there are downsides to heavy drinking besides the additional calories:  Recovery from training, changes in hormones and more.