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.)
- 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 baloney and may encourage mindless consumption. It’s like bragging that a candy bar is “cholesterol-free.”
- 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.
Drs.
Michael R. and Mary Dan Eades (Protein Power)
How
much is one unit?
Adding
up your units
What it all boils down to
In spite of the
strong implication that “low-carb” somehow means low-calorie, and that low-carb
foods in general can help you lose weight—or, indeed, that they are “health
foods”—there’s no evidence this is so, and particularly not when it comes to
beer, wine, and liquor. 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.
What the experts say
Let's take a quick
look at what a few of the low-carb experts have to say on the subject of
alcohol and low carb diets:
Robert C. Atkins –– the Granddaddy of them all:
"Here's the
problem with all alcoholic beverages, and the reason I recommend refraining
from alcohol consumption on the diet. Alcohol, whenever taken in, is the first
fuel to burn. While that's going on, your body will not burn fat. This does not
stop the weight loss, it simply postpones it, since the alcohol does not store
as glycogen, you immediately go back into ketosis/lipolysis after the alcohol
is used up.
If you must drink
alcohol, wine is an acceptable addition to levels beyond the Induction diet. If
wine does not suit your taste, straight liquor such as scotch, rye, vodka, and
gin would be appropriate, as long as the mixer is sugarless; this means no
juice, tonic water; or non-diet soda. Seltzer and diet soda are
appropriate."
"Can I drink
alcohol on the Protein Power Plan?"
"Yes, you
can! But, like with everything else, you are limited by your Carbohydrate
Maximum. Dry white or red wine (3 oz.) or Miller Lite beer (12 oz.) will cost
you 3 or 4 effective carb grams, but are still reasonable choices as long as
you count them in your daily totals. Hard liquor will cost you a lot of empty
calories. Take it easy and count those carbs! Wine-in moderation-can even help
improve insulin sensitivity."
To gain an understanding of why alcohol affects us the way it
does, it is important to known how it is processed in the body. After consuming the first alcoholic
drink, 25% of this alcohol is absorbed straight from the stomach into the
bloodstream, with the remainder taken in through the small bowel. Alcohol is
generally absorbed fairly rapidly, but its absorption can be quickened
depending on several factors:
1. The amount of food in the stomach (a fuller stomach slows
the rate of absorption).
2. Whether the drink is carbonated (champagne is absorbed more
quickly than non-sparkling drinks).
3. Alcohol concentration of the drink (higher alcohol drinks
are absorbed faster).
Around 98% of alcohol that is consumed is processed in the liver,
with the other two to ten percent being expelled through urine, breathing, or
sweat. The amount of alcohol in a standard drink will take around 10 hours for
the average person to process, which means the more that is consumed at any one
point, the greater the rise in blood alcohol content. When the liver processes
alcohol, it does so in one of two ways.
For the most part, alcohol is broken down by the enzyme alcohol
dehydrogenase (ADH, which is contained in the liver cells). ADH then
metabolizes the alcohol into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is broken down into
acetate by another enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase. In the final stage, the
acetate is further metabolized to where it eventually exits the body as waste
products carbon dioxide and water.
The other way alcohol can be processed is a less common
alternative, which uses a different set of liver enzymes. This alternative
pathway, called the microsomal ethanol-oxidizing system, is used when the blood
has very high levels of alcohol.
On average, it takes about one hour for your body to
break down one unit
of alcohol.
Use the alcohol
unit calculator to
work out how many units there are in a range of drinks
However, this breakdown of the alcohol can vary,
depending on:
·
your weight
·
whether you’re male or female
·
your age
·
how quickly or slowly your body turns food into energy (your
metabolism)
·
how much food you have eaten
·
the type and strength of the alcohol
·
whether you’re taking medication and, if so, what type
It can also take longer if your liver isn’t working
normally.
Ø If
you drink a large (250ml) glass of wine, your body takes about three hours to
break down the alcohol.
Ø If
you drink one pint of beer, your body takes about two hours to break it down.
One pint of strong lager is equivalent to three units, so this will take
longer. However, this time can vary depending on the factors mentioned above.
Ø If
you have a few drinks during a night out, it can take many hours for the
alcohol to leave your body. The alcohol could still be in your blood the next
day.
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