For Body or Booze

Kelly Gonzalez
Busy Bodies Health and Fitness
Date Published: December 31, 2008

For Body or Booze

Another year has passed and it’s time to celebrate. Raise your glasses for a toast saying goodbye to 2008 and hello to 2009 and all the wonderful things in store for the coming year. People everywhere are popping open bottles of champagne, mixing another cocktail, or trying to stay on their feet.

New Year’s is definitely a time to celebrate, and one thing that most celebrations include is alcohol. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first, and then I’ll offer an inkling of hope...alcohol and fitness or weight loss don’t match if you’re serious about meeting your goals. Alcohol has no nutritional value. Unlike carbohydrates, protein, and fat alcohol offers no energy resource to the body, only calories-7 calories per gram.

It’s a common misperception that alcohol just accumulates into fat around the abdominal region leading to the infamous “beer belly.” Alcohol leads to weight gain, because it slows down your metabolism by decreasing the amount of fat your body burns for energy, decreases testosterone levels, increases cortisol levels, increases appetite, and the calorie content is often underestimated or ignored.

When alcohol is consumed it is converted into acetate by the liver. Only a small portion of alcohol is actually stored as fat. The problem is that the acetate is released into your bloodstream and your body must burn it off first, thus putting the normal ongoing fat burning process on hold.

Think about it this way. If you have a drink with a heavy meal and then keep drinking alcohol throughout the night then your body is not burning off that meal like it normally would. Instead your body is attempting to use alcohol as it’s energy source and everything else is put into storage in the form of fat.

Not only does alcohol affect your fat burning abilities, it also increases the breakdown of testosterone, and can raise cortisol levels. Cortisol is the same hormone related to stress that causes visceral fat in the abdominal region. This effect can last for sometimes up to 24 hours, which can lead to a decrease in muscle mass. This is a problem, because more lean muscle equals a faster metabolism. This is one reason why frequent drinkers have lower levels of muscle mass and more difficulty building muscle.

One of the major reasons why alcohol leads to weight gain is because it stimulates your appetite. Studies have shown that people eat far more calories at dinner if they’ve had an alcoholic drink before and/or during. Don’t be surprised if you’re more drawn to the party platters on New Year’s Eve.

Many people often underestimate the amount of calories that are in a single alcoholic beverage. Cocktails mixed with high calorie and high sugar juices and mixers can really sabotage your diet. By the time the nights over those drinks, even if it’s just a couple can really add up.

Beer tends to have anywhere from 90 calories to 160 calories, while wine is normally about 120 calories. Doesn’t seem so bad, right? Watch out. How many bottles are you downing, and wait, those cocktails that go down so easily can range from 150 calories for a cosmopolitan to a whopping 400 calories in a margarita.

If you want to suppress the calorie count of your alcohol intake opt for a light beer, wine, or a cocktail with a low calorie mixer such as diet coke, diet cranberry, or club soda. Steer clear of juices and sugar. Don’t be fooled into thinking you’re going healthy by mixing tasty juices with your liquor. Alcohol is a diuretic; the amount of nutrients that you may eventually receive from juice is often flushed out.

Now that the unpleasant news is out in the open, here’s the bright side. Alcohol is like anything else; it can be had in moderation. Keep in mind that it should be treated like a dessert. It’s not everyday, it’s 1-3 times per week and special occasions. Sure, studies have shown that a glass of red wine a few nights a week can help prevent heart disease and other illnesses, but make sure that it’s just one drink.

That brings up a common question. What is one drink? One alcoholic drink is considered to be 12 ounces of beer, 4-5 ounces of wine, and 1-1.5 ounces of liquor. It’s important to keep in mind that your body can only digest about one drink every hour. If you want to wake up without a nasty hangover and embarrassing stories from New Year’s Eve try to drink water in between alcoholic drinks and put a limit on the number of drinks you have that night. As always, be sure to have a designated driver or take a taxi home, and be careful on the roads.

Enjoy New Year’s, celebrate with a toast if you like, but be aware of alcohol’s effect on body and mind. Be safe, and have fun!