Most of us are very health conscious these days. We keep track of what we wear, how much we exercise, how much we eat, and we stay away from those carbonated drinks and colas as a precautionary measure. God forbid if one fine day you consume one glass of cola which runs up to 200 calories per glass. That’s about 20 minutes on the treadmill. Instead, you indulged in another vice, not knowing that it too is just as loaded with calories as the so called fatty foods, the alcohol.
Alcohol has no nutritional value, what you call empty calories. Not only does alcohol risk your quest to being fit, it also tarnishes your health in other ways.
A normal bottle of beer runs up to 153 calories. Such calories, like those in beer are only carbohydrates and sugar, both of which can cause weight gain. Surely you would have heard to stay away from the carbs and the sugar. Another problem with beer is that just like colas, beer also feeds on carbonation. This basically means that no matter how much you drink you will never feel like you had enough. You will always want more. If you’re a beer drinker and are drinking a pitcher or 5 pints per week, you are consuming over 40,000 calories per year which is equivalent to eating a doughnut every other day.
Wine is known to have its anti oxidant properties, but one small glass of it can cost you 200 calories, and we all know that one small glass of fine wine is really never enough. That is the same number of calories that a bag of potato chips has. Two large glasses of wine equals about 1/5 of the acceptable daily calorie intake that most women stick too or should stick to.
If it’s the mixed drinks you prefer, be it rum and cola, vodka and lime juice, or even gin and orange juice, don’t feel too happy about yourself. While the liquor like rum or vodka itself has about 60 calories per peg, it is when you mix it and don’t really realize you are drinking alcohol that the calories pile on. Again, these drinks never give you the impression that you are full. Depending on the type of mixer, these drinks can run up to 200 calories per glass.
Alcohol is also dangerous because of the fact that it induces hunger and reduces the number of fat calories you burn. Rather than getting stored as fat, alcohol is turns into a substance called acetate. Acetate makes it harder for a person to burn fat. The acetate is what gives you energy.
Having an alcoholic drink before a meal is dangerous, and can pile on the pounds. If you consume alcohol, you feel hungrier and tend to eat more than you would normally do.
Eventually, while having a few drinks now and then, it won’t really affect your long term plans, it will just slow your weight loss plans. For some men, since it reduces testosterone in the body, it may also prove to increase the difficulty when trying to gain muscle. So the next time you think about drinking, think wisely.
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