What alcoholic drinks can you drink while dieting? Alcohol while dieting - the effect of alcohol on excess weight
Alcohol contains 7 kcal per 1 gram, which is a significant addition to the diet. It is easy to calculate that after drinking half a bottle of white wine, your body will receive about 300 kcal. At first glance, this is not so much, because by eating a few spoons of bran, filled with skim milk, and a small banana, you consume a similar amount of calories. However, healthy food also provides you with the proteins, fiber, iron and calcium you need for life, while alcohol does not contain such beneficial substances. However, if you don’t enjoy life without a glass of wine with your girlfriend, forgive yourself this little weakness. Moreover, you can minimize the harm to your figure if you choose the right wine.
What exactly to drink
When on a diet, it is best to drink dry red wine. It contains no a large number of sugar, and it has mass useful properties– improves hematopoiesis, reduces cholesterol levels in the blood and is an excellent prevention of cardiovascular diseases. If you prefer beer, you should choose a light, foamy drink - it is lower in calories. The lower the alcohol content, the less impact a glass of beer will have on your waistline.
Avoid traditional salty snacks - they interfere with the rapid removal of fluid from the body. You can treat yourself to champagne while on a diet. Pay attention to the brut variety, which, according to the recipe, contains a minimal amount of sugar, or is not present at all. Brut is lower in calories than dry champagne.
How to prepare for a party
Alcoholic drinks during a diet are dangerous not only because they contain calories, the amount of which you are trying to reduce in your diet. Alcohol awakens your appetite, and after a couple of glasses you may end up eating much more than you planned. However, not snacking is not an option, because in this case your liver will be at risk. The best way out is to have a snack shortly before sipping alcohol. You will be full, and you won’t want to overeat afterwards.
If you like to drink cocktails, pay attention to the composition of the drink. Soda water, fruit juices and cream are high in calories. Either give up such drinks during the diet, or choose a cocktail
Losing excess weight is like a test of stamina and endurance, when a mandatory rule is for a person to give up many habits, previous lifestyle and favorite foods. This also applies to drinking alcohol. Therefore, sticking to a diet and not knowing can you drink alcohol while losing weight, we often remember the tempting fizz of cold sparkling wine or the pleasant tingling sensation on the tongue of whiskey. But not everything is so sad!
If you have set yourself up to achieve good results, lose excess weight, create the body of your dreams and change your life, then the decision to completely give up alcoholic beverages will not be the right decision. Most nutritionists claim that alcohol-containing drinks are harmful during weight loss, while others do not strictly limit it and even allow you to add a little alcohol to your diet during weight loss. But what to do if a person decides to reset excess weight, but doesn’t want to give up alcohol? Let's figure out whether drinking alcoholic beverages is acceptable during a diet to lose excess weight, and what effect alcohol has directly on the weight loss process. We will also find out what kind of alcohol you can drink while losing weight, and which one is better to avoid. And we will answer the question of how to drink alcohol without harming your health and figure.
It's better to start with numbers. The calorie content of all alcohol-containing drinks is determined by the calorie content of the ethyl alcohol contained in it, which is about 7 kcal per 1 g of ethyl. Moreover, for 1 g of carbohydrates, which are considered the cause of excess weight gain, there are only 4 kcal!
Each serving of an alcoholic drink contains about 20 g of pure alcohol. And it doesn’t matter whether you drink a glass of red wine, a glass of vodka or a glass of beer. And since blood vessels dilate after drinking alcohol-containing drinks, a small part of the energy is immediately spent on maintaining activity, the energy value of alcohol is 5.5 kcal. So it turns out that a glass of beer or a portion of other alcohol for dinner increases the number of calories “eaten” per day by 110 kcal from the alcohol contained in the drink, and by 50-60 kcal from its carbohydrates - in general, by 170 kcal.
Remember! These calories are considered “empty” and serve as fuel, but do not bring benefits to metabolism and the body as a whole. They “burn out” many times faster than substances obtained from foods. Therefore, the body, having received “light energy” after drinking alcohol, sends everything remaining to subcutaneous fat.
Therefore, many nutritionists prohibit the consumption of alcohol during a diet, because the process of breaking down fat cells is complex, and alcohol, even in small doses, slows it down and prevents you from getting rid of the hated excess weight. And if we also take into account the fact that drinking alcoholic beverages increases the feeling of hunger and awakens the appetite, which, as a rule, is satisfied with various “goodies”, the calorie content of dinner accompanied by your favorite cocktail increases significantly. And this is on a diet in an attempt to lose weight?
What is the effect of alcohol on the body when losing weight?
Each of us knows that alcohol harms the body. But not everyone can answer the question of how it works during weight loss. So, how does alcohol affect weight loss and what are the consequences of drinking it? It promotes dehydration of body tissues and the accumulation of fat, especially visceral fat on internal organs, which leads to changes in the functioning of body systems.
Besides:
- prevents vitamins and minerals from being absorbed;
- affects the level of glucose in the blood, which increases the feeling of hunger, naturally leads to overeating and, as a result, prevents you from losing weight;
- worsens the quality of sleep: a drunk person does not have the REM sleep phase, which is necessary for proper rest of the body. As a result, morning fatigue and drowsiness;
- disrupts the functioning of the digestive organs.
Important! In men, frequent drinking of alcohol reduces the level of testosterone, which is responsible for the muscle frame. As a result, increased estrogen levels cause the body to store fat and promote muscle breakdown.
So it turns out that the body is not able to process beneficial substances obtained from food due to alcohol. And everything eaten by ballast is deposited on the body in the form of excess weight.
Calorie content of popular alcoholic drinks
If you decide to go on a diet and cannot refuse a glass of your favorite wine for dinner, then choose the alcohol that contains the minimum amount of calories and degrees. Let's look at the calorie content of alcoholic drinks using the example of the most popular ones.
Wine
Nutritionists are most loyal to wine, allowing its use in various diets and nutritional systems for weight loss, because this type of alcohol, regardless of the type, contains a minimum of calories and its effect on the human body is not significant. At the same time, natural wine during a diet will help saturate the body. useful microelements, which he needs, and helps to normalize salt metabolism, which is also important when losing weight. Below are the strength data of different types of wine and their calorie content.
Wine | Alcohol, % | Sugar, g/l | Calorie content, kcal/100 g |
Dry | 8,5-15 | up to 4 | 60-80 |
Semi-dry | 8,5-15 | 4-18 | 80-100 |
Semi-sweet | 8,5-15 | 18-45 | 100-120 |
Sweet | 8,5-15 | at least 45 | 100-150 |
Fortified | 17-21 | 30-120 | 150-250 |
Semi-dessert | 14-16 | 50-120 | 80-150 |
Dessert | 15-17 | 160-200 | 150-170 |
Liqueur | 12-16 | 210-300 | 250-350 |
Sparkling: | |||
brut cuvée | 9-13 | 0 | 30-50 |
extra brut | 9-13 | 3-16 | 50-70 |
brut | 9-13 | up to 15 | 60-80 |
As you can see from the table, the sweeter the wine, the more calories it contains, so when losing weight it is best to give preference to dry wine, red and natural, rather than powder. This drink will speed up the metabolism of fats and prevent the formation of new ones.
Interesting: red wines contain polyphenols, which, with adequate alcohol intake, can maintain youthful skin.
Vodka and cognac
Drinking vodka, especially during the period of weight loss, is not allowed at all. Not only do these drinks contain about 250 calories per 100 g, but they also greatly stimulate your appetite. Therefore, drinking just 50 ml of vodka or cognac can eat a huge amount of calories. After all, you will snack on such alcohol with low-calorie vegetables and fruits. Alcohol such as gin, rum, punch and brandy also boast a high calorie content and the presence of fast carbohydrates - more than 350 kcal per 100 g.
Alcoholic cocktails
During women's parties or corporate events, it is customary to serve delicious, refreshing alcoholic cocktails. But their lightness is imaginary, because it dulls vigilance, and in the evening you can drink 2-3, or even as many as 4 drinks. But they are so high in calories that while on a diet, you should forget about consuming them. The high calorie content of cocktails is due to the fact that they contain natural juices, sugar, sugar syrups and sparkling water. The only way out in this situation is to try to control the number of cocktails you drink, otherwise you can gain daily norm calories.
Beer
The most favorite alcohol for men - beer, contains the smallest amount of calories in its composition: 100 grams of light beer contains only 30 kcal. But who will be limited to a serving of 100 g? At least a bottle! And that’s 150 kcal for a minute!
The situation is further aggravated by the fact that beer is consumed with chips, crackers and other snacks. As a result, an evening of football or watching a movie with beer and fish will result in an extra 1-2 kg in the morning.
Therefore, if you find it difficult to stick to a strict diet, treat yourself and add one glass of wine and a diet snack to your diet once a week. This will help you relax and reduce your stress levels. A small portion of alcohol will increase your activity and make you move more, which means that the calories will not end up in fat, but will go in the right direction.
Just a little bit: is it impossible or possible?
In your quest to lose weight, do not forget that alcohol during a diet is not the best travel companion. But what if you don’t succeed in giving up alcohol completely, for example, during a family holiday, party or corporate event, or the company doesn’t perceive the refusal correctly?
Then remember that:
- It is not the quantity of alcohol that is important, but its quality;
- It is better to drink a glass of wine than strong alcoholic drinks;
- mixing several types of alcohol in one evening is not recommended, because different types alcohol are incompatible with each other and can cause intoxication;
- For one serving of alcohol, drink two large servings of clean water without gas;
- choose for snack low calorie foods: fruits, vegetables, berries, a piece of dark chocolate, some nuts, boiled meat, seafood and fish;
- do not drink alcohol on an empty stomach, and in the morning after drinking, take an absorbent to remove toxins.
If you follow these simple rules, you can combine both diet and alcohol, while achieving desired results. And remember that any diet breaks a person, because you have to give up a lot of things that are familiar to you, and this is always stressful. Everything in moderation is a simple truth that will help you combine weight loss and drinking alcohol.
Since a constantly elevated level of ethanol in the blood leads to significant disturbances in metabolic processes, alcohol during a diet significantly complicates the achievement of results. Alcohol, in any case, to a certain extent disrupts the functioning of the body’s systems, and if the list and quantity of products consumed is limited, it can cause quite serious problems.
Ideally, you should not drink alcohol at all while dieting. But since many people are very concerned about the question of why alcohol is not allowed on a diet, in the main part of the article we will try to consider in as much detail as possible the consequences of the combination of alcohol and various types diets
Is it possible to drink alcohol while dieting?
Any diet presents some stress. A significant limitation in the volume and list of foods consumed in many cases causes a decrease in body tone.
Alcohol causes increased stress on all body systems. In addition to the need to break down and remove ethanol breakdown products, an increase in the level of alcohol in the blood causes disturbances in the digestion process. This will cause a deterioration in the process of assimilation of consumed foods, which, in conditions of energy deficiency, will further weaken the body.
Considering the above facts, alcoholic drinks are an undesirable addition to any diet.
At the same time, the answer to the question of whether it is possible to drink alcohol on a diet depends on the volume and frequency of the intended consumption of alcohol, as well as the degree of strictness of the diet.
If you are planning a one-time feast, during which you can take a symbolic amount of alcoholic drinks, this will not cause any problems.
But if, against the backdrop of strict dietary restrictions, you regularly drink a sufficiently large amount of alcohol, health problems cannot be avoided.
You also need to consider the level of calorie deficit on the diet you are using. Provided that the restriction concerns mainly the list of products used, a small dose of alcohol may go unnoticed. But on strict diets alcohol can cause serious health problems.
What alcohol can you drink while dieting?
If you really want, you can combine alcohol and diet. In this case, it is necessary to limit the amount of alcohol, as well as wisely select its type and quality.
First of all, it is worth considering that any alcohol is a fairly high-calorie product. Its energy value is about 7 kcal per 1 g of product. It is worth knowing that due to the peculiarities of the chemical composition, such calories are easily digestible. Therefore, the body will primarily consume the energy obtained from alcohol, and substances obtained from food will be stored “in reserve” in subcutaneous fat.
Accordingly, if you regularly drink alcohol while losing weight, it is unlikely that you will be able to achieve real weight loss. It is for this reason that in most cases on a diet you are not allowed to drink alcohol at all.
The answer to the question of what is best to drink on an alcohol diet can be formulated as follows:
- The most preferred type of alcoholic drink while dieting is red wine.
- Dark beer comes next in terms of negative impact on the body.
- Liqueurs are superior to both of these types of drinks in terms of harm.
Also, when choosing which alcohol is best to drink while dieting, it is advisable to stick to a pure drink, avoiding cocktails.
To answer the question of which alcohol is lower in calories during a diet, it is advisable to study the table for calculating kcal for the most common types of drinks.
The level of energy value is indicated per 100 g of product.
- Champagne:
- dry - 65 Kcal;
- semi-dry - 78 Kcal;
- semi-sweet - 88 Kcal;
- brut – 50-55 Kcal.
- dry – 65 – 76 kcal;
- semi-dry – 78 kcal;
- semi-sweet – 88 kcal;
- dessert – 172 kcal.
- Beer:
- light, 1.8% - 29 kcal
- light, 2.8% - 34 kcal
- light, 4.5% - 45 kcal
- Vodka:
- rice - 250 kcal;
- anise – 297 kcal,
- tequila – 274 kcal.
- High calorie drinks:
- whiskey - 300 kcal;
- gin - 325 kcal;
- Calvados - 325 kcal;
- rum - 375 kcal;
- liqueur - 325 kcal;
- cherry liqueur – 300 kcal.
On what diets can you drink alcohol?
There are diets for weight loss in which drinking alcohol in small quantities is allowed, but there are also those in which this is strictly prohibited. Let's look at this issue in more detail.
Alcohol on the Dukan Diet
Alcohol on the Dukan diet during the first two stages (Attack and Alternation) is completely prohibited. During this period, a fairly strict restriction on the list and quantity of foods consumed is observed, so the use of alcohol will make it impossible to lose weight and cleanse the body. Starting from the third stage, the diet program provides for days when the consumption of all dishes is allowed, regardless of calorie content (so-called feasts). It is at such “feasts” that it is possible to drink alcohol.
Due to the fact that this type of diet does not involve extreme reduction in calorie intake, a small amount of Alcohol in the final stages will not cause significant harm. Many reviews of people who have used such a diet contain information regarding the use of small amounts of alcohol in the third or even in the second stage. The result of using such a nutrition system in combination with moderate alcohol consumption was quite normal.
Alcohol on the Maggi diet
Since the program of this diet provides for a fairly strict limitation of the volume and list of foods consumed in order to achieve the greatest reduction in the proportion of fat, alcohol is completely contraindicated during such a diet. Considering the fairly high calorie content of such drinks, as well as the metabolic disruption produced by alcohol, drinking alcohol during the Maggi diet will make all efforts ineffective. For those who want to drink alcohol, there are diets that allow alcohol.
Existing reviews of this diet do not contain information about alcohol consumption. All people who achieved the required results did not allow themselves alcohol while following such a diet.
Alcohol on a drinking diet
This type of diet in itself is quite a strong stress for the body, since during its use a complete refusal to eat solid foods is carried out. This leads to significant weight loss against the background of a noticeable decrease in body tone. Drinking alcohol will be a strong blow to a weakened body, which can cause serious disorders in the functioning of organs and systems.
Alcohol on the Kremlin diet
The Kremlin diet refers to a small list of nutritional plans during which alcohol is allowed.
The main requirement is a small amount of alcohol consumed, as well as its type. For example, you can’t drink hard-to-digest beer at all during such a diet, but you can drink high-quality vodka or cognac in small quantities.
Alcohol on the Protasov diet
Alcohol is prohibited during Kim Protasov’s diet. The peculiarity of this diet is that the restriction is imposed not on the quantity, but on the type of foods consumed. Therefore, the overall level of calorie intake with such a diet is quite high and allows you to completely preserve muscle mass.
Since alcoholic beverages contain a significant amount of calories, their consumption will lead to the accumulation of subcutaneous fat and will make dieting ineffective.
Alcohol on the keto diet
There are different opinions regarding whether you can drink alcohol while on this type of diet.
Opponents of alcohol consumption proceed from the fact that a carbohydrate-free diet, focused on the body using fat as an energy source, leads to an increase in the level of formation of a number of specific substances. These include ketones, from which the name of the diet is derived. The reaction of such substances with alcohol may pose a health hazard.
At the same time, there are opinions about the permissibility of drinking alcohol in limited quantities.
At the initial stage of such a diet (during the restructuring of the body to use fat as an energy source), you should not drink alcohol. After stabilizing the body's functioning, if desired, you can allow yourself a small amount of alcohol. The types of alcohol you can drink while on a diet include non-carbohydrate drinks: vodka, whiskey, cognac, rum, gin and tequila.
Alcohol on the egg diet
As the name suggests, the staple food during this diet is egg products. Since most other foods are prohibited, such a change in diet represents quite a lot of stress for the body. Therefore, there is no need to load it additionally. In addition, given the short duration of use of this diet, giving up alcohol will not be a problem.
Alcohol with buckwheat diet
This nutrition system also belongs to the category of short-term measures for quickly reducing your own weight. Like other types of intensive weight loss diets, alcohol consumption is not advisable with this diet plan.
Drinking alcohol after dieting
Very often, the end of a diet is marked by a real feast, as a result of which the lost kilograms are returned “with interest.”
Separately, it is worth noting the abundant alcoholic libations.
A protein diet in itself is quite a heavy load on the liver, and when combined with a heavy dose of alcohol it can lead to quite serious consequences.
In most cases, when leaving the diet, the body is weakened. Therefore, additional loads in the form of alcohol can cause a significantly more pronounced negative reaction than under normal conditions. It is also worth remembering that with a long-term calorie deficit, a sharp increase in the energy value of the diet will cause intensive accumulation of fat deposits.
Another factor is the efficiency of the liver to maintain normal metabolism. In the event that the liver, instead of processing substances obtained from food, is busy removing alcohol from the body, there can be no talk of any optimal weight. Since it will take a long time to restore the liver after alcohol, during which fat will actively accumulate, all the results of following the diet will solemnly go nowhere.
And considering that after alcohol poisoning, in addition to muscle loss, metabolism will be disrupted for a long time, it is not recommended to lean on alcohol after finishing the diet.
Alcohol and diets - what you need to know?
Before making a decision regarding a combination of diets and alcohol consumption, it is advisable to clarify a number of points.
- You should not go on a diet if your body is weakened.
After heavy drinking or prolonged drinking, after rotavirus or other infections, as well as in a state of general weakness, you should not start a diet.
The goal of any nutritional system is to lose excess weight, but against the background of energy deficiency, in most cases there is also a decrease in the tone and defenses of the body. If a person is already weakened at the time of starting the diet, the result of the diet may be a strong susceptibility to infections or an exacerbation of chronic diseases.
- A diet where you can drink alcohol without restrictions cannot exist.
Before you begin to comply with the norms of the nutrition system, it is advisable to determine for yourself the goals of such actions.
If you want to normalize your weight and appearance, then you need to forget about drinking alcohol. Working on yourself requires giving up many of the “joys” of life, the list of which is headed by alcohol and cigarettes. If there is no desire to strain yourself and give up your usual lifestyle, but there is no point in spending time and money on following a diet.
- Take into account the individual characteristics of the body
Depending on the list of past diseases or surgical interventions, the possibility of using a number of nutritional plans and types of products may not be available. For example, alcohol and coffee during prostatectomy are actually poisons.
Also, if there are a number of problems with digestive system, the use of most nutritional schemes is unacceptable, since a long-term deficiency of some substances and an excess of others can cause a significant deterioration in health.
For those who quit drinking alcohol, it is advisable to take a break of at least one month from the moment you stop drinking regularly until you start using any diet.
Alcohol and therapeutic diets
Existing therapeutic diets can be divided into two types: nutrition as part of complex therapy for the treatment of certain diseases, and diets for proper weight correction.
The first type of diet is used in case of serious disorders in the functioning of the body's systems - the so-called treatment tables No. 1-15, used for various, often serious, diseases of the body. Accordingly, in this case, alcohol is strictly contraindicated. In addition to the destructive effect on the organs and systems affected by the disease, it can form compounds dangerous to life and health with the medications used.
Diets for proper weight loss They mainly pursue the goal of optimizing the caloric content of the diet and the quality of food absorption, thereby losing excess weight.
It is worth remembering that alcohol during weight loss significantly impairs the fat burning process. All alcoholic drinks are quite high in calories, while the energy obtained from them is used by the body first, and subcutaneous fat remains in place.
An additional argument against drinking alcohol during a diet for weight loss is metabolic disorders under the influence of ethanol, which is reflected in a decrease in the quality of absorption of the resulting products.
It is also worth taking into account the composition and content of certain substances in alcohol. For example, on a gluten-free diet, drinking vodka is unacceptable, if only because it may contain gluten.
Energy diets generally involve building meals for one or two days. Therefore, it is irrational to disrupt metabolism by drinking alcohol.
It is in vain that many people believe that you cannot drink alcohol if you are on a diet. In fact, alcohol in normal doses promotes the breakdown of fat and helps you lose extra pounds.
The main thing is to know what kind of alcohol you can drink while on a diet and in what quantities. Also, you should remember that drinking alcoholic beverages replaces a full meal. If you drink alcohol, you don’t need to have a snack so as not to gain extra calories, because this will not benefit the body.
The influence of alcoholic beverages on humans
Alcohol is very quickly absorbed into the blood and spreads throughout the body. It has a negative effect on the nervous system, dehydrates, and stimulates appetite. Therefore, excessive alcohol consumption during the diet should be avoided. However, if you drink no more than 200 grams, it will not cause harm to the body.
Alcoholic drinks are divided into 2 groups:
- distilled (this includes vodka, alcohol, cognac, gin, rum, and so on);
- undistilled (beer, wine, champagne).
It is best for men to drink strong distilled drinks: rum, whiskey, vodka. Women are advised to opt for dry wine or champagne. But again, there is no need to exceed the norm.
Alcohol and weight loss are compatible; there is even a diet based on alcohol-containing drinks, which is very often used by ballerinas and athletes. It consists of drinking a glass of dry white wine with a small piece of cheese.
If we talk about beer, it is a very high-calorie drink. For 100 g/50 kcal. It turns out that if you drink 1 liter of drink, the total number of calories will be approximately 500. And this is a complete lunch or dinner. In addition, beer has diuretic properties; useful substances are washed out of the body along with urine: magnesium, calcium, potassium, and so on.
The drink also contains estrogens, they disrupt the hormonal balance and contribute to the gain of extra pounds.
When losing weight, you need to drink vodka in small doses, from 100 to 150 ml. It contains a large amount of calories, usually 100 grams - from 250 kcal. And if you use vodka in cocktails, the amount of calories increases significantly.
Dry wine can be safely drunk on a diet. Provided that it is of high quality, it will help normalize metabolism and speed up metabolism. Typically, such alcohol contains no more calories than 80 kcal per 100 grams. The semi-sweet drink is less healthy and contains more energy value - from 120 to 170 calories per 100 grams. Fortified and dessert wines are considered the most dangerous during a diet. The calorie content in them exceeds 260 kcal per 100 grams.
Most women love liqueurs. But if you use it during a diet, there will be no point in it. The extra pounds simply won’t go away because the drink contains a lot of sugar. For this reason, it is very sweet and has a high energy value. As a rule, this is 350 kcal/100 g. A glass of drunk liqueur can easily be compared in calorie content to a bar of chocolate, a cake or a piece of sponge cake. You won’t be able to lose weight by drinking sweet liqueurs; you need to pay attention to this.
How to choose the right drink while dieting
To lose weight, a person needs to drink alcoholic beverages in small quantities, avoid taking vermouths, sweet liqueurs, and liqueurs.
If you are wondering “what kind of alcohol can you still drink while losing weight,” then special attention should be paid to dry wines, light beer and champagne. Sometimes it is difficult to control your norm while drinking strong drinks. This is fraught with the fact that in a drunken state a person cannot deny himself a snack and eats extra calories.
If you decide to drink alcohol while dieting, try to do it once a week, not more often. Moreover, control your rate.
The energy value of 200 calories is contained in the following drinks:
- champagne (200-250 grams);
- vodka (80-100 ml);
- beer (400-500 grams, provided that it is light);
- dry wine (350 grams).
This amount of alcohol will not harm you when losing weight, as long as you do not drink it often. When you have doubts about alcohol and the desire to drink is strong, consult your nutritionist. The doctor will tell you what is best to drink and how often you can do it without harm to your health.
You also need to think about “why am I drinking” during a diet. And if your mind tells you that you can exclude alcohol from your menu, try not to drink while losing weight.
In what cases should you not drink drinks containing spirit?
It is strictly forbidden to drink alcohol during a diet, when you are taking medications, dietary supplements, giving injections or undergoing a therapeutic course. Alcohol is not compatible with drug treatment. Such actions can cause severe intoxication of the body and cause harm to health.
Also, you should not drink alcohol if a person has an addiction. This can lead to prolonged binge drinking and uncontrolled use. In this case, the extra pounds will not only not go away, they will return in double size. After all, it is possible to lose weight only with controlled nutrition and a small dose of alcohol-containing drinks. If you drink more than the specified limit, you can forget about weight loss.
Express diets have a bad effect on all functions of the body, but they are very effective and with their help you can lose weight in a short time.
Is it possible to drink alcohol with such a strict nutrition system?
Let's sum it up
So, can you drink alcohol while dieting?
If possible, it is better to stop using it. But if you wish, you can afford to take a small dose. It’s up to you to decide which drinks you prefer, but don’t forget about dosage and moderate consumption.
Try to dilute alcohol: for example, gin with tonic, wine with water. Vodka can be diluted with lemon juice. By the way, if possible, you should replace vodka with whiskey or good, high-quality cognac.
It is best to avoid lemonade, cola and similar drinks when drinking strong alcohol. Due to gases, intoxication occurs much faster, due to the fact that alcohol is absorbed into the blood at a faster rate.
What kind of alcohol can you drink while losing weight - Table of calorie content of alcoholic drinks, diet rules, doctor's advice
A person who is forced to follow a diet for one reason or another should think about the possibility of combining it with dietary nutrition before drinking alcohol. Strong alcohol during a diet can only harm the body and prevent you from losing extra pounds, since many alcoholic drinks with a high ethanol content are quite high in calories. But this does not mean that you cannot drink alcohol while following a diet. Some drinks can be combined in moderation with your diet.
Properties of alcoholic beverages
Quite often, when losing weight, we count only the number of calories in food at the table, but do not take into account regular and alcoholic drinks. Some go to the other extreme, believing that alcoholic drinks can only contribute to the diet, not allowing them to control the amount they eat, and therefore do not drink at all.
However, not all of us know that during a diet, some alcoholic drinks (low calorie), on the contrary, are useful because they help improve digestion and speed up metabolic processes, which will create favorable conditions for losing weight. In this case, you need to know exactly what kind of alcohol you can drink while on a diet, and whether you can drink strong alcohol while on a diet.
To understand what kind of alcohol you can drink during a diet, you need to study the features of its effect on the body. So, it is worth noting that any alcohol-containing drink contains ethanol. This is a fairly high-calorie substance that is well absorbed by our body. There is the following classification of alcohol:
- non-distilled spirits such as wine and beer;
- purified, that is, distilled, drinks, namely vodka, whiskey, alcohol.
Alcohol will contribute to the appearance of excess weight in the following cases:
- If you drink during the holiday feast, you will inevitably have to snack, and since alcohol increases your appetite, you may eat much more than your diet allows.
- Strong alcohol is quite high in calories. That is, if you drink vodka, cognac, whiskey and other strong alcoholic drinks, then you can begin to gain weight, which during the diet will bring all your efforts to naught.
- Alcoholic drinks that contain a lot of sugar, yeast or other nutritional components (cream, milk, eggs, various flavorings) should not be consumed during a diet, as they contribute to rapid weight gain. It is better to drink alcohol with minimal carbohydrate content.
- Even if we don’t take into account how strong alcohol we drink, it’s worth remembering that ethyl alcohol helps slow down the processes of fat processing. In the end, you may not gain weight, but you won’t be able to lose weight on such a diet.
- Moreover, by regularly drinking even low-alcohol drinks, you contribute to the disruption of metabolic processes in the body. This leads to the development of alcoholism and weight gain.
Allowed alcoholic drinks during the diet
Now let's figure out what you can drink while on a diet? If we evaluate all alcoholic drinks by calorie content, then liqueur will be the most calorie-rich, since it contains a lot of sugar and other nutritional additives that give it a certain taste. That is why it is better to avoid using it during a diet.
When on a diet, you are allowed to drink drinks made from grape juice. They are not only low-calorie, but also very healthy, as they contain many useful substances, trace elements and acids. Therefore, you can be sure whether you can drink wine while dieting. It’s definitely possible and even necessary, since wine contains substances that promote weight loss, namely:
- Tartaric acid helps increase the acidity of gastric juice, which significantly improves digestion processes. However, people with high acidity need to be careful, since wine can harm the gastrointestinal tract.
- When wine is consumed in moderation, the beneficial substances in the drink improve metabolic processes in the body, which is also very useful for people on a diet.
- If you drink a little wine once a day, it will help improve the absorption of iron, which will have a beneficial effect on your blood composition and your well-being.
- Red wine contains a special substance that reduces the amount of insulin in the body. This will also have a positive effect on your weight loss, since excess insulin has been proven to promote weight gain.
However, when on a diet, it is also important what kind of wine you drink, since different drinks made from grapes have different composition and strength.
Wine
When deciding what to drink while dieting, preference should be given to wine. It is important to consider the calorie content of a wine drink. For example, if you decide to drink champagne, then you should know the sugar content in this drink:
- The calorie content of semi-dry champagne is approximately 80 kcal, per 100 g of such alcohol there is up to 9 g of sugar;
- dry sparkling wine has a slightly lower sugar concentration and calorie content up to 70 kcal;
- in semi-sweet champagne up to 89 kcal and 1.2% sugar;
- in a sweet sparkling drink, for every 100 g there are 92 kcal and 1.5% carbohydrates;
- Brut contains 57 kcal and 0.3 percent carbohydrates.
As you can see, brut can be an ideal alcoholic drink during a diet, since it is the lowest in calories. Natural wines are a good alternative to brut, but it is also worth considering their calorie content:
- dessert wines are the highest in calories, containing approximately 178 kcal per 100 g of drink;
- in strong wines the calorie content reaches 165 kcal;
- sweet varieties of red wine – up to 100 kcal;
- semi-sweet red wines – approximately 90 kcal;
- semi-dry wine drinks – no more than 80 kcal;
- dry white wine – approximately 70 kcal.
From this list the most the best option at dietary nutrition There will be the last option, as the lowest calorie, but you can also afford a glass of dry or semi-dry red wine. It has been proven that people who regularly consumed small amounts of red wine maintained youthful skin, healthy heart, blood vessels and joints longer. And all this thanks to the polyphenols contained in red wine.
Tip: If you want to drink strong or sweet wine, dilute it a little drinking water. This way you will reduce the calorie content of the product and the concentration of sugar.
Beer
If you really like beer, then on a diet you are allowed to drink light varieties of this low-alcohol drink, since they have fewer calories due to their reduced strength. However, you should not drink beer with salted snacks, as this will make you want to drink even more, which will force you to drink more beer than you should.
It is worth remembering that when drinking beer, there is increased urination, which contributes to the leaching of potassium, magnesium and other beneficial substances from the body. Beer also contains a lot of natural estrogen, which promotes fat deposition. If you choose light beers, pay attention to their calorie content:
- the most calories (46 kcal) are in beer with a strength of 4%;
- a drink with a strength of no more than 2.8% has only 35 kcal;
- a foamy alcoholic drink with a strength of 1.8% contains only 30 kilocalories.
Alcohol prohibited during the diet
Vodka, cognac and other strong alcoholic drinks are considered the most high-calorie, so it is better to avoid drinking them during a diet. So, for every 100 grams of vodka there are 260 kcal. You should also avoid other alcoholic drinks made with vodka. The number of calories in them is distributed as follows:
- Tequila contains approximately 275 kcal;
- aniseed vodka contains 300 kcal;
- sake – 260 kcal;
- rum, gin, tonic – up to 220 kcal;
- whiskey – 280 kcal;
- sweet liqueurs – up to 280 kcal.
If you want to drink as little as possible, try not to drink on an empty stomach. If you order a liqueur or cocktail, then skip the sweet dessert completely. Liqueur is generally drunk little by little and not eaten as a snack, since it is very high in calories.