The Low Down on Alcohol

Summer for us Arizona people pretty much is in full swing.
As you progress along with your diet program, one thing that you may start to wonder about from time to time is alcohol.  Must you really cut all alcohol out of your program if you hope to see the success you’re after?
Or, is this something that you can indulge in from time to time and still see the progress that you’re looking for?
The key thing to remember about alcohol is that the body will view it as a toxin, so as soon as it enters your system all fat burning is going to come to a stop.

It won’t resume until that toxin has made its way through the body so it will slow down the rate of progress you see.

The trick to drinking in a manner so that it’s not a considerable hindrance to your results is to choose your alcoholic drinks wisely.  Remember that the calories do still add up, so must be accounted for.
Let’s have a look at the primary choices you’ll likely be considering.


The very first alcohol beverage is liquors mixed with soda, juice, or water.  If you choose these and mix them with diet soda or water, you’re going to be getting your lightest alcoholic beverage choice.  Each shot will contain only around 70 calories total so this won’t put too large of a dent in your diet plan.
If you choose to mix it with soda, juice, or cream, then you will be adding far more calories, so that can cause more issues as far as your bodyweight is concerned.


The next alcohol beverage to be aware of is beer.  Beer does contain more carbs than the liquor beverages, so from that standpoint, it’s not exactly ideal.
It will still only come in at around 150-200 calories depending on the size of the glass or bottle, however, so it’s still not incredibly high and detrimental to your progress.
The drawback with beer is that most people will have it with chicken wings, pizza, nachos, or some other high fat, high-calorie food, so then those calories get added to the mix as well.


If you’re a wine drinker, this is another of the smarter choices.  Wine will provide some health benefits as it has been shown to be heart healthy and will also only offer around 100-120 calories per glass.  Keep in mind though that most traditional serving sized glasses that many people use do contain 8 oz or more so this calorie count could be doubled.


Finally, the last of the alcoholic beverages to consider is a cocktail.  Cocktails tend to be your worst bet as they will contain a variety of added mixers and can be between 300-500 calories per pop.  Down a few of these in a night and you’ll definitely be looking at some dietary struggles.
Do your best to avoid these if you can.

So there you have the main alcoholic beverage considerations to think about.  If you just have one or two and make a wise decision, they definitely don’t have to mean diet plan destruction.