Let’s Control Your Holiday Buddy “Alcohol”
Published December 20, 2011 at 4:19 am
This is the time of year for holiday partying, whether it’s a friend’s Christmas party, your family Christmas dinner or to count the New Year down, – when there is a holiday party there is “alcohol”. So without delay, let’s talk about our friend “alcohol”.
The holiday season is a notorious time for people to indulge. However for those individuals who are on a weight loss diet, this can be a very tricky time to exert will power when our friend “alcohol” is ever present. So the question at this time of year is whether or not alcohol can be included in their diet plan.
Alcohol, also known as jungle juice, booze, dancing juice is something that most adults like to indulge in from time to time. I am an advocate of a balanced lifestyle and encourage moderation, not restriction. What impact can alcohol have on your weight loss goals? Is it something you can make room for in your diet or is it something you need to kick to the curb?
The first thing you should take note of for your weight loss goal are how many calories are found in alcohol. Alcohol itself contains seven calories per gram. In comparison, both proteins and carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram and fat has 9 calories per gram. The calories in one gram of alcohol is almost double that of proteins and carbohydrates. What is often the culprit of extensive calories in your cocktail is in the mixer. An alcoholic drink mixed with high calorie dairy/cream, soda, or juice can easily end up exceeding 300 calories for a single drink. If you’re a 3 drink minimum type of drinker, then 300 calories per drink adds up quick and by the end of this of the many holiday parties, you will have consumed an abundant amount of calories which will take your fat loss program on a major detour.
The second thing you should take note of is the effect that alcohol consumption will have on your fat metabolism. When you ingest alcohol your body’s ability to metabolize fat (meaning using fat for energy) drastically drops, almost to the point that fat metabolism completely stops. Your body views alcohol as a toxin and will hold onto fat which is where the body will try to store toxins initially until it can rid itself of them. Therefore, fat burning will be on hold until the alcohol is out of your system. If you are a heavy drinker, the rate at which you burn fat will drop for a significant period of time.
If you are in the middle of your fat loss program and are serious about achieving your fat loss goal, it is best to eliminate the alcohol out of your diet during this time. Once you have made it through your program and gained control of your diet, health and fitness, you can then introduce alcohol back into your diet plan. At this point you will have a better understanding of how to achieve a balanced lifestyle and diet and one drink in moderation combined with a balanced lifestyle will not set you back all that much.
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Happy holidays to everyone!
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