Lifestyle
Alcohol, the Liquid Fat!
By
Dec 18, 2006 - 7:00:00 AM

Alcohol,the Liquid Fat!

(HealthNewsDigest.com).. Thanksgiving is over, and the holiday season is in full swing (can we believe it?). Now that we're going to holiday office parties, dinner parties and making merry with food and drink, we're probably about to eat and drink even more than during the last time I sent this tip, during the Summer. It may become day after day, eating and making merry that is, so let me say now that nothing packs on the pounds like alcohol. In fact one of my favorite saying's is, "Drinking Alcohol is Like Eating Liquid Fat" and worse, it becomes more fattening than fat!

Why?

Fat contains 9 calories per gram, and alcohol contains 7 calories per gram. However, alcohol does not go through the exact same digestive process as fat. Our body uses energy to digest and absorb all nutrients including fat, which means that about 10% of our calories are used up during the digestive process. Not the case with alcohol! Alcohol begins to enter our bloodstream through our tongue, then our stomach (especially when we have an empty stomach) and then the remainder goes through the usual route of digestion and absorption through the small intestine. Even water doesn't reach our bloodstream and cells as quickly! So, the calories in alcohol are just like our "net fat calories" after digestion. Hence, my famous "Alcohol is Liquid Fat" (sorry!). In addition, alcohol sugar is more easily stored as fat since alcohol sugar raises our blood sugar levels quickly.

To make matters worse, if we start with a drink before eating, we're likely to eat and drink more than we intend to (the domino effect!). If we have that drink at a cocktail party on an empty stomach, we're even more likely to over- indulge. Some of us think that since we're going from one celebration to another, we should save most of our calories for the main party. But, have we ever done that only to drink more, and then eat more? And let's not forget how many times we've said "what the heck" as we've reached for another drink with more food after our resistance was lowered (I know I have blown my eating plan this way)?

How can we moderate? Let's
Not save up for the party. Let's eat often during the day; let's eat small, but eat.

Eat a small snack an hour before the party. Let's not have that first drink on an empty stomach, and preferably let's eat something high in protein. Alcohol will enter our bloodstream even faster on an empty stomach.
Eat a piece of cheese or eat an appetizer with the first drink. Same reason as above, and then we take more time in-between sips to chew!

Drink lots of water all day even if we're not thirsty and let's drink a few sips in-between each drink. Alcohol will cause dehydration and fatigue (big time, if we over do) the next day. Again, if we drink water in between, we slow down our drinking (isn't it amazing that we don't need to slow down our water drinking?).

Order a spicy Bloody Mary instead of a mixed drink or a drink on the rocks. Tomato juice is healthier; it can take the edge off our appetite, and it can slow down how fast the alcohol is absorbed.

Trade-off. A small glass of wine (4-5 oz.) will equal 1 shot (1 oz.) of hard liquor calorie wise, so let's consider this when we make our choice. Let's choose club soda instead of tonic (tonic is high in calories), and let's consider mixing our hard liquor with club soda instead of straight up since it'll last longer.

Remember, the actual holidays are still ahead of us with more celebrating yet to come including the biggest drinking holiday, New Years (without those extra pounds, we hope!)!

Here's to a little less liquid fat!

June
www.junefit.com
Posted still this week "Feeding Our Soul" under my stress reduction page with ideas for taking care of ourselves during any stress we feel instead of, you guessed it, eating or drinking! Also, look for my Holiday Cheesecake at my recipe page, it'll save you a few calories.

Junefit ranks 2nd at Google for "fitness tips" search out of over 30 million results!

Junefit is included in Google's top ranked women's health resources http://directory.google.com/Top/Health/Women's_Health/Resources/

June is Lifestyle Contributor at www.healthnewsdigest.com/

(c)2006 junefit

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