THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH ABOUT ALCOHOL

We all love a drink, yes even personal trainers (shock horror!) and we know that if we want to lose weight we really should cut down on alcohol. Easier said than done right? Behind it’s tantalising allure, there is more inconvenient truth to this social lubricant than we might think. It is time to expose it’s darker secrets and perhaps motivate you to truly cut back on the booze once and for all.

Alcohol vs Exercise

You have heard alcohol contains ’empty calories’ but what does this mean? Firstly there is no nutritional value in alcohol calories and they provide no satiety – a sense of feeling full – that is attained from eating food. Being liquid it is very easy to over consume a lot of calories very quickly.

Now lets get real.

Depending on what you are drinking such as beer or wine and the size of the serve, you are looking at 150-200 calories per drink or in the modern and correct measure of energy noted on food labels 700-1000Kj.

Lets convert that amount of energy into some typical high calorie treats:

If you want to lose weight would you really eat chocolate cake, biscuits, chips and muffins? Probably not. Yet in our mind we seem to turn a blind eye to the huge calorie load in alcohol.

So how much exercise would you need to do to burn off the calories in ONE DRINK? This will depend on your size, weight, sex and age plus the type of drink and size of poor. However an approximate guide is:

20 minutes of exercise or 45 minutes of brisk walking!

Homework exercise:

Add up the number of drinks you have had this weekend and times by 20 (for exercise) or 45 (for walking) to calculate the number of minutes of exercise you will have to do to counter the amount of alcohol you have consumed!

Is this you now…. ?

Now for the Inconvenient Truth

Alcohol Makes You Eat More.

You have probably experienced this for yourself and it is scientifically true. As an example, in a study between two groups: one given normal alcohol to drink the other given a non alcohol equivalent, the two groups where given the opportunity to graze on chips and nuts whilst told to perform a memory challenge.

The group drinking alcohol consumed 11% more snacks – about 300 calories -than the non alcohol group.

The reasons why are not fully understood. It could be related to the fact that alcohol reduces our brains ability to regulate behaviours and we go beyond boundaries where we would normally stop.

Alcohol makes you eat more the next day.

After a big night out you will eat more calories. Your body tends to crave high calorie fatty foods after a big night out and you do not have to have a hangover to over indulge the next day.

Alcohol effects sleep.

Whilst you may drop off easily after a few drinks (or pass out!) the reality is you get far less quality sleep in the second part of the night, meaning you miss sufficient quality sleep, hence you will feel tired.

Lack of sleep stimulates appetite.

When we are tired we eat more and we also crave higher calorie foods to compensate for our low energy.

Drinking disrupts out healthy intentions.

In addition to eating more the next day we are going to be far more inclined not to exercise after drinking the night before, especially if it involves an early morning workout.

But red wine is good for us right?

The polyphenols in red wine have a positive effect on our heart and cardiovascular system however and unfortunately the small benefits it provides is far outweighed by the health risks associated with drinking alcohol and the extra calories consumed.So this thin fact is not a free pass to tank down bottle of red every night (mentioning no names!).

Alcohol and cancer

Whilst your body can process alcohol – about one unit per hour – the reality is alcohol increases the risk of numerous cancers such as breast, bowel, oesophagus and liver. The more you drink the greater the risk increases. If you consume 20-30 units (not drinks) per week, your risk is going up from 50-100%. A sobering thought.

UK guidelines slashed to 14 units per week.

Recently the UK reduced it’s recommended consumption of alcohol for men, from 21 to 14 units per week. Thats equivalent to 7 pints of lager – per week! For women the recommend level is 14 units about or 6-8 glasses of wine again depending on the size.

Want to know what’s good for a hangover?

Drinking heavily the night before. Boom. If you don’t want a hangover – do not drink alcohol.

Summary

* Alcohol is a source of empty calories that are easily over consumed.
* It causes us to eat more whilst we are drinking.
* It causes us to crave higher calorie foods.
* It effects our sleep which in turn causes us to eat more.
* It disrupts our healthy intentions and exercise habits.

I don’t want to be a party pooper but I do want you to truly understand the effects of alcohol on your efforts to tone up and lose weight.

The sobering fact is, if you want to lose weight you need to stop drinking alcohol.