People these days can use any and every reason to go grab a drink. From office parties to a friend's birthday party, from casual dates to simply celebrating a milestone, drinking has always been one go-to option. But what if we tell you that maybe, just maybe that drink could put on some extra kilos on you? Before you freak out, you need to read a few things which might come handy before you grab another drink another time.
- Your body doesn't treat the alcohol calories in any manner as the calories from food. Your body sure recognizes alcohol as a toxin and pauses its metabolism of for other foods and instead focuses on getting the drink out of the system. This results in the liver to work a little harder than usual and calories from nachos that you eat along with your beer gets stores as fat rather than burned for fuel.
- You'd be surprised to know that alcohol is the second most caloric macro-nutrient. One gram of alcohol contains 7 calories. Says Sydney Greene, RD, a New York City-based nutritionist, “Alcohol also contains zero nutrition for our body, so 100 calories from alcohol is not the same as 100 calories from broccoli. We can burn the broccoli for fuel and utilize it for hundreds of enzymatic reactions in the body; alcohol not so much.”
- One glass of wine contains 120 calories whereas 12-ounces of beer contains 150 calories. So if you mix drinks, it could give you anywhere from a hundred calories to 500 calories including the sugar that you consume through the whole day.
- Binge drinking or drinking five or more drinks in one sitting or heavy drinking can be linked to a higher risk of obesity. Even if you drink in moderation, it can be associated with higher percentage of body fat.
- If you're a heavy drinker, it could lead you to higher risks of chronic diseases, which also includes fatty liver disease, ulcers, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Not more than one drink per day for women and two drinks for men can cause any risks.
