Beer over dinner

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Replies

  • instantmartian
    instantmartian Posts: 335 Member
    LC107 wrote: »
    From a beer drinking standpoint, I'm sure you can find something better than Goose Island. :smile:

    Haha its not so bad. lol

    Not too bad in and of itself. I personally don't support Anheuser-Busch, so I refuse to drink or buy any of their beers. Goose Island is one of their craft beer lines - A-B bought them about 5 years ago.

    Yes! This. There are new craft breweries popping up every day, it seems! So many "better" choices. May I suggest a Ballast Point Sculpin?

    As for the beer in place of food, I can't say I've never done it, myself. I typically try to limit calories during the day in anticipation of this (which definitely holds true for my days spent at beer festivals), but sometimes one just needs a random beer at the end of a hard day.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    edited March 2016
    cblack8 wrote: »
    I'm with Waffle, try some session IPAs! A lot of them are amazing with a ton of hoppiness and I've never found a session with as many calories as a standard IPA.

    http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/to-ol-jule-maelk/235066/

    About 450 calories for a bottle, and worth every one.

    ETA: Actually, ratebeer should be calories for 12oz, and I believe the bottle is technically only 11oz or so.
  • caurinus
    caurinus Posts: 78 Member
    LC107 wrote: »
    nosajjao wrote: »

    Well the general consensus here says it is CICO (all of MFP seems to say that) and with my 13 pound weight loss in a little less than 3 months I am going to go with that as not being "crap science" but rather truth.

    And in general, it's 90% (or more) true: CICO is by far the most important thing. But there are small details that say CICO isn't absolutely everything. You're going to have weird cravings if you're seriously deficient in micronutrients. You will lose muscle mass if you're restricting calories without getting enough protein. And your metabolism will change (a little) in response to blood leptin levels (which drop in response to alcohol consumption)

    My personal experience suggests having a couple alcoholic drinks two nights a week isn't going to make a big difference, but drinking every night would probably be working against you a little. More than CICO would suggest.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    Miller 64 is worse than death. I've been to a couple events where they were giving these away. I couldn't finish one of those. Bleh!

    For those that stomach lite beer. I rank them thusly.

    Bud light: Watery but this does have some flavor.
    Coors light: Rocky mountain spring water that runs past a distillery. Doesn't taste bad but doesn't taste like beer.
    Miller light: Someone had too much PBR, threw it up, and they put it back in a bottle.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    auddii wrote: »
    cblack8 wrote: »
    I'm with Waffle, try some session IPAs! A lot of them are amazing with a ton of hoppiness and I've never found a session with as many calories as a standard IPA.

    http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/to-ol-jule-maelk/235066/

    About 450 calories for a bottle, and worth every one.

    ETA: Actually, ratebeer should be calories for 12oz, and I believe the bottle is technically only 11oz or so.

    ABV: 15%. That's not a session IPA unless you're wanting to have a session sleeping on the couch. :laugh:
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    auddii wrote: »
    cblack8 wrote: »
    I'm with Waffle, try some session IPAs! A lot of them are amazing with a ton of hoppiness and I've never found a session with as many calories as a standard IPA.

    http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/to-ol-jule-maelk/235066/

    About 450 calories for a bottle, and worth every one.

    ETA: Actually, ratebeer should be calories for 12oz, and I believe the bottle is technically only 11oz or so.

    ABV: 15%. That's not a session IPA unless you're wanting to have a session sleeping on the couch. :laugh:

    I misread the quote. I thought we were pointing out that occasionally really good beers were worth the calories.

    tZOS8.gif
  • instantmartian
    instantmartian Posts: 335 Member
    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    Miller 64 is worse than death. I've been to a couple events where they were giving these away. I couldn't finish one of those. Bleh!

    For those that stomach lite beer. I rank them thusly.

    Bud light: Watery but this does have some flavor.
    Coors light: Rocky mountain spring water that runs past a distillery. Doesn't taste bad but doesn't taste like beer.
    Miller light: Someone had too much PBR, threw it up, and they put it back in a bottle.

    Perfect descriptions! My favorite "light" beer has to be Yuengling Light Lager. Now, I might be a little biased because I grew up near the original location, and "lager" is everyone's go-to beer around here. However, the Light Lager seems to be the only light beer I've ever had that actually tasted like something. Mind you, that "something" is watered down Yuengling Lager, but it does have more flavor those those mentioned above.

    Personally, I'd rather spend more calories on a good (read craft) beer rather than subjecting myself to some sub-par light version.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    Miller 64 is worse than death. I've been to a couple events where they were giving these away. I couldn't finish one of those. Bleh!

    For those that stomach lite beer. I rank them thusly.

    Bud light: Watery but this does have some flavor.
    Coors light: Rocky mountain spring water that runs past a distillery. Doesn't taste bad but doesn't taste like beer.
    Miller light: Someone had too much PBR, threw it up, and they put it back in a bottle.

    Perfect descriptions! My favorite "light" beer has to be Yuengling Light Lager. Now, I might be a little biased because I grew up near the original location, and "lager" is everyone's go-to beer around here. However, the Light Lager seems to be the only light beer I've ever had that actually tasted like something. Mind you, that "something" is watered down Yuengling Lager, but it does have more flavor those those mentioned above.

    Personally, I'd rather spend more calories on a good (read craft) beer rather than subjecting myself to some sub-par light version.

    My new favorite "lite" beer is a local Berliner Weisse; it's 111 calories. Although at the brewery they add a fruit syrup, so it's a little higher. Just a smidge of blackberry is pretty amazing.
  • instantmartian
    instantmartian Posts: 335 Member
    My favorite session IPA of the moment is Founder's All Day IPA. I like how it has some malt tones and it's a little mild as far as IPAs go - I'm not a fan of super-hoppy beers. I can drink more than enough of this stuff at once to get myself into trouble.
  • instantmartian
    instantmartian Posts: 335 Member
    auddii wrote: »
    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    Miller 64 is worse than death. I've been to a couple events where they were giving these away. I couldn't finish one of those. Bleh!

    For those that stomach lite beer. I rank them thusly.

    Bud light: Watery but this does have some flavor.
    Coors light: Rocky mountain spring water that runs past a distillery. Doesn't taste bad but doesn't taste like beer.
    Miller light: Someone had too much PBR, threw it up, and they put it back in a bottle.

    Perfect descriptions! My favorite "light" beer has to be Yuengling Light Lager. Now, I might be a little biased because I grew up near the original location, and "lager" is everyone's go-to beer around here. However, the Light Lager seems to be the only light beer I've ever had that actually tasted like something. Mind you, that "something" is watered down Yuengling Lager, but it does have more flavor those those mentioned above.

    Personally, I'd rather spend more calories on a good (read craft) beer rather than subjecting myself to some sub-par light version.

    My new favorite "lite" beer is a local Berliner Weisse; it's 111 calories. Although at the brewery they add a fruit syrup, so it's a little higher. Just a smidge of blackberry is pretty amazing.

    That sounds quite tasty!

    I wish I could remember what the owner of Stoudts told my boyfriend and I about light beer, but he had a very logical-sounding explanation about every beer being a light beer because calories cannot be properly counted in beer...or something to that affect. He seemed like a pretty smart man with lots of thoughts about "life" and "beer." I'm not sure if his statement was BS (my thoughts are that it was), but it sounded convincing enough. haha
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    edited March 2016
    auddii wrote: »
    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    Miller 64 is worse than death. I've been to a couple events where they were giving these away. I couldn't finish one of those. Bleh!

    For those that stomach lite beer. I rank them thusly.

    Bud light: Watery but this does have some flavor.
    Coors light: Rocky mountain spring water that runs past a distillery. Doesn't taste bad but doesn't taste like beer.
    Miller light: Someone had too much PBR, threw it up, and they put it back in a bottle.

    Perfect descriptions! My favorite "light" beer has to be Yuengling Light Lager. Now, I might be a little biased because I grew up near the original location, and "lager" is everyone's go-to beer around here. However, the Light Lager seems to be the only light beer I've ever had that actually tasted like something. Mind you, that "something" is watered down Yuengling Lager, but it does have more flavor those those mentioned above.

    Personally, I'd rather spend more calories on a good (read craft) beer rather than subjecting myself to some sub-par light version.

    My new favorite "lite" beer is a local Berliner Weisse; it's 111 calories. Although at the brewery they add a fruit syrup, so it's a little higher. Just a smidge of blackberry is pretty amazing.

    That sounds quite tasty!

    I wish I could remember what the owner of Stoudts told my boyfriend and I about light beer, but he had a very logical-sounding explanation about every beer being a light beer because calories cannot be properly counted in beer...or something to that affect. He seemed like a pretty smart man with lots of thoughts about "life" and "beer." I'm not sure if his statement was BS (my thoughts are that it was), but it sounded convincing enough. haha

    Calories are based off the ABV:
    Estimate-Beer-Calories-Matrix.png

    ETA: Essentially, most of your light beers will have low alcohol by volume.
  • cblack8
    cblack8 Posts: 42 Member
    Founders All Day IPA is amazing! Especially for 141 calories a bottle. And no worries about misreading my quote auddii, some beers definitely are worth the calories and that looks like one of them!
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    auddii wrote: »
    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    auddii wrote: »
    cblack8 wrote: »
    I'm with Waffle, try some session IPAs! A lot of them are amazing with a ton of hoppiness and I've never found a session with as many calories as a standard IPA.

    http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/to-ol-jule-maelk/235066/

    About 450 calories for a bottle, and worth every one.

    ETA: Actually, ratebeer should be calories for 12oz, and I believe the bottle is technically only 11oz or so.

    ABV: 15%. That's not a session IPA unless you're wanting to have a session sleeping on the couch. :laugh:

    I misread the quote. I thought we were pointing out that occasionally really good beers were worth the calories.

    tZOS8.gif

    Well, you're not wrong.
  • MorganMoreaux
    MorganMoreaux Posts: 691 Member
    Hi Op - Be careful relying on beer to manage stress. It's great that you're interested in making lifestyle choices to become healthier, but the more often you circumvent dinner in favour of beer on "hard days" the chances that you will become dependent on beer to manage stress when increases. I think you need to soberly ponder why beer is important in your life...do you really enjoy the taste or is it bringing your energy levels down from a hard day? If it's the latter, you may want to consider stress managing techniques like yoga, breathing, meditation etc. Just mentioning as working on a career is more stressful than school, and without valid coping mechanisms in place you may find yourself relaxing or rewarding yourself with beer more frequently than intended, and it may be more difficult to reinstate healthy behaviors later down the road. Aside from that, there are many good posts above so I'm not going to reiterate what others have said. Good luck!

  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    nosajjao wrote: »
    https://authoritynutrition.com/debunking-the-calorie-myth/

    CICO is an oversimplification on the concept of what a calorie equals. CICO is crap science. CICO logic is like saying that all kinds of petroleum fuel are the same. So according to CICO logic, you could use jet fuel in your car and rocket fuel in your lawnmower and charcoal lighter fluid in airplanes. Different types of calories follow different metabolic and hormonal processes. But if you think beer is a good meal replacement idea, it's your choice to follow. You drinking beer instead of dinner doesn't affect me, I'm just here for the truth.

    Pro-tip: If it's on authoritynutrition.com, the truth is probably the exact opposite.
  • lisawinning4losing
    lisawinning4losing Posts: 726 Member
    Alcohol spikes your blood sugar, which of course spikes your insulin, which then leads to a blood sugar crash. The fact that you're replacing dinner with beer, nothing but alcohol and carbs, means that you're putting a huge strain on your metabolic system. Alcohol also inhibits the functioning of your liver, which is also important for your metabolism because the liver clears insulin when you have too much of it and releases glycogen when you need it, helping to keep blood sugar levels stable. But under the influence of alcohol, the liver doesn't work as well. If you were already diabetic, you'd be sending yourself into hypoglycemic shock. Even though you're not diabetic yet, in terms of lifelong health and weight maintenance, I would say this is a terrible idea.

    CICO works, but don't take it to absurd extremes. That's the problem with "a calorie is a calorie". It's actually not that simple, nor is it necessarily healthy to live by that code. Nor will it necessarily lead to long term weight maintenance. You're young right now, so your body is taking the abuse, but it's not a good investment into your future.

    At any rate, you should at least eat some protein with your beer. Lean protein is low in calories, if you're worried about calories. I'm sure you could do that and still keep your calories at a level that will enable you to lose weight. Just a few ounces of chicken or something. Please, eat something with your beer.

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/519535-does-sugar-in-alcohol-spike-insulin/
  • LC107
    LC107 Posts: 41 Member
    My brother recently passed away so I was relying heavily on alcohol to cope- I know that is bad but what's really bad is when you see your loved one one day and then 12 hours later you get a phone call he's gone so I coped and now I am coping with coping by exercising instead of drinking and yeah I'm just too exhausted to eat sometimes. Like last night, I came home from school, opened a beer and started reading for an exam. Went to get a second beer a bit later and my dog knocked it over (I drank literally one swig before she knocked it over) and so rather than getting another one I just called it a night.

    I sincerely appreciate all the well-intended advice from most of you and I will definitely try some different IPA's some of you have mentioned, Goose Island is more of my husband's beer so I believe you all when you say there is better out there. I really love this site and all the support and real advice y'all offer. Have a good day everyone!!
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    How are you getting adequate nutrition on your remaining net 1100ish calories? You must really have your food dialed in to make that happen.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Alcohol spikes your blood sugar, which of course spikes your insulin, which then leads to a blood sugar crash. The fact that you're replacing dinner with beer, nothing but alcohol and carbs, means that you're putting a huge strain on your metabolic system. Alcohol also inhibits the functioning of your liver, which is also important for your metabolism because the liver clears insulin when you have too much of it and releases glycogen when you need it, helping to keep blood sugar levels stable. But under the influence of alcohol, the liver doesn't work as well. If you were already diabetic, you'd be sending yourself into hypoglycemic shock. Even though you're not diabetic yet, in terms of lifelong health and weight maintenance, I would say this is a terrible idea.

    CICO works, but don't take it to absurd extremes. That's the problem with "a calorie is a calorie". It's actually not that simple, nor is it necessarily healthy to live by that code. Nor will it necessarily lead to long term weight maintenance. You're young right now, so your body is taking the abuse, but it's not a good investment into your future.

    At any rate, you should at least eat some protein with your beer. Lean protein is low in calories, if you're worried about calories. I'm sure you could do that and still keep your calories at a level that will enable you to lose weight. Just a few ounces of chicken or something. Please, eat something with your beer.

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/519535-does-sugar-in-alcohol-spike-insulin/

    So much wrong.

    Insulin response to food - protein, carbs, alcohols ... all lead to an increase normal response in insulin. They do not necessarily lead to "sugar crash". Insulin is not some evil molecule. And one is not putting a "huge strain" on metabolism by having two beers instead of dinner twice a week.

    Alcohol does not inhibit the function of the liver. If it did, the alcohol would not be metabolised and we would die.
    Alcohol does down-regulate some liver function (and up regulate other) and isn't generally a good thing if over consumed over extend periods. But the OP is talking about a couple of beers a few times. 4 beers a week - if anything, falls right in on the recommended consumption and shouldn't be considered "abuse".

    And hypothetically, if liver function is a concern (it general isn't) adding protein would actually make things worst via the cytochrome P450 path - it's actually bad advice for anyone with issues/risks in either a history of hepatitis, gout or autoimmune disease. The metabolites from available protein and ethanol are exactly what does put on additional strain on various systems. One is likelier to see alcoholic liver disease, autoimmune response, inflammation in a high protein + alcohol diet than in just replacing a meal with alcohol. Advice like "eat something with that beer" is counter to everything else you posted, it also means that the person is likelier to drink more to get the same buzz.