Alcoholic Beverages

verymissk

There are a lot of things in that article that are either myths, half-truths, or not peer reviewed study results. I'm not savvy enough to actually break it down, but I do hope one of the incredibly smart and well educated members will come along and help you sort this all out.

Showcase_Brodown

A few responses to parts of the article you posted, and perhaps others will have input as well.

First, alcohol hinders protein synthesis.

I think this has only been studied on rats and chronic alcoholics. Chronic alcoholics can suffer from something called Chronic Alcoholic Myopathy. Rat studies are hardly applicable. If alcohol actually hiders protein synthesis in normal people, I would bet it would be by a very small percentage.

Second, alcohol consumption decreases testosterone in the body...

True, but unless you are drinking very heavily, the decrease won't approach anything significant. The link below is a 3 week study where people were given 30-40g of alcohol daily and at the end of it all, the decrease in testosterone was 6.8% in men (no effect in women).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15166654

And the last major problem that alcohol causes is that it increases the amount of fat the body stores. Alcohol is actually sugar and the sugar gets converted into fat if unused.

Well, it doesn't work this way. The alcohol is converted to acetate, which is toxic and gets oxidized before (takes priority) your carbs, proteins, and fats. Emphasis on fats. Your body is very, very inefficient at turning alcohol (carbs as well) into fat. What happens is not that the alcohol turns into fat, but that since your body is oxidizing the acetate, it can't oxidize the other nutrients yet (fat). And what is left over gets stored as fat.

So at the end of the day, the fat storage thing is still calories in/out, even with alcohol in the equation.

ShinyFuture

www.getdrunknotfat.com

Make it fit. I'd slap someone if they tried to take my craft beers away. I'd slap them long, hard, and make them think about what they did.

^^^So much THIS

JuantonBliss

http://misc.likes.com/the-15-best-and-15-worst-beers-you-can-drink?page=30&v=eyJjbGlja19pZCI6IDE5NTU5ODQ2MjgsICJwb3N0X2lkIjogMjY1ODkzOTB9

I actually just recently read this article on the 15 worst/15 best beers for you based on calories.

sharae216

A few responses to parts of the article you posted, and perhaps others will have input as well.

First, alcohol hinders protein synthesis.

I think this has only been studied on rats and chronic alcoholics. Chronic alcoholics can suffer from something called Chronic Alcoholic Myopathy. Rat studies are hardly applicable. If alcohol actually hiders protein synthesis in normal people, I would bet it would be by a very small percentage.

Second, alcohol consumption decreases testosterone in the body...

True, but unless you are drinking very heavily, the decrease won't approach anything significant. The link below is a 3 week study where people were given 30-40g of alcohol daily and at the end of it all, the decrease in testosterone was 6.8% in men (no effect in women).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15166654

And the last major problem that alcohol causes is that it increases the amount of fat the body stores. Alcohol is actually sugar and the sugar gets converted into fat if unused.

Well, it doesn't work this way. The alcohol is converted to acetate, which is toxic and gets oxidized before (takes priority) your carbs, proteins, and fats. Emphasis on fats. Your body is very, very inefficient at turning alcohol (carbs as well) into fat. What happens is not that the alcohol turns into fat, but that since your body is oxidizing the acetate, it can't oxidize the other nutrients yet (fat). And what is left over gets stored as fat.

So at the end of the day, the fat storage thing is still calories in/out, even with alcohol in the equation.

Thanks for the breakdowns! This is why you present questions to various audiences to get better clarification!

Rurouni_Kou

I have heard that clear alcoholic beverages are "better" for you. As in they don't put a hinder on the whole weight loss thing. A personal trainer told me that alcohol slows down the metabolism for 48 hours after you consume the drinks. But then others say if it fits in your calories go for it ..

The only part that sounds true is the very last part...

My two cents: If you like it, make room for it in your calorie counts. A calorie deficit is SOLELY responsible for weight loss. (Health and fitness is different) so if you've accounted for the alcohol and still have a deficit you'll lose weight. Questionable statements on metabolism by non-health experts ("personal trainer") be damned, they mean bupkiss.
"Independent of the macro composition of your diet, a net negative energy balance (consuming less calories than your body needs) is alone responsible for weight loss." http://examine.com/faq/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss.html
(I love the fact that this site shows the studies that back up that claim and there's like a list of 17 links to the studies after that claim. Usually on something like Wiki there's one or two, but no this one has a literal string of numbers after it to back it up. heh)

Just a little helpful information from an article as to why to avoid alcohol. Take from it what you want. Everyone has different goals and wants for their bodies but a little info never hurt anyone. lol

5 Ways Alcoholism and Alcohol Can Hurt Your Bodybuilding Progress

Many new bodybuilding enthusiasts realize that they have to change their lifestyle if they want to become serious about building muscles.
[...cut for length..]

This isn't a "little helpful information." It's factually questionable, with no sources cited and doesn't even answer the original question but goes off into a lalaland tangent. The original question was Alcohol and __weightloss__, which is different from what you posted which was alcohol and body building. It may or may not hinder body building, but bodybuilding is not weight loss (and can be argued that it's weight gain through muscle mass if you don't have a calorie deficit to account for anything else) and really had nothing to do with answering the original posters question. It seemed more of a post trying to claim "Alcohol bad!" * as opposed to trying to show, factually that alcohol hinders weightloss- which it doesn't, as proved before it's a net energy deficit/calorie deficit that does it (plus a good 20 sources give or take, to back that claim up).


*Disclaimer: I actually hate alcohol. I'm a supertaster, so alcohol to me tastes so bad it makes me want to cry, gives me gooseflesh and also makes my mouth burn badly. But hey if you enjoy it and want to still lose weight, then do what you enjoy and make room for it in your weightloss plan!

weequay

Red wine or vodka with a diet drink are my two choices... wine though is way more addictive overall it is best to plan to stay away from any alcohol calories... those should be from eating.

cassondra1370

I didn't see this mentioned yet, so check out getdrunknotfat.com. It lists pretty much every alcohol you can imagine based on what percentage of the calories come from alcohol (and not mixers).

herblackwings39

I don't drink often, but I do on occasion enjoy a little Glenfiddich single malt scotch. It's nice and smooth and requires nothing else. I 'think' it's around 69 calories per oz.

notnikkisixx

Straight alcohol will almost always have less cals than the same size mixed drink.

However, if you're in the mood, here's my fave marg recipe.

1 1/2 oz or more REALLY GOOD Silver tequila...whatever brand you like, but get a good one.
1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
1/2 to 1 oz agave nectar. I prefer 1/2 oz.

Shake really well in shaker with ice.

Drink that baby back.

It's better if you're in a pool on a floatie.....

That sounds delicious! Light Agave has been saving me in the drink world. I like to mix vodka with lemon juice, a little light agave, and club soda.