I love a great glass of organic red wine or champagne on a special occasion, but I do know that even these occasional tipples can hamper my weight loss efforts. I took a deep dive into the research to give you the lowdown on the 5 ways your nightly glass of wine or low carb cocktail can slow down your weight loss efforts.
How Alcohol Slows Down Weight Loss
- Empty Calories: whilst I preach quality of food over quantity, there is no denying that calories do count. Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram. A small glass of wine is typically 12g calories, whereas a beer is around 160 cals. Whilst many purport the antioxidant properties of red wine, it’s probably better to get these from our brightly colored fruits and vegetables.
- Stalls Fat Burning: alcohol is a toxin, and as such your body prioritizes it for metabolism. As such, if alcohol is in your system it will burn this first, followed by any glucose (carbs), and then only get to your body fat. So that 45 minute sweat inducing Peloton ride may be a zero sum game if you had a glass or two the night before…
- Triggers Hunger: we’ve always know that drinking alcohol makes us hungry, but a recent study has shown why. Alcohol causes increased activity in neurons called AGRP, which are the neurons that are fired when the body experiences starvation.
- Food Choice: if alcohol makes you hungry, then its very unlikely that you will make healthy choices when attempting to combat that hunger. A study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), the results concluded that people overall eat more unhealthy foods on the days that they drink alcohol.
- Liver Health: your liver is one of the hardest working organs in the body. It’s responsible for filtering toxins from everything you consume, metabolizes sex hormones, produces bile for fat breakdown, and regulates glucose, blood sugar and cholesterol. Alcohol just adds to your toxic burden, and makes your liver work even harder than usual.
Struggling with healthy, sustainable weight loss?
My 8 week Lean & Clean programs has helped hundreds of women lose weight, burn fat and boost their metabolism – with lasting results. You can now start the program at anytime. Find out more here. Lean and Clean 8-Week Weight Loss Program
More Advice on Staying Healthy
Information provided by this website or this company is not a substitute for direct, individual medical treatment or advice. It is the responsibility of you and your healthcare providers to make all decisions regarding your health. Jennifer Hanway and JH Wellness Services recommends that you consult with your healthcare providers regarding the diagnosis and treatment of any disease or condition. Products sold on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease