Alcohol consumption on a diet is usually avoided because it is not "healthy", but there are ways to drink one or two drinks without ruining your efforts.
First of all, let me explain why I touch this theme. Basically, drinking alcohol makes it harder for you to lose fat and increases extra calories. With that in mind, it seems better to stop altogether.
It would be great if you could really do that. For physiological reasons, alcohol ruins your dieting efforts.
However, weight loss isn't just about how your body works. If so, everyone should be able to wear skinny jeans just by "eating less and exercising more". But in reality, the environment around you has as much influence on weight loss as your body works.
And when it comes to alcohol, it blends into people's lives as well as it can. Alcohol has played a central role in almost every culture since the Neolithic era. There is even evidence that it played an important role in human evolution.
It's not uncommon to try to get rid of things that are deep into the environment and habits, such as alcohol and carbohydrates, which can result in digging graves. So it may be better to wisely incorporate it into a weight loss program as an occasional "reward" rather than eliminating it *.
* This rule does not apply to people who are alcoholics. This is discussed in the second section.What we know from research
Alcohol intake is not absolutely bad. On the contrary, small or moderate doses offer many health benefits. Martin Berkhan, a fitness writer and nutritionist, explains:
Moderate alcohol intake has the effects of increasing insulin (hormone that suppresses blood sugar) sensitivity, lowering triglyceride (triglyceride) levels, and improving blood sugar control. Such effects are seen not only in healthy people but also in patients with type 2 diabetes.
There is still no definitive consensus on the mechanism by which alcohol enhances insulin sensitivity, but a promising explanation is that alcohol is an AMP-activated protein kinase (an enzyme that acts as an intracellular energy sensor) in skeletal muscle. ) Is stimulated and weight loss is promoted. It would never be an expanded interpretation to speculate that this effect would have a positive effect on long-term nutrient distribution.
For those who aren't very attracted to the fact that "alcohol intake affects insulin sensitivity," here's another fact. Studies have always shown that "moderate drinkers live longer than non-drinkers." This is thought to be primarily due to a reduced risk of heart disease.
However, alcohol also contributes to the prevention of various diseases in Western medicine and to the creation of a healthy life that is less susceptible to illness. For example, Alzheimer's disease, metabolic syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, colds, various cancers, depression, etc. are endless.
That said, it's true that alcohol interferes with fat loss physiologically, so isn't it a hindrance to dieting? According to dietitian Alan Aragon, who frequently contributes to lifehackers on health-related topics, there are still many surprisingly unknown points, and research hasn't come to a conclusion.
In one study, the group of men who consumed an average of 56 grams of ethanol (4 glasses of beer) per day had 16% more total calories than the non-drinking control group. The physical activity of these two groups (drinkers and non-drinkers) was the same.
So, logically speaking, the people in the drinking group should be a few kilograms heavier. However, that was not the case. Both groups had the same body mass index (BMI), even though the drinking group consumed more calories.
This study alone did not happen to have such a result. Aragon further explains:
Another study compared weight loss with two different diets (both consuming 1500 kcal per day). Subjects in one group consumed 10% (150 kcal) of total calories with white wine. This is about one glass per day. Another group consumed 10% of their calories with grape juice.
Three months later, when we examined the total weight, the white wine group lost nearly a kilogram more (than the grape juice group). However, this difference was not statistically significant.
In other words, if you want to narrow your waistline, alcohol is, so to speak, an uncertain factor. Some are affected, others are not. For those who say, "When you drink alcohol, your waist gets thicker immediately", the bad thing may not be alcohol itself, but "impaired judgment due to alcohol". A 2013 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition increased subjects' intake of calories and saturated fat when drinking moderate amounts of alcohol.
When it comes to weight loss, the ultimate importance is calories after all. The cause of weight gain is not the alcohol itself, but hamburgers and french fries, which are often eaten late at night with alcohol.
If you keep that in mind, you can plan to enjoy alcohol from time to time while you are on a diet. That way, you'll feel like you're controlling your diet well in your normal life, rather than being swayed by a diet.
Determine how to interact with sake that suits you
I wrote earlier that it may be better to drink moderately than to completely cut off alcohol. There are two exceptions to that.
The first is when you don't bother to cut off alcohol at all. If you don't need to drink, it's okay to stop altogether. It's great if you can quit alcohol no matter what your family and friends say.
The second exception is for alcoholics (people who are not self-proclaimed, but who can actually be diagnosed). Alcohol, unlike other foods, is extremely difficult to "keep in mind". Todd Ivan, a psychiatrist in the field treating alcoholism, explains:
Currently, the common treatment for alcoholics (and other substance addicts) is to encourage abstinence and treat them with therapy or meditation. Some patients want a method called "avoidance" that does not force them to stop drinking altogether. Unfortunately, unlike other foods, alcohol often leads to a very serious situation once it reverts from suppression.
The bottom line is that no one will die if you touch a dessert that's on sale for a limited time, but if you're drowning in alcohol, you risk killing someone by drunk driving.
If you are aware that you have a serious problem with drinking, we recommend that you consult an expert and stop drinking altogether. If you don't, follow the rules below and enjoy your drink wisely.
Step 1: Understand your diet plan
The first thing to do is decide what to eat and how much to eat. There are two ways to do this. For those unfamiliar with calorie counting, here's a recap of the conclusions of the article on diet and exercise.
If you're an advanced dieter, you may want to determine your daily intake of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. These three are known as the "three major nutrients (macro)" among health enthusiasts.
Step 2: Identify the days when you are likely to drink
Determine in advance which days of the week you are likely to drink, and first determine if each day is a "light" or "unlimited" drinking day. ("Unlimited" is not actively recommended, but I will write down how to drink in that case).
A light drinking day is a day when you drink only a few cups. Imagine having a fun drinking party with a colleague or having a bottle of wine for dinner.On light drinking days, you basically follow your usual dietary rules. However, there is one difference. Calculate as if you ingested 10 grams of fat for each drink of alcoholic beverage, in addition to the actual amount of carbohydrates contained in the liquor.
For example, a glass of red wine is calculated as 10 grams of fat and 3 grams of carbohydrates. A glass of whiskey is 10 grams of fat (no carbohydrates included).
Unlimited drinking days are the case for big events such as parties and weddings. "The day the favorite team won the Japan Series" would also be applicable. On unlimited drinking days, follow the rules recommended by Berkhan below.On unlimited drinking days, be aware that you should try to reduce the damage of the day as much as possible, rather than trying to reduce calories anyway. If you follow Berkhan's rules and try to avoid fat and eat more protein, you should be less likely to store fat if you're over-calorie.
This article does not say that you should be a heavy drinker. Certainly, the knowledge mentioned in this article could be used to justify drinking (of course, that's no good). Still, I wrote this article because the skills presented here can be very important. After all, the success or failure of a day's diet often depends on whether you believe it "successful" or not.
This is the tricky part of losing weight, but if you think you've ruined your diet just because you drank a glass of beer, that's what really ruins your diet. There is a high possibility that you will lose. So it should be easier to continue your diet if you adopt a more flexible policy and allow occasional drinking as a "part of your plan".
Dick Talens (Original / Translated by: Tomoyo Umeda / Galileo)
Images by Negovura (Shutterstock), Roark (Pixabay), Elvert Barnes, and Loving Earth.