Let me start by saying that I’m not judging anyone for drinking. I for one, have a glass (or three of red wine) usually on a Friday night as a planned indulgence or a vodka with the infamous Irn Bru (the unnatural but highly addictive orange fizzy drink made in Scotland from Girders). So let’s be clear that this is not a “do as I say, not as I do” situation. I just want to share some information, including science based information about alcohol and weight loss so you can make an informed choice based on your goals.
As a coach, I will never tell any of my clients that they should “never” drink alcohol again. But truthfully, regular consumption of alcohol may not only be slowing down your weight loss or muscle building progress, it might be much worse for your health and longevity than you realise. Why? Read on for 3 reasons alcohol is not your friend.
Reason #1: It’s Basically Poison
Let’s dive straight in with the hard line: alcohol is a poison, an intoxicating carcinogen that induces cancer risk. At the same time however we’ve been told that a little alcohol in moderation is okay, right? The reason for this (in the scientific realm at least), was largely due to previous studies* that compared men and women who drink a little alcohol to those who have abstained from alcohol. It was reported that those drinking a little, appeared to have LESS less liver cirrhosis.
But before we get excited about this and celebrate by cracking open another bottle, I feel obliged to tell you about what Dr Greger (M.D FACLM) points out about these past scientific studies: they misclassified former drinkers by classifying them as lifelong abstainers!
This means that previous studies hadn’t considered that some of the people who had reported abstaining from drinking alcohol, actually abstained for the reason that they had gotten sick from drinking it previously in life and then stopped. So in fact these folks were very different to someone who has NEVER touched the stuff in their lifetime. It begs the question: did drinking a little really lead to less liver cirrhosis or did liver cirrhosis lead to less drinking?
In order to find out the answer scientists went back and made up for the misclassification and separated out the non drinkers from the former drinkers. Findings showed that more alcohol led to more death at low levels of consumption. This means that moderate consumption (one glass a day) does not have health benefits at all!
I know that’s not what you want to hear: heck it’s not what I want to hear either. I think I’m quite funny after a couple – there goes my sense of humour!
The reality is that most people choose to ignore the health consequences of alcohol for many reasons. Firstly, they can’t see what’s going on inside their body so they don’t tend to think about the adverse effects until they can be felt, usually with a hangover or when they’re throwing up in the toilet (if they’re lucky). Alcohol is also perceived as a social lifeline for many. For others, they simply enjoy it and have the freedom to continue to choose to drink it.
So if the hard line isn’t enough to convince you that alcohol isn’t your friend, here’s another:
Reason #2: It’s not good for your weight loss.
When you drink alcohol, your body uses it as a “priority fuel” until all of it has been removed from your body. We know, after all that it’s a poison so your body wants to expel it as quickly as possible. It’s the liver’s job to detoxify alcohol to carbon dioxide and water and remove it from the body. But the liver is also your biggest fat burning organ: it breaks down fat and uses it for energy. So when your liver is busy trying to get rid of the alcoholic poison, it’s not burning any fat. In fact, when you have a drink, your fat-burning furnace is shut off for about 6-8 hours while your liver burns out the alcohol.
You read that right: I said a drink. As in, one drink.
Logically, if you take the number of drinks you normally drink in a week and have all of them on Saturday and Sunday, your fat loss would be better (note: we’re talking about fat loss NOT drunkenness) if all other things are equal. Instead of your fat-burning furnace being turned off 6-8 hours per day, it may be turned off for 12-16 hours over the weekend.
So mathematically it makes sense. But if you’re drinking that much at once, can all other things really be equal?
Reason #3: Artificial Sweeteners and Sugars
The type of alcohol you consume is another varying factor to consider. A nip of whiskey is different to a sugar and artificial colour laden cocktail for example. So if body fat or weight loss is your goal, make sure to avoid any cocktails with calorie-laden mixers: a pina colada can send your body fat and the scale skyrocketing.
A good rule of thumb is if it’s served with an umbrella in it, you probably won’t look good in a bikini and that’s before you dive deeper into the overall health consequences. Keep the alcohol on the rocks or mixed with soda water and a fresh lime or lemon wedge (then add your own fun umbrella)!
So if you’re not willing to give up your alcohol, having 1-2 drinks a couple times a week probably isn’t going to throw off your weight loss goals if you choose your beverage wisely but regularly having sugary alcopops will.
Which brings me to my concluding point. Drinking alcohol is actually (like everything in life) is a choice. We either choose to drink it or abstain from it. But which is the right choice?
Well, you see my friend, there is no right or wrong choice. There’s only a choice. One that either moves you closer to or further away from your goals. So if weight loss is your goal, you might make more considered choices as to which type of alcohol you’re consuming and how often you consume it.
If you don’t have a goal, it’s likely you’ll just drink anything according to your taste yet the same can be said for someone whose goal is to enjoy exploring different types of alcohol. You just have to decide what your goal or priority is. Then own your decisions in relation. Are there consequences to every decision? Sure. But the point is, the decision is yours to make, therefore you have to own them.
So is alcohol a friend or foe?
It’s alcohol. We now know that according to the latest science there are no health benefits. Science is a systematically organized body of knowledge that draws conclusions based on measurable data. So all we can do is make an informed choice based on the data, right? We know that alcohol is a poison and is no good for us but did you also know that according to world wide data**, there are more deaths caused by road accident injuries than alcohol use disorders? Yet despite this knowledge, I for one am unlikely to never get back in my car (though I do feel compelled to point out that cancers are the number two leading cause of death globally. Not good news when you consider that alcohol is cancer inducing) – so what’s a health conscious person to do?
I once heard life coach Tony Robbins tell a story about how when he met his health conscious wife, he was shocked and surprised to hear her order a huge ice cream dessert in a restaurant. What was her response? Sometimes you Zig and sometimes you Zag!
So considering both the scientific data in relation to health and the fact that I personally have little to no intention of losing weight anytime soon, I’m going to ‘zig’ during the week by eating nutritionally and drinking water. Then I’m going to own my decision to ‘zag’ and have a couple of glasses of wine at the weekend, at home in front of the TV with my husband, whom unlike alcohol it seems, is my actual, real life friend!
Until next time,
Susan.x
P..S Have you joined The Strong Teacher’s Club yet? It’s private, it’s fun, free and it’s the place where I help smart teachers go to support each other to live happier, healthier lives. Oh and there are regular prizes too!
The Sculpting Susan 