It’s no lie that alcohol and weight loss goals generally don’t mix, and if we’re being honest, there really are many reasons to reduce or even give up alcohol from our diets and social habits.
On the other hand, having a glass of wine, or whatever your drink of choice may be, is also a cherished pastime, a conduit for connecting with friends and is infused into most of our social gatherings.
But, word on the street is that alcohol messes with your metabolism - big time! Because alcohol cannot be stored, it becomes a priority for your metabolism.
In other words, it moves to the front of the metabolic line when it’s consumed, even if you’ve consumed food (that contain nutrients like fats, proteins and other carbs) along with it. In turn, that slows the breakdown of fats (lipolysis), and the digestion of any other nutrients. ACK!!
But is this the only reason why alcohol gets in the way of our health goals - and do we really have to give it up entirely if we are trying to lose weight? (Please say no, please say no…)
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AUIDO TRANSCRIPTION
(00:02):
Can I still lose weight if I don't wanna give up wine or alcohol before we continue, I wanted to let you guys know that we have two other podcast episodes on alcohol. So clearly this is something that we get asked all the time, episode 46 and 47 go over alcohol and how it impacts the thyroid specifically. And today we are talking about how alcohol impacts your metabolism. Let's dive in cue musical intro.
(00:55):
All right, you guys welcome back to the thriving thyroid podcast we are talking about. Can I still lose weight? If I don't wanna give up wine and alcohol, now let's start off with a little story. I, as your practitioner am never going to tell you, you have to do something. I may advise certain actions to happen, but I'm never going to make you do anything because ultimately my job is to help you become empowered, to help you get to help give you the information and allow you to make the decisions that you want on your own. Now, my job also, if you are working with me, one on one is to hold you accountable to the goals that you set for yourself. And sometimes I do this all the time. I set unrealistic goals and expectations for myself, and we, we sometimes have to pull back and reevaluate.
(02:00):
I can always tie everything back into business, but this year, as you guys know, had a baby, and some of the goals that I set for myself were unrealistic <laugh> to my overall goal and objective this year with having a new baby and I had to were about halfway through the year, and I've had to kind of pull back and reevaluate and just figure out, you know what, that's okay, I'm gonna move my goal and my objective a little bit over here to better accommodate those things. And so that's, that's part of what we do as a client or as like a coaching client patient. Relationship is learning to come together and me asking intentional questions to help you make informed and empowered decisions based off your health. And so I wanted to share a quick story about one of our clients. This was several, several years ago, her name was Allison and she grew up in France and wine was a huge part of her day.
(03:12):
Her culture. She grew up sipping on wine. I don't remember at web age going to vineyards, going to taste testing like her, her parents, her family was very entrenched in all of the wine culture. And I am not, I do not drink. So I don't know all of the things. So if you are a wine snob, but please just forgive me. You can send me a message and message me whatever I need to know about wine. But the point being is she would go back to France several times a year, and it was just, it was very much part of who she was part of her identity. She had been doing, doing it for 50 plus years. Every night at dinner. Well maybe not 50 plus years cuz she was in her fifties. <Laugh> maybe not from the time she was a baby.
(04:09):
But let's just say 30 years. Okay. We'll give her a benefited, a doubt benefit of a doubt. I don't know. We'll just say it's been a huge part of her life. And she came in and we, we cleared up a lot and she was still drinking wine for dinner and she still wasn't meeting her goals. And so this is when it came to the coaching aspect of, okay, I understand that this is part of who you are as a person and what you do to wind down in the evenings. And so we, we came up with a solution. She was not, she was going to drink. I don't even remember now, like, let's say five days out of the week, which giving it up two days was a, was a huge, huge deal and a big sacrifice for her. I forgive me if I don't remember all of the details either.
(05:08):
And we also worked towards finding wine that was less heavily sprayed. So one of the big things with wine is that it is sprayed with yucky chemicals that also disrupt our hormones. So we really worked on moving to that area and surprisingly not really surprisingly things did change for her hormones and changed for her metabolism and all of these different areas of her life. So she didn't give it up completely. She didn't want to. And that's okay. Same thing with some of our other clients who enjoy more fruity drinks that are mixed with vodka or whatever is moving towards alcohol that is maybe not gluten based. And so there they're all, there are alternatives when it comes to alcohol. But we're gonna just share kind of general information to, to help you guys get started and help you better understand what's going on.
(06:20):
So it's, I'm not gonna lie to you guys, alcohol and weight loss goals generally do not mix. And if we're being completely honest, there are many, many reasons to reduce or to give up alcohol in your diet and in those social habits, pretty much all together. And I know for a lot of practitioners that I work with, this was something that they knew, but it was also really challenging for them to also want to give up <laugh> ultimately after, you know, years or whatever, most other practitioners end up giving up some kind of alcohol or at least reducing the frequency or making some concessions to this. So on the other hand, having a glass of wine or whatever, drink of choice, your drink of choice may be, it is also considered a cherish pat pastime and a conduit for connecting with friends and is infused in most of our social gatherings, weddings parties our, our neighbor just the other day, maybe it was like two weeks ago, invited us over for his daughter's 21st birthday.
(07:31):
And my husband's like, do you wanna go? And I was like, well, that would be so nice. But I, their parties are ones that the more drunk they get, the louder their music gets. And I was like, it's gonna be a big night <laugh> so, no, I don't wanna go over there for her 21st birthday. And we, to be honest, we don't really know them very well, but it was very nice for them to offer. My kids are like, well, we wanna go have tacos over there. <Laugh> and you can tell where our priorities lie. Anyways, so alcohol influences our metabolism, but the word on the street is that alcohol messes with our metabolism. Like big time you guys, there's a reason why we call it a beer belly. Well, it's true. To some extent. And according to some studies, we shouldn't freak out about it just yet, right?
(08:27):
Like I'm sure we have all heard this study that having a glass of wine every evening helps with heart health. I'm here to tell you that it may have one or two benefits, but overall it does impact the entire body in a negative way. And I'm gonna link up in the show notes here, several different links that you can go do your own research on. You can go listen to the other podcasts that we have done episode 46 and 47. If you want to dive more in depth on maybe the sciencey geeky part of that. So here's how the metabolism, the, the metabolic process basically goes when you have a drink. Okay. so when you consume alcohol, whatever it is, it AB it is absorbed in the blood from the stomach and the intestines. This is why you can start feeling tipsy, buzzed very, very quickly.
(09:28):
And there are two main enzymes in the liver that begin to metabolize and break down the alcohol. It is a D H and a L D H. So they go to work to break down the alcohol molecules so that it can eventually be eliminated from the body and not become stored because of this. It is a priority for our metabolism. So in other words, it's gonna move to the front of the metabolic line when it, when, when we consume alcohol, even if you consume other nutrients, right? Protein, carbs, fats, other food, along with it, it's gonna turn that it it's gonna turn its attention and slow down that part of the body and, and slow down the breakdown of the fats in the body and the digestion of any other nutrients. Okay. So all a sudden alcohol comes into the body. The body's gonna go whoop right over here and start working towards that process.
(10:37):
The good news here is that it is postponing digestive processes that don't necessarily equate to immediate or imminent weight gain. It's just that the biochemical pathways don't work as efficiency as efficiently with alcohol on board. So factors that affect the rate of our alcohol metabolism is, and how tips you get from this. So by the fact that it is not, there is no matter how much hold on. Let me say that again. <Laugh> the fact is that no matter how much alcohol, a person consumes the body can only metabolize a certain amount of alcohol every single hour. Okay. There are certain factors that can determine the individual's absorption rate and how quickly they are going to feel the effects. And again, I'm gonna link up some things here for you guys, according to the clinical liver disease journal and just some other articles by the NIH and things like that.
(11:55):
So things that are going to impact this is age, race, gender women typically have a lower tolerance for alcohol surprise, surprise <laugh> and they absorb alcohol faster due to the, due to the fact that they have less of the alcohol, the enzymes alcohol DIHI hopefully I say this right. Dease, the, a DH. Okay. Again, link up a, an article for you guys to check out exercise drugs. If you're taking recreational drugs or prescription drugs, this is why you're not advised to take certain prescription drugs and drink or recreational drugs and drink alcoholism. So family and personal history and genetics are gonna play a role in that consumption of food and other drinks, food consumption, food. If you have consumed food at the time or around the time you have consumed alcohol, the type of drink that is consumed there are certain things that irritate have more irritant properties.
(13:11):
For example, the low quality alcohol has a higher percentage of these toxins, essentially that increase the absorption of alcohol and giving you a greater chance of hangovers the concentration of the alcohol. So if it's diluted, if it's not and the rate in which obviously you consume it, if you chug it, if you do keg stands, if you do all of these different things that can impact the rate at which you consume the alcohol. So it is actually POS. So here, here's the big question of the day. Is it actually possible to lose weight while including wine and alcohol in your diet? So while it is somewhat of a relief that alcohol itself, isn't the entire problem. It is the high calorie count, especially when combined with sugary mixers and a tendency to overeat. When you have been drinking that usually keeps us in this resistant weight loss phase, as well as liver implications, right? So if you already have fatty liver, if you already have gallbladder issues, if you already are missing digestive enzymes to break down these things, it is going to have a greater impact on our liver overall, but there is hope, and it is possible to get ahead of your weight loss goals, even if you choose not to give up your wine. So here are a few tips to make it happen. And I'm sure you've heard this a million times before, but in moderation really is a key when it comes to alcohol consumption.
(15:05):
Okay. So here are six tips. So six dietary tips when it comes to planning and consuming wine or alcohol. So number one, be sure to get in a good workout the day that you plan to indulge. Okay, have a good cardio session, lift some weights, do some yoga, do something like that. Number two, don't skip meals and a tip in attempt to quote unquote, save up those calories for drinking and the extra eating that you usually goes along with drinking. Okay. Do not skip meals. <Laugh> number three, determine how much you have already consumed. If it's two glasses of wine per night, start by cutting it down to one and only have one every other day and whatever you do do not stockpile your drinks all week and, and have one big binge day on the weekend. Okay, don't do that. Number four, do not drinks, hold on.
(16:06):
Let me start over drink no more than one glass per hour, sip on it. Enjoy it. Draw the drink out a little bit longer and enjoy that. Number five, have a full glass of water or two between each drink. Okay. This is gonna prevent hangovers. This is gonna prevent an overly drunkness <laugh> of all of it. Okay. And number six, swap out sugary mixers and syrups sweet wines, heavy beer, and pre bottled hard alcohol drinks for lower calorie options. Okay. And I'm gonna add just another tip that if you guys didn't catch it earlier, look for the quality, right. Look for something that is not heavily sprayed with alcohol or sprayed with chemicals when the grapes are being grown. Okay. So the best alcohol it drinks to drink when you're trying to lose weight. So if your goal weight loss, so if it is your goal to lose weight, the best drinks to enjoy will be those lower calorie, lower sugar, lower carb ones that will have more of a minimal impact on your overall daily nutrition.
(17:30):
And the bottom line is, okay. So 1.5 ounces, a shot of an 80 proof liquor is about 97 calories. Five ounces of white wine is between a hundred and 121 Cal calories, 12 ounces of a bottled light beer is gonna be between going to be between 55 and 103 calories. So that's kind of a big, <laugh> a big range. Definitely check out what, what your drink of choice is. Five ounces of a red wine is gonna be between 105 and 125 calories and 12 ounces of a bottled like regular beer is going to be between 153 and 320 calories, which is also a big range. Okay. So even big thing here is the beer, whether it's a light beer or regular beer, they're gonna have typically more calories in them. And there's also a bigger range to be mindful of. So for all of you wine lovers out there, the best wine for weight loss is I'm gonna actually just link it up here in the show notes for you guys to check out or a very dry sparkling white wine.
(18:59):
So those sweet wines, like a port or an iced wine have significantly higher calories and a sugar or carved count to them. Okay. Yes. Okay. You can also just shave off, hold on. Just, you can see by shaving off a couple of drinks per week how that is going to reduce a calorie count and the sugars that really add up and will help put you into the right direction. So let's just give an example. We have another client who loved having parties on the weekend. She was our party queen. She had a really great social group of friends and she was the party. She hosted all the parties, baby showers graduations, any party, right. And it was not uncommon for her to have 3, 4, 5 beers Friday. And then, you know, Saturday, they would go out to a bar to hang out or go dancing or something like that.
(20:14):
Okay. That was very much who she was. And again, she would have two, three drinks that night. And so right there, we're ha we're talking about an extra four to 500 calories minimum every single night, in addition to what she had been eating all day long which was, you know, good, healthy hormone balancing foods. And so for her, one of the things that we really worked on was reducing the amount and that she was consuming. And so I think on average, this was again, a couple years ago on average, she would have four to five drinks. So we worked on getting down to, I think, two drinks per week and, or, I mean, each evening that she drank which was typically twice a week. But then we also, she was also consuming like four or five glass, like cans of diet Coke per day.
(21:16):
And so that was also another big thing that we reduced for her was, you know, she was having, I think it was actually six per day and we cut it down to like four for several week. Well, we went to five and then we went to four and then we went to three and then two. And I think we, we kind of stuck around the two per day. And again, she was able to see some results with all of that. So there is going to be a lot of goodies for you guys in the, the show notes, this time for additional information when it comes to alcohol and being able to lose weight. So that once again, you guys can become that empowered patient and make decisions for yourself. I'll see you guys on the next.
(22:04):
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