Alcohol
It's annoying but true - if you are trying to lose as much body fat as possible, cut out the booze. It has a very high calorific value and releases sugar into the bloodstream quicker than glucose – neither of which is a good thing!
It also increases appetite, which isn’t going to help you resist that late night takeaway, and what’s more leaves you feeling tired and run down – which will hardly motivate you to get out and go for a run.
All alcoholic drinks are high in calories: wine or champagne = 100 calories per glass, single whiskey = 110 calories, and a single gin & tonic = 180 calories. And when you consider that the average pint contains around 200 calories (the same as a Mars bar), it's hardly surprising that you put on weight if you down 20 pints over a weekend. And with no nutritional value whatsoever, beer really doesn't do you any good.
Mind you, it is nice! And like fatty, sugary food, alcohol is something that is fine in moderation; although alcohol is a depressant, many people would find abstaining altogether fairly depressing in itself.
Drink sensibly though, and try not to binge at weekends – the liver can only handle so much and will be damaged by continual excessive alcohol consumption. Wine is also a better option than beer – some studies suggest that a glass of red wine every day helps to prevent heart disease and lower cholesterol, although there are non-alcoholic foodstuffs which do this as well (try green tea).
And watch out for mixing drinks; the different types of alcohol confuse your stomach and make it more difficult for your body to separate and metabolise them properly. They sit there, churning around until…………well, you know the rest!
