Last Call
Looking to lose some weight but still want to let your hair down at that next party? A salad and a cocktail is a pretty common go to order! The question lies, is it the right order? Short answer: No.
Long answer: Alcohol has calories! A good number of them in fact. An average pint of Beer or glass of Wine will set you back about 120 Calories, while a 60mL serving of any hard liquor is about 168 Calories. Add in a few mixers and you’re comfortably doubling or tripling that number. That pizza has started to look a lot more justifiable now, right?
With that background, the following points are worth knowing:
Cocktails or hard drinks ? This is an easy one. Hard drinks. The only mixers that are viable are water, soda, lime juice, and ice! All that orange juice in your favourite Screwdriver is not helping.
Rum / Gin / Whisky / Vodka / Beer / Wine? Which is best? Answering this in any definitive manner is difficult. All alcohol is roughly equivalent and best to stick to what you enjoy.
Will mixing drinks make my morning worse? No! I mean maybe! The reason mixing various types of alcohol invariably leads to more hangovers is NOT because of the mixing. Its because the total amount of alcohol increases! Drinking 5 servings of whiskey will have the same impact as 2 whiskeys, 2 vodkas, and a rum!
Food and drinks may feel like a match made in heaven but lets enjoy them separately. Eat first, drink later! Once you have a drink in your hand, no more food! Alcohol makes it difficult for us to judge our level of hunger appropriately.
Alternate every glass of alcohol with a glass of water. Remember that nasty hangover from last weekend? A good chunk of it is down to you getting dehydrated. Alcohol is a diuretic, i.e., it makes you pass far more urine than normal. Its critical to replace the lost fluids!
With all that said, it's important to remember that alcohol is bad for you. While largely fine in small quantities, it negatively impacts judgement, muscle growth, coordination, quality of sleep and more. If you are looking to get fit or if you have a competition coming up, it should be the first thing you cut back on.
