And ... is alcohol FATTENING?

 Yes, indeed! Each gram of alcohol contains 7 calories, so that if we take 100 mL of a beverage containing 50 % alcohol, we will be taking 50g of alcohol and 350 calories. This is equivalent to a full meal! And worst of all is that alcohol doesn’t nourish one bit.

Alcohol also gives calories (and makes us fat).  The only difference is that it doesn’t contain any nutrients.  It’s an “empty” food.

For example, if we go to a party and begin with a Rum & Cola( 50ml rum (111kcal ) and 100ml of Coca Cola (42Kcal ), during dinner we have 2 beers (200kcal) and finally a vodka on the rocks (126Kcal), we would be adding 479 extra calories to our day.  This is equal to eating 2 fried eggs, 2 slices of bread, a glass of orange juice, one piece of sweet bread and a cup of coffee.

It sounds terrible! All our effort to lose weight lost by a few drinks in an evening.

But not everything has to be banned, there are some tricks in order to be able to enjoy alcohol without sacrificing too much.  

Here are some tips:

• Choose low percentage alcoholic drinks like wine or beer.
• Choose low-calorie soft drinks or sugar free, such as mineral water, to mix them.
• If you mix your drinks with juices, look for those that don’t contain sugar.
• Avoid quenching your thirst with alcoholic beverages, try drinking a few glasses of water BEFORE drinking alcohol.

Here is a table with the most common alcoholic drinks and how many calories they provide:

DRINK	PORTION	KCAL
Anise	A cup ( 50mL )	131
Cava brut	A cup (100mL )	65
Cava semi-dry	A cup (100mL)	69
Beer	One can (250mL )	100
Light beer	One can (250mL )	55
Cuba libre cocktail	One glass (250ml )	347
Cocktail Daiquiri	A glass (100ml )	222
Gin Tonic Cocktail	A glass (250ml )	350
Cognac	One cup (50mL )	112
Geneva	A cup (50mL )	110
Sweet liqueurs	A glass (50mL )	116
Rum	A measure (50ml )	111
Sangria	A glass (200ml )	172
Cider	A small glass (100ml )	38
Dry Vermouth	A measure (100ml )	118
Sweet vermouth	A measure (100mL )	151
Table wine	A glass (100ml )	71
Sweet wine	A glass (100ml )	157
Fine Wine	A glass (100ml )	116
Moscatel Wine	A glass (100ml )	165
Vodka	A measure (50ml )	126
Whisky	A measure (50ml )	111

The lesson here is: Don’t ruin all your week’s effort to loose weight with some "drinks".  Just learn to choose the best option .

See you next week.