Sometimes alcohol on a low calorie diet can help relax the brain and body, and help with deeper sleep. Lose weight quickly and easily with these weight loss tips from an experienced dietitian in this free video on health and drinking.

Expert: Rachael Richardson
Contact: www.nutrolution.com
Bio: Rachael Richardson is a registered dietitian and a Florida licensed nutritionist. Richardson has earned degrees from the University of North Florida and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Filmmaker: Paul Muller

When life hands MillerCoors lemons, they make flavored beer.

MillerCoors is planning to expand its MGD 64 beer, a low-calorie take on Miller Genuine Draft, with a lemonade flavor, according to published reports.

No official word has been released, but reports are abuzz that the low-calorie beer category will be revolutionized with the limited-edition flavor — slated to be released in May — as MillerCoors’ domestic sales to retailers were down 3%, with declines in the premium light and below premium segments, according to an SAB Miller interim report.

This is a great guide about making low calorie alcoholic drinks. It’s a short video with information about liquor, beer, wine, and mixers. If you don’t want to read through articles and research about calories in alcohol, you should at least watch this video. It contains all the basic ideas and information you need to know about cutting calories out of your cocktails. After checking out this video, go look at my Low Calorie Cocktail Recipes by clicking here for ideas.

Click here for calories in liquor

Click here for calories in beer

Click here for calories in wine/champagne

Click here for calories in mixers

The truth about low calorie beer is that it contains less calories because it has less carbohydrates and most importantly less alcoholic content. Over the last few years Miller and Budweiser have released their super low calorie beer to meet the demand of consumers. MGD 64 and Budweiser Select 55 are the most popular super low calorie beers on the market. Named after their calories, MGD 64 has 64 calories and 2.4g carbohydrates while Budweiser Select 55 comes in at a very low 55 calories and 1.9g carbohydrates. Here comes the bad news. While these beers sport half the calories of most normal light beer like Bud Light, they sport just a little more than half the alcohol at 2.8% (MGD 64) and 2.4% (Bud 55). Bud Light has 4.2% alcohol and 110 calories. After calculating everything at 110 calories, It would be equivilent to 4.8% for both MGD 64 and Mudweiser Select 55. Although it’s not that big of a difference, every little bit helps when trying to cut calories. However, you have to drink twice as much to reach the same alcoholic percentages. It taxes your wallet and bladder twice as much for just a few less calories.

Click here to find out how many calories your favorite beer has.

Click here to recipes for low calorie cocktails.

Here is a great article on alohol calories. It can also be found at the authors website. http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/alcohol.htm

Why Alcohol Calories Are More Important Than You Think

Successful weight loss is all about oxidizing (or burning), more calories than you eat. When they go on a diet, many people choose low-calorie alcoholic drinks, mainly because they contain fewer alcohol calories than their regular counterparts.

However, drinking too much has a far more damaging effect than you can predict simply by looking at the number of alcohol calories in a drink. Not only does it reduce the number of fat calories you burn, alcohol can increase your appetite and lower your testosterone levels for up to 24 hours after you finish drinking.

Alcohol calories

According to conventional wisdom, the infamous “beer belly” is caused by excess alcohol calories being stored as fat. Yet, less than five percent of the alcohol calories you drink are turned into fat. Rather, the main effect of alcohol is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy.

Some evidence for this comes from research carried in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition [4]. Eight men were given two drinks of vodka and sugar-free lemonade separated by 30 minutes. Each drink contained just under 90 calories. Fat metabolism was measured before and after consumption of the drink. For several hours after drinking the vodka, whole body lipid oxidation (a measure of how much fat your body is burning) dropped by a massive 73%.

Rather than getting stored as fat, the main fate of alcohol is conversion into a substance called acetate. In fact, blood levels of acetate after drinking the vodka were 2.5 times higher than normal. And it appears this sharp rise in acetate puts the brakes on fat loss.

A car engine typically uses only one source of fuel. Your body, on the other hand, draws from a number of different energy sources, such as carbohydrate, fat, and protein. To a certain extent, the source of fuel your body uses is dictated by its availability.

In other words, your body tends to use whatever you feed it. Consequently, when acetate levels rise, your body simply burns more acetate, and less fat. In essence, acetate pushes fat to the back of the queue.

So, to summarize and review, here’s what happens to fat metabolism after the odd drink or two.

• A small portion of the alcohol is converted into fat.
• Your liver then converts most of the alcohol into acetate.
• The acetate is then released into your bloodstream, and replaces fat as a source of fuel.

The way your body responds to alcohol is very similar to the way it deals with excess carbohydrate.

Although carbohydrate can be converted directly into fat, one of the main effects of overfeeding with carbohydrate is that it simply replaces fat as a source of energy. That’s why any type of diet, whether it’s high-fat, high-protein, or high-carbohydrate, can lead to a gain in weight.

Appetite

The combination of alcohol and a high-calorie meal is especially fattening, mainly because alcohol acts as a potent appetizer. A Canadian study shows that an aperitif (an alcoholic drink taken before a meal to increase the appetite) increased calorie intake to a greater extent than a carbohydrate-based drink [5].

Researchers from Denmark’s Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University report similar results [8]. When a group of men was given a meal and allowed to eat as much as they wanted, they ate more when the meal was served with beer or wine rather than a soft drink.

Not only does too much alcohol put the brakes on fat loss, it’s also one of the most effective ways to slash your testosterone levels. Just a single bout of heavy drinking raises levels of the muscle-wasting hormone cortisol and increases the breakdown of testosterone for up to 24 hours [6]. The damaging effects of alcohol on testosterone are made even worse when you exercise before drinking [1].

The effect of alcohol on testosterone could be one reason that people who drink a lot carry less muscle. In fact, a 1993 study shows that alcoholic men have bigger waists and smaller muscles than teetotalers [2].

This doesn’t mean you need to avoid alcohol completely.

A study published in the International Journal of Obesity, compared the effect of two different diets over a three-month period [7]. Both diets contained 1500 calories daily, one with 150 calories from white wine and one with 150 calories from grape juice.

Weight loss in the grape juice group and white wine group was 8.3 pounds and 10.4 pounds, respectively.

So, what’s the bottom line?

Although an alcohol-rich meal does increase your metabolic rate, it also suppresses the number of fat calories your body burns for energy — far more so than meals rich in protein, carbohydrate, or fat [3]. While the odd drink now and again isn’t going to hurt, the bottom line is that alcohol and a leaner, stronger body just doesn’t mix.

About The Author
Christian Finn holds a master’s degree in exercise science, is a certified personal trainer and has been featured on BBC TV and radio, as well as in Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Fit Pro, Zest and other popular fitness magazines.

References
1. Heikkonen, E., Ylikahri, R., Roine, R., Valimaki, M., Harkonen, M., & Salaspuro, M. (1996). The combined effect of alcohol and physical exercise on serum testosterone, luteinizing hormone, and cortisol in males. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 20, 711-716
2. Kvist, H., Hallgren, P., Jonsson, L., Pettersson, P., Sjoberg, C., Sjostrom, L., & Bjorntorp, P. (1993). Distribution of adipose tissue and muscle mass in alcoholic men. Metabolism, 42, 569-573
3. Raben A, Agerholm-Larsen L, Flint A, Holst JJ, Astrup A. (2003). Meals with similar energy densities but rich in protein, fat, carbohydrate, or alcohol have different effects on energy expenditure and substrate metabolism but not on appetite and energy intake. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 77, 91-100
4. Siler, S.Q., Neese, R.A., & Hellerstein, M.K. (1999). De novo lipogenesis, lipid kinetics, and whole-body lipid balances in humans after acute alcohol consumption. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 70, 928-936
5. Tremblay, A., & St-Pierre, S. (1996). The hyperphagic effect of a high-fat diet and alcohol intake persists after control for energy density. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 63, 479-482
6. Valimaki, M.J., Harkonen, M., Eriksson, C.J., & Ylikahri, R.H. (1984). Sex hormones and adrenocortical steroids in men acutely intoxicated with ethanol. Alcohol, 1, 89-93
7. Flechtner-Mors, M., Biesalski, H.K., Jenkinson, C.P., Adler, G., & Ditschuneit, H.H. (2004). Effects of moderate consumption of white wine on weight loss in overweight and obese subjects. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, 28, 1420-1426
8. Buemann, B., Toubro, S., & Astrup, A. (2002). The effect of wine or beer versus a carbonated soft drink, served at a meal, on ad libitum energy intake. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, 26, 1367-1372

Wanna party like a rock star and keep the calories low? I have just the right drink combination you should try. After years of experimenting with different combinations of alcoholic beverages, I’ve found the perfect one for me. I start off by ordering a shot of Patron Silver or Don Julio and a light beer(Bud Light or Amstel Light). I normally take this shot with friends first then I slowly sip the beer as I socialize with friends and other bar/cub goers. When it’s time for another round of drinks, I repeat the same drink order the rest of the night. Sometimes I might skip a beer. The reason this is an effective way of lowering my caloric intake is because I eliminate the mixers which usually come with calories. For example if I drank margaritas instead of a shot of tequila, I would be consuming 100 more calories per drink because of the mix. However, it’s impossible to drink alcohol and not consume calories. Tequila normally has 69 calories per ounce. The only way to keep your caloric intake low is to not drink at all. If you are reading this, you probably don’t want to eliminate drinking alcohol. So we just have to find ways to cut some calories out of our drinking. So give this combination a try. Maybe take shots of your choice or make a cocktail with club soda or other  zero calorie mixers if you don’t like shots. This is my preference because I enjoy the taste and I feel great the next day.  Good luck and let me know if you have other ideas.

One mistake people make is drinking too many calories. Even light beers have around 100 calories per serving. Most mixed drinks and cocktails also contain a lot of calories because it is mixed with sweet juices and energy drinks. Try this mix or other cocktails mixed with club soda if you want a low calorie alcoholic drink. It has ZERO calories! Notice how slim the woman making the drink is.

 A Bloody Mary is one of many low calorie alcoholic drinks. It  contains vodka and Bloody Mary mix (tomato juice, hot sauce, and other spices) usually served in a highball glass. Create this delicious drink with tips from a bartender in this free video on bar tending drinks. This alcoholic drink typically comes in at a low calorie count of 109. You can tinker with the calories depending on how strong you would like to make this drink. Most vodka like Grey Goose and Kettle One have 69 calories per ounce while most pre-made Bloody Mary mixes are around 40 calories per serving. Check out other liquor calories by clicking here and other mixer calories by clicking here.

3 low calorie alcoholic drinks under 150 calories:

1. Raspberry Ice Light 2 oz Van Gogh Raspberry Vodka 3 oz Crystal Light Raspberry Ice

2. Oranje Fresca 2 oz Van Gogh Oranje Vodka 3 oz Fresca

3. Pineapple Citrus Twist 2 oz Van Gogh Pineapple Vodka 3 oz AquaFina Sparkling Citrus Twist Water

Crystal Light Raspberry Ice, Fresca, and AquaFina Sparkling Citrus Twist Water don’t have any calories. This is a great example of how having no or low calorie mixers can be the key factor in making low calorie alcoholic drinks. Check out more what mixers work best with your favorite liquor by clicking here.

Somethimes convient eating leads to unhealthy, high-calorie eating. If you find yourself in a position where you want some fast food, look into these items at some of the top fast food joints:

McDonald’s

Taco Bell

Jack in the Box