Cutting On The Booze To Lose Weight

Trying unsuccessfully to lose weight is a common problem. Trying to find out where we went wrong requires some brutal honesty. We can control the consumption of food we measure, but what about all those things that never appear on our lists? One of the most damaging items is alcohol.

In their pre-holiday season statement, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) suggested to the holiday-makers that they can cut more than ten percents of their calories by avoiding alcoholic drinks. When you add to that the calories from sodas, it seems that we could significantly improve our chances of losing weight or maintaining healthy weight simply by monitoring our intake of drinks.

If it is not counted” ¦

The World Cancer Research Fund experts suggest that one reason we to not realize how many calories we take through alcoholic drinks is because we simply do not count drinks as part of the diet and are not aware of the number of calories in them.

To get the idea of what is in our favorite drinks, just think that a large glass of beer has 250 calories, the same as three chocolate biscuits. A glass of wine has 178 calories, the same as two biscuits. Vodka and orange juice has 109 calories, the equivalent of one biscuit.

You can learn more about the number of calories in your favorite drinks from the list of most popular alcoholic and other drinks, and see how much damage you are doing to your diet plan.

Alcohol and cancer

The reason Cancer Research Fund is pressing the issue of alcohol as one obstacle that prevents many people from losing weight is the link between obesity and a number of cancers. According to this charity, obesity is linked to the cancers of bowels, pancreas, breast, kidneys, esophagus, womb and gallbladder.

Studies show that moderate consumption of alcohol can be part of a balanced diet plan, but the problem is in our definition of ” Ëœmoderate” â„¢. Also, not all drinks are the same. The researchers found that excessive intake of ethanol from alcoholic drinks causes damage to a number of organs, but moderate consumption, especially of red wine, may protect us from a range of health issues. These protective effects might be due to a number of bioactive compounds in red wine, such as stilbene polyphenol, resveratrol, flavonols, monomeric and polymeric flavan-3-ols, highly colored anthocyanins as well as phenolic acids.

It is almost impossible to stick to your diet plan during the holiday festivities. How can you say ” Ëœno” â„¢ to all your relatives who are so happy to have you with them and to share with you all the goodies, and all the booze, they prepared and had on offer. But, once the holidays are over, go over your diet plan, and make sure that your favorite post-work mojito is included. Make sure it is one glass, not two or three. And while you are at it, why not switch to red wine and get all those nice flavonols and resveratrol?

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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

Written by HealthStatus Team
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

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