Alcohol: Can Someone Explain It's Nutritional Content?

[Brak86]

Alright guys, i need to know if i can substitute my cheat meal for alcohol. Fpr example, instead of pigging out on pizza one day can i eat healthy and then drink later on as my cheat? Im horribly afraid of alcohol because i want to keep my muscle. Then again, i dont want to waste my youth.

I seem to think that alcohol is horribly bad for you simply because it has alcohol in it. Like the alcohol alone makes beer/liquor worse than eating any donut or any pie or any pizza. But on a nutritional level, how bad is it? For example, if i were to drink a coke vs. a beer, which is worse? I seem to think that just because beer has alcohol in it, it will make you fatter. I dont know if i should treat beer/liquor strictly on a caloric level or look at it differently since it contains alcohol. I eat very well during the week so im thinking that on the weekends, alcohol can be my cheat meal. If you were to drink alcohol vs. drink a coke or eat two cookies ETC, what is worse?

 

[Alpine]

0

 

[EFFORT]

Anything in excess is bad, if you have alcohol here and there it isn't going to ruin your weightlifting. Just be smart about it.

 

[Nexxus]

beer is bad in any case... so much fat in it

wine is actually quite good if you just have 2 glasses, no hangover and not tipsy, not anything too bad in it but then again, it's kinda boring...

****tails are aight depending on what's inside as long as you don't take too much

vodka/sambuka/spirits will get you drunk quickly... only use on parties cuz the next day you'll have a huge hangover and won't want to do anything

smirnoff ice and the like are a bit like a beers so don't take them either

basically take wine whenever you want, ****tails occasionally and spirits at wild parties, of cpurse non in excess... then again maybe you shouldn't listen to me since I'm 16 and have only been to 4 clubs in my life, but then again I'm in Ethiopia where they don't check ID and there's only 7 good clubs in the city (as long as I look over 18 it's aight)...

EDIT: I take everything I said back. Alcohol is the worst thing in the world, got a HUGE hangover. Also ended up blacking out, puking and losing lots of cash. from now on i quit alcohol officially

 

[semag]

Originally posted by Nexxus
beer is bad in any case... so much fat in it

Umm... no

Anyway, to really give you a breakdown, here's the deal.

Alcohol has 7 calories per gram, kinda in between carbs and fat. It's really the typical "USE" of alcohol that makes it bad though.

You ever heard of limiting yoru carbs after a certain time, also known as a carb cutoff? Basically, having calories that can be converted to fat in your stomach after a certain time before you go to bed can be bad, because your body slows down when you go to sleep. The typical way you binge on alcohol is to drink a whole bunch, and then pass out or fall asleep while still drunk, which means the alcohol is still being burned in yoru body.

THIS, along with the calories in alcoholic drinks, are what will really set back your progress.

Be smart, drink early, drink fast, adn don't drink too much.

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

brak i just want to know why you are doing this? If you are worying over it being unhealthy just dont eat it, you can allow yourself to, but it will still be even better if you do not.

I have the odd pizza here and there but now a days i do not eat sugar, and try and kee the majority of my food low fat. I just do not see the point of bothering to have unhealthy food sometimes.

When you start off you can gradulay cut back, but then you just make the jump and stop it all together

P.S. Pizza is not as bad as you think it is, chesse is high in fat but its still healthy for you in resonable quantitys. The base is just dough, and then you got some other bits and pieces, well maybe they put some hidden ingredinet in it that is less healthy but if so then what about home made pizza it takes like 10 minutes longer to make.

 

[Brak86]

Originally posted by check_mate_kid_uk
brak i just want to know why you are doing this? If you are worying over it being unhealthy just dont eat it, you can allow yourself to, but it will still be even better if you do not.

I have the odd pizza here and there but now a days i do not eat sugar, and try and kee the majority of my food low fat. I just do not see the point of bothering to have unhealthy food sometimes.

When you start off you can gradulay cut back, but then you just make the jump and stop it all together

P.S. Pizza is not as bad as you think it is, chesse is high in fat but its still healthy for you in resonable quantitys. The base is just dough, and then you got some other bits and pieces, well maybe they put some hidden ingredinet in it that is less healthy but if so then what about home made pizza it takes like 10 minutes longer to make.

yea i was just using pizza as an example of a cheat meal. I DO eat pizza but maybe i shouldve used another example. And you said that if you worry about it being unhealthy then dont do it. But I would like to drink more. Im too overly cautious and paranoid and i want to relax a bit more.

Anyways, I dunno, this is a mental thing, when i wake up after being drunk i feel like ive lost a lot of muscle and i feel like ive wasted some hard-earned work. I know its retarded but i really want to snap out of this and stop overanalyzing so much.

When i drink i usually drink liquor. So liquor is better to drink than beer i suppose. I have to bless my low tolerance...usually i drink 3-4 shots when i drink (and i drink once every like 2-3 months, so not that often).

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

drinking once very few months is not to bad i dont think. Im not 100% sure of why or to what extent the muscles are broken down although i know it is somthing to do with hormones and possibly toxins. Im sure a lot of it is just in your mind and not as bad as you think. Do not excersize before drinking as this will only make muscle loss worse because excersize breaks down muscles but premotes it be rebuilt, but it will not be rebuilt if you drink.

As far as i am aware the alcohole itself does not break down muscle, it only inhibits the hormone that rebuilds muscles, so basicly alcohole stops the body form rebuilding muscles, for this reason i would be very suprised if the odd drink could hurt at all in terms of muscle growth.

 

[manuva]

Alcohol is a macro-nutrient. It would be a fantastic training aid if it didn't impair coordination.

On a really simple level, alcohol is a toxin which the body tries to break down asap in order to be rid of it, hence the energy boost people get from alcohol (thats why people hit the dancefloor in clubs - alcohol not only reduces inhibitions but provides a massive energy hit).

Again keeping things simple, if you have trained recently, you body will be in repair mode. However, if you consume alcohol shortly after a workout (within 24 hours) you body will work on ridding itself of the toxin rather than repairing itself, thus you limit any potential gain.

Most weight-related issues that come from alcohol derive from what else is in the drink, and what food is eaten with the drink (do you want pretzels with that beer?).

As was pointed out above, beer is loaded with carbohydrate (not fat as some numpty said). Spirits are much better taken straight, because soft drink mixers contain a lot of suger.

And in a social setting, alcohol is usually taken in conjunction with food, or if you've had a big night on the town you might go and get a bucket of KFC before passing out... not so good.

Simpler still:

Pure alcohol = not bad

Habits and behaviours connected with alcohol = potential weight gain issues.