The government recommends that both men and women do not regularly exceed 14 units per week…. that does not mean 14 drinks!
It is:
- 6 average strength pints of beer or cider
- 6 small (175ml) glasses of wine
- 6 double shots of spirits
If you are drinking don’t drink on an empty stomach as it has a negative impact on your blood sugar levels. When you are drinking try and have water in between drinks, you will drink less and you head will feel a lot better in the morning.
Drink for the right reasons; don’t fall into the habit of drinking just because it is Friday night or you have had a bad day and drink all your units in one go, or every night you come home you drink to relax whilst watching TV. Try and have some alcohol-free nights, you will sleep better and your waistline will thank you too.
Try and drink organic or better-quality wines and spirits. It is better to go for dry wines rather than the sweet wines as they have a lower sugar content. Also try and avoid drinking too much beer or cocktails as they are particularly high in calories and sugar.
Low calorie or non-alcoholic drinks
Many alcoholic brands now have ‘light’ low alcohol alternatives containing fewer calories. Some ‘light’ wines have under 80 calories in a 175ml glass compared to 159 calories in the same measure of 13% ABV wine.
If drinking spirits, opt for a low-calorie mixer such as soda water or sugar free Indian tonic water.
Try Noughty alcohol free organic sparkling prosecco by Thomson & Scott; they are also the makers of skinny champagne. The prosecco only contains 3g per 100ml of sugar, around 1tsp of sugar per serving in a typical 125ml champagne glass (https://thomsonandscott.com/pages/bottles?).
If you are a Gin drinker you could try Seedlip which is available in a number of supermarkets and comes in three flavours Grove, Spice and Garden.
For vodka drinkers there is an alcohol-free alternative made from cucumber, coriander & pepper that you can purchase at https://www.stryyk.com/collections/all-products/products/not-vodka?
Beer alternative UNLTD (https://www.unltd.beer/) has a great taste, as many beers including alcohol free ones can contain a lot of sugar and these only have 23 calories a bottle.
Peroni Libera 0.0% is available at Tesco’s (https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/303313852).
You could also check out The Dry Drinker (https://drydrinker.com/) who stock the largest range of alcohol-free beers, wines and spirits in the UK.
Another reason to cut down is:
Your body can only process one unit of alcohol per hour.
Drinking a lot in a short space of time increases the level of alcohol in the blood which can stop the body from working properly, and while your liver is getting rid of the alcohol (which it views as poison), all fat burning within the body stops!
Meaning that if you have 100 calories of alcohol and 100 calories of pasta the pasta is more than likely going to be stored as fat around your middle!