Sorry if this is a stupid question, I know alcohol is terribly unhealthy and that the healthiest option is to avoid it altogether.
But say hypothetically you had to drink an entire bottle of clear hard liquor in a few days, would it be healthier to take it straight or to dilute it with another drink? I heard that sugar makes it worst so fruit juice or anything of that nature is off the table but what about other drinks like vegetable juice or water? Beyond the taste, is there anything that might help even very slightly mitigate the negative health effects of alcohol? Just hypothetically as far as what we know about nutrition hypothetically.
Again, not asking for something that makes hard liquor “good for you” I know very well how bad it is, just asking if anything might help even ever so slightly with the health risks like say I mix each drink half liquor and half water (or any other healthy drink), would it change how my body is affected after drinking a full bottle that way compared to straight hard liquor?
My go-to cocktail when I’m dieting is vodka and soda with a lime/lemon squeezed in. It’s not perfect and I think is still around 100-130 calories a drink but it’s the best I’ve come across so far compared to other fruity/sugary cocktails.
This is my approach and it helps lesson hangovers: 1) Take glutathione and magnesium supplements a couple hours before drinking. 2) take vitamin c, digestive enzymes and a multi-strain probiotic right before drinking 3) While drinking but not too close to #2, take activated charcoal.
Drink it straight or with water and always back flush with water after wards. Mixing drinks introduces too much sugar and leads to worse hangovers onto of the problems that excess sugar creates. Alcohol breaks down to simple sugars so you want to keep it light.
Neat, rocks, or with water is your best bet. Clear liquors tend to digest better for most people, too.
When I drank, vodka soda with a wedge of lime was my go to. Low calorie, easy to digest, and not awful to taste. Diet sodas aren’t a bad mixer either, but you are spiking insulin response with the artificial sweeteners.
If you’re drinking to get drunk, avoid carb heavy foods beforehand so what you do drink will hit you harder. Less alcohol to get just as drunk.
As you said, there’s no way to make alcohol healthy. Basically, you want to consume as little as possible.
Drink it with as much water as possible. Not necessarily in one mouthful, but it takes a lot of water to process alcohol.
Lots of b vitamins are also a good idea.
Besides that, just generically nutritious food.
Healthiest would be vodka, as it has the fewest congeners. Not all other clear liquors are like that - white rum is high in congeners.
There’s no evidence that mixing sugar or not has any effect on hangovers. It’s an urban myth (and never really made sense IMO). Although obviously it would be otherwise healthier to avoid sugar.
You may choose to supplement with antioxidants before drinking. There is some weak evidence in support of NAC and dihydromyricetin (DHM). The doses required are large (e.g. 1-2 grams or more). Note that DHM supposedly also has the effect of making you feel less drunk, which could be a good or bad thing depending on what you’re looking for. There’s also some weak evidence for taking probiotics before drinking alcohol (bacteria can digest some of the alcohol that reaches your intestines).
My answer doesn’t resolve your question, nor do I have a solution because the negative impacts of alcohol are as clear as the Tito’s vodka that I hold so dearly to my heart. I’d just like to share my recipe for “The Quarantini” - a drink I concocted during the height of the pandemic’s indoor isolation. For some reason, it made me feel better about my own consumption 😅
Recipe:
Lol well, no one’s gonna burn you at the stake for drinking alcohol. No need to justify yourself
Honestly, if you don’t drink very often, you can go to town with the spiked egg nog. If this is a once a year, or even once a month thing, the calories will barely affect you
But if you’re worried about it, just mix liquor with something low calorie. Seltzer, diet soda or what have you
Just keep in mind, every time you drink, you change the way your body burns calories and energy. Usually you burn off glucose, that’s your primary energy source, but if you’re drinking alcohol, your body has to burn that off. Alcohol becomes your primary energy source, usually for 12 hours (up to 48 hours if you’re drinking a shitload). And yeah, it affects your muscle protein synthesis. Eating a more protein won’t counteract this, neither will eating a healthy diet in general… So to answer your question, can you mitigate the effects on the way your body handles nutrition? No. You just have to let your body burn off the alcohol first
If you’re not a big drinker, this won’t take long. But this is why people who drink often, like 2-3 days a week, have difficulty losing weight, it’s because they aren’t even burning off glucose like they normally would - they’re just burning alcohol. Their muscles don’t get adequate protein because of the alcohol, That, and alcohol is a carbohydrate with 9 calories per gram (usually carbs are 4 calories per gram), But just one night won’t do much.
To make it kill you as slowly as possible, drink it straight or with water.
There’s no great mystery to cocktails. They are the sum of their parts. If the mixer is healthy, the cocktail will be healthy(er). If the mixer is unhealthy, the cocktail will be unhealthy(er).
Not really seeing this talked about much in here but definitely eat a lot also. It’s going to slow the rate that it hits your system it’s going to probably ease its overall effect on you. I know it at least subjectively decreases the impact that it has on your cognition and hangovers. I guess I don’t know for certain if it actually affects the negative impacts that it has for your health markers but I would assume if you feel it less you’re probably also getting hit less by it
You don’t ever have to drink liquor in “a few days”, it doesn’t go bad. Put the top back on and stick it in the cupboard.
That said, dilute it and drink a ton of water with it over several days, preferably with friends. Your liver doesn’t need it.
In my opinion. Hard liquor ( Especially clear ) is best to take it shot by shot straight and chase it with water. YES you will get so drunk but if you can’t handle that you probably shouldn’t he drinking anyways
Nothing, alcohol kills bacteria in your gut microbiome, thus altering your digestion in a negative way. Maybe just restoring your gut with probiotic foods after you drink? Luckily you don’t “have” to consume it at all, but if you happen to, there’s no way to neutralize the health detriment. Your gut will simply be playing catch up.
As for the rest of your body, it must pass through your liver, into bloodstream, and through the digestive system, wrecking havoc in the process. Adaptogens, nootropics, and antioxidants will help you recover. But there is no hiding from one simple fact: Alcohol denatures proteins.
Skinny bi^ch is the healthiest cocktail in comparison. Make sure you use premium quality vodka, lightly sparkling water and a slice of lemon if prefered, it tastes like water if properly made, has zero sugar and no tanins which make the next day hard
Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but the calories that come from alcohol- pure alcohol, I’m talking about ethanol- cannot be metabolized into fat. Ethanol is metabolized into acetyl aldehyde which is metabolized into acetic acid (same thing that makes lemons sour) and acetic acid simply passes through the kidneys which we excrete in urine. So when you see a shot of vodka has 97 calories, how many of those calories can the body actually turn into fat? Probably very few. So if you mix straight vodka with any zero calorie mix, the net effect should be minimal calories turned into fat.
I’ve read that prior to (heavy) drinking to eat something like a fatty steak because the saturated fats coat your gut and make it more resistant to damage from liquor. Unknown if it’s true or not but I could always use another excuse to eat a steak
Ceasers/Bloody Mary
Gin and Soda + Lime
Vodka Soda + Lime
Vodka Water + Lime
Drink 1 glass of water with every drink. Don’t binge drink.
Make sure you have food in your stomach before you drink.
Don’t go for greasy fast food when you’re intoxicated.
Chase it with sugar free tonic water and lime juice. It won’t taste the best, but it’ll not only keep you from getting drunk that fast, but the hangover won’t be nearly as bad in the morning cause you’re technically hydrating while drinking it
Its not ideal but i just drink my alcohol straight with a generous amount of water now, still not healthy nor does it taste that good but the hangover is minimal it keeps the weight off. A cheap scotch and water always does the trick!
Spirits is often used ubiquitously in this type of question, but there are qualifiers that should be considered.
One drawback of spirits is if you have them before bed, they will dry out your mouth and actually increase the amount of bad bacteria in your mouth. Even if you drank a glass of water before bed your mouth can still feel like a dry desert.
Bourbon can spike your blood sugar. People that wear continuous glucose monitors on the r/bourbon subreddit have noticed this. I don’t wear a glucose monitor, but some of those barrel proof bourbons and rye whiskeys are finer and taste sweeter and richer than a double chocolate cake. The benefit of bourbon is that there’s no carbs and you don’t feel full of carbonation afterwards. It’s got that on beer.
I would say go with a dry gin maybe Navy strength gin. Some vodkas might also fit the bill. You might actually want to browse the r/gin and r/vodka subreddits because some of them do care about their health.
Dry red wine might actually be better in moderation than bourbon because it has resveratrol and also aids digestion when drank in proximity to food.