I know drinking causes weight gain but I was wondering if some alcohol is better than others? What’s the “healthiest” way to drink? (although no heavy drinking is really healthy)
It’d also be nice if it was cheap!
I tend towards seltzers when I want to drink with friends. At 100 calories a can, it doesn’t get much better than that. And you can switch them out with non alcoholic (0 calories) and no one will be the wiser. Vodka is the go to with hard stuff. Go for a lower proof if calories are your concern. Just be careful what you mix it with. Mixers can be loaded with sugar.
Something I do to control drinking is to not drink with food, but if I want a drink after dinner, I’ll have one. It makes the drink more enjoyable. Also, I rarely have a drink until later at night. If I start drinking at 6pm, I’ll be falling asleep by 8 if I stop. I can stay awake if I keep drinking more, but that’s not good.
Tequila!
Tequila chilled! Lunazul blanco is probably the best mid grade tequila that I’ve found to be not super expensive and bearable. The second would be casamigos but honestly alcohol in general lowers blood sugar and in turn can cause your body to sense that it’s hungry in the days after.
That’s why I feel like I eat more the days following a hangover or drinking.
I’m guessing you’re more concerned with calories than actual “healthy” content as alcohol in general is bad for the body. That being said… the purer the alcohol, the less calories it will hold. Beer is an obvious no-brainer for unhealthy alcohol, but depending on what you mix a spirit with, it can also be quite unhealthy for you. Take for instance rum. You can have it neat, on ice, mixed with juice, or mixed with soda. Neat or on ice would be your healthiest options, as you aren’t introducing extra sugar or preservatives. A rum and coke would be obviously the most unhealthy choice, and depending on the type of juice you add you’ll wind up somewhere in between. Wine I believe is also somewhere in between. So, consider your personal tastes. If you can stomach straight liquor, that’s your best bet. But you have other options as well, such as hard seltzers and splashes of juice. Whatever you do… stay away from liqueurs, which are those yummy drinks that make your alcohol taste like candy (think piña colada).
Everyone in here just seems to be naming their favorite drinks. Super helpful.
It depends what your goal is:
Calories: this one is pretty straightforward—most liquors will be the lowest calorie way to consume. Vodka has the least calories per shot.
Liver protection: there is some (tenuous) evidence that hoppy beer has a protective effect on the liver and can also reduce oxidative stress (source)
Hangovers: dark liquors are full of ‘congeners’ which can worsen your hangover and be inflammatory, which is also not great for your health. Also true for dark beers and dark red wines.
However red wines also contain antioxidants and polyphenols, which have health benefits.
So there really is no magic bullet—just pros and cons to each.
A lot of comments seem to be denouncing alcohol. But a shot of local cashew liquor(checkout Feni) often helps warm the system. Apart from that I’ve also heard G&T’s supposed to be the model’s drink. So if you really have to maybe that’s an option.
>I know drinking causes weight gain
Being in a caloric surplus causes weight gain. There is no such thing as a food product that just automatically causes weight gain.
Hard liquor is usually the best in terms of calorie per gram.
No alcoholic drink is healthy. Alcohol itself strips your insides of nutrients and has a detrimental effect on pretty much everything in the body. But if you’re referring to calories alone vodka and diet coke is probably the drink with the least. Both components are awful though if you look at other aspects.
a lot of people are saying vodka but tequila on average has less calories. i imagine it depends on the brand and kind as well. red wine is a better pick if you’re going to drink imo. sugar content might be a bit higher but there are antioxidant benefits.
High quality bourbon. Look…it ain’t about being healthy, it’s about enjoyment. Beer/wine/liquor isn’t healthy, no matter what their lobbyists pay some scientists to say.Just enjoy getting blasted in moderation.
asked my nutritionist about this. in theory all alcohol is perceived as a toxin by the human body but the most ideal alcohol in terms of benefits (not cals) would have to be good quality wine- for instance it has cardiovascular benefits
A bartender once told me, drink clean and you’ll be ok tomorrow. He explained.. never add sugar or sugary drinks, don’t mix, the clearer the liquor the better. I’ve only drank scotch on the rocks or neat since. Good scotch!
Ill give you a different perspective,
Drink so infrequently that when you do, you just pound down whatever the hell you want.
If youre drinking enough to ask this question you probably need to break it off a bit.
I went through a period where i was drinking 3 liters of 6+% alcoholic beers almost every night and id almost not eat anything because the beer filled me up.
Anyway, i never had any kind of epiphane, i never saw it as this full blown problem, but i slowly just realized that everything in my life was shitty, including my health, because i was neglecting it all to get stupid every night and after a few days off the booze, it was like my body was bound with energy, bouncing back from being repressed from the alcohol.
Wine or spirits that go easy on the mixers. Soda water with a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime would be the lowest calorie, but a lot of other mixer choices are fine in small amounts. Unless you want to go straight to martinis or whiskey neat!
Edited to not specify red or white wine, since there’s so much variation among different styles.
High ABV clear alcoholic like Vodka and Rum and then your next bet is fake spirits. There are 0 carbs in pure spirits (beers and wine do have carbs). What usually gets people is the mixers!! I LOVE a vodka with diet cran or Jack and Diet Coke.and yes, Jack - I drink cheap booze 😂 Cheap vodka is Burnettes but that tastes like literal rubbing Alcohol so I’d suggest Silver Lake
All hard alcohols are around 60 cal/ounce. Wine is around a 100 cal/glass. Beer ranges depending on ingredients and alcohol content, and is anywhere between 100-400, with 100 being light beers and 400 being heavy specialty beers with high alcohol content.
My go to hard liquor is whisky + diet coke + lime or Campari + vodka + soda. Mixers will add a lot if they have sugar in them, so mix with calorie free stuff and you’ll be at 60 cal/oz
No amount of alcohol is “healthy” but if you’re going to do it, it’s best to stick to neat liquor or things like gin + soda. Some people add Mio to flavor vodka on the rocks but whether you do so depends on if you feel comfortable with artificial sweeteners.
Just set a limit for yourself. I would much rather have two nice Old Fashions and the extra calories then 7 white Claws or whatever. Booze and working out are not beneficial but its OK to enjoy your self in moderation from time to time.