The issue of alcohol consumption and dieting cannot be handled with kid gloves, so there is no sense in beating around the bush on this issue. Individuals who are serious about the concept of striving toward the achievement of a healthy, permanent weight loss must take a long, hard look at their alcohol consumption habits. Readers of this book who do not consume alcohol may feel free to skip to the next chapter, but most people who do not drink alcohol know some family member or friend who does drink. The information presented below is worth sharing with friends, family and co-workers, especially if they ever express a desire to lose weight or to finally do something about their health.
THE FOUR EFFECTS
Alcohol consumption that has become a routine part of the life of any adult will significantly affect weight gain and body composition in four ways. Again, the reader is reminded of the “daily choices” concept – a beer or two occasionally = no problem; a beer or two on a daily basis over five, ten, or twenty years = a problem (weight-wise at the very minimum). The four negative impacts of “routine-ized” alcohol consumption can be categorized into physiological and psychological effects.
From a physiological standpoint, alcohol may literally bring extra calories to the table, it certainly increases the ability of the human body to store fat, and alcohol ingestion physically affects the brain, so that decision-making and judgment are altered. From the psychological perspective, alcohol consumption on a consistent, routine basis provides users with daily reminders in their lives that there is a definite lack of control over an addictive substance that is beating them down.
Alcohol, by itself, is not fattening, but alcohol does displace other calories derived from an individual’s normal food consumption. The calories available in an alcoholic drink are burned immediately for various energy and metabolic needs of the body. So, what is the problem, then? The impact of this is that the fat reserves of the body remain in place, that is, the fat deposits stay put, instead of being called upon to provide energy for whatever the body may be doing at the time.
The Atwater General Factors are calorie equivalents for the energy nutrients contained in our food. For example, one gram of fat contains nine calories of food energy, while both protein and carbohydrate contain approximately four calories of food energy per gram. What about alcohol? Alcohol is in the middle of the food energy pack, as it contains seven calories per gram. But, in America we do not even think in grams, much less drink by grams; we drink by ounces. Regular beer contains about twelve calories of energy per ounce; light beer is about eight calories of energy per ounce; wine is about thirty calories of energy per ounce and whiskey is about seventy calories of energy per ounce. We stress the “of energy” part because food or alcohol calories can provide us with energy to do work or activity, but these same calories can be stored as future energy (fat).
Arguments can be made that drinkers do not gain weight from alcohol consumption. One theory is that if people drink, they simply reduce their food intake to balance out the extra alcohol calories. This may be true, but considering the fact that most American adults do not eat in a healthy, nutritious fashion as it is, the last thing they need is to be consuming a non-nutritious, liquid, caloric substitute that also plays havoc with their fat metabolism and their judgment, among other things.
Many thin people do exist, who not only drink, but also drink excessively, on a regular basis. With rare exception, these people do not consume what could be considered a normal food intake. The tendency for this group is to skip meals or lock into a few select foods, meal-in and meal-out. They may be thin, but are probably nutrient-deficient. For example, research indicates the vitamins A and B6 are casualties of excessive alcohol consumption.
Regardless, readers who also drink alcohol are encouraged to honestly evaluate their drinking and eating habits. Ask yourself this question: Do I drink extra alcohol calories on a daily basis? If the answer is yes, the math is easy. Two fewer beers per week will result in a caloric reduction that adds up to a significant number over time. To put a finer point on this concept, be aware that it is not abnormal for American adults who do drink to consume between fourteen and twenty-five drinks a week. Even if the assumption were made that only light beer is consumed, this would amount to 1,400 to 2,500 calories per week just from alcohol. Keep in mind, it is worse, if regular beer, wine or liquor is the beverage of choice. Please look carefully at your drinking patterns, and seriously consider even a minor reduction in the number of drinks per week. Small amounts add up over weeks, months and years. Remember that at any given point in time, you are a result of your daily choices, and this includes alcohol choices, as well as food choices.
Consuming extra, nutrient-deficient calories in the form of alcohol is not helpful from a weight-loss standpoint. However, the effect of alcohol upon our metabolism is the most detrimental to effective weight loss, especially the desired fat weight loss. SCIENCE ALERT!! SEMI-CHEMISTRY INFORMATION JUST AHEAD! When alcohol is consumed in any form, it is absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream, and, as a result, quickly broken down or metabolized. As the alcohol molecules are metabolized, hydrogen ions (H+) begin to increase in the bloodstream, increasing the acidity of the blood. One of the hydrogen carriers in the body, NAD, picks up these additional H+ and forms NADH+. Unfortunately, these excess H+ ions from the alcohol overload the NAD, and they cannot do their “real job”.
With alcohol in the bloodstream, there are not enough seats on the bus, so to speak. For carbohydrates and fats to be metabolized efficiently and completely, there must be sufficient numbers of NAD’s, free and available. If the NAD’s are not available, energy metabolism slows and dietary glucose (carbohydrates) and fat cannot be metabolized. The only alternative for fat in the bloodstream that can’t be metabolized is storage, usually in the thighs, hips and abdomen areas.
This would be bad enough, but alcohol is not through. Once alcohol is in the blood stream, it also increases the absorption of glucose from the small intestine. Increased blood glucose levels stimulate insulin secretion from the pancreas. One of insulin’s missions is to move the excess blood glucose in the blood to the liver and muscle tissue for storage as glycogen. It does this quite well. However, insulin also affects the enzyme, lipoprotein lipase (LPL). This enzyme resides in the capillary walls of fat tissue and muscle tissue, and its role is to pull fat molecules from the passing blood. In our fat tissue, LPL pulls the fat molecules into storage (yes, this means exactly what you think it does – more fat weight under the skin), but in our muscle tissue, the fat molecules are pulled into the muscle where they are burned for energy. The presence of insulin increases the LPL activity in fat tissue and appears to decrease LPL activity in muscle tissue. Therefore, LPL promotes fat storage, pure and simple. Insulin even goes one step farther and effectively blocks the release of fat from storage. So, with daily alcohol consumption, the human body is consistently placed in a situation of easy fat storage and difficult fat burning (metabolism).
NICK AS AN EXAMPLE
Now, let’s return to our good middle-aged friend, Nick. Let’s assume that Nick has consumed alcohol since the age of twenty-five, mainly in the form of beer. Initially, his beer drinking was not consistent, and any heavy drinking occurred only on the weekends or special occasions. There have even been long periods during the past twenty years when Nick did not drink at all, occasionally for months at a time. However, as he has gotten older and taken on more responsibilities, his beer drinking has assumed a more consistent pattern. Whether it has resulted from more stress in the job or at home or the fact that his kids are out of the house and away at college, Nick is now drinking three beers a day and has been for the last five years. Occasionally, on weekends and on those special occasions we all have, he drinks more. Recall, Nick is now serious about losing some of those excess twenty pounds he has put on. But, Nick also believes he can continue his current drinking pattern, as long as he gets serious with dieting and some regular exercise. He may be correct. Here’s the problem with this line of thinking.
When Nick drinks alcohol, he is no different than any other beer drinker. The alcohol from the beer will be absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream. The alcohol molecules will circulate in the blood until the liver has time to metabolize them. Nick is drinking three beers a day, so he is putting alcohol on top of alcohol. That is a lot of alcohol swimming around in his bloodstream for up to two or three hours. This alcohol-enriched blood will travel through the brain as it waits its turn to be metabolized in the liver. What effect does alcohol have on the brain? Alcohol is a narcotic and serves as a depressant, not a stimulant. The first part of the brain that is affected by alcohol is the frontal lobe, which controls reasoning and decision-making. The reader can draw the obvious conclusion here. Many of Nick’s food choice decisions and promises to self will be thrown out the window as the alcohol impairs his judgment center. Nick’s good intention of only eating one helping tonight does not sound like a good idea after that second beer. He can always do that tomorrow. Without belaboring the point, alcohol will physiologically affect an individual’s decisions, including food choices and portions. The psychological effects are above and beyond this.
It is one thing to physically do something that affects your thinking, but it is quite another to be convinced that a particular habit we have is now in control. When individuals begin to believe they are losing control over part of their lives, many tend to “throw up their hands” and concede the rest of the game, so to speak. “Why bother with exercising or dieting or even just eating right occasionally, I’m not in control anyway.” -- a legitimate lament. However, this process also works the other way. Any semblance of having control can precipitate feelings of power and control over other parts of our lives.
The readers of this book who drink alcohol are seriously encouraged to reconsider their alcohol consumption. The pleasures in life can seem few and far between, so the authors do not recommend that drinkers quit, but we do recommend that drinking be reduced. This recommendation is based on the assumption that readers of this book are seriously interested in permanently losing excessive fat weight. A reduction in daily and weekly alcohol consumption will have a significant and positive impact on this goal, perhaps the most significant.