Many of us like to come home and have a beer or a glass of wine. It helps us to unwind and forget the troubles of the day. It makes us feel relaxed. All those things that have been worrying us seem to disappear into the ether. After a few more glasses the world seems an altogether better place and we feel our self-confidence growing. A few too many glasses and things start to change. Reality returns and everything seems to be worse than it was before. The precipice seems even closer. We go to bed to try and forget, only to wake up in a cold sweat three hours later and spend the hours until daybreak contemplating the end of the world. It may be a familiar story for some, but it serves to illustrate that everything has consequences and that we have choice.
How do we make decisions? We consider the choices available to us and take a decision based on the information we have. The problem is that most of us take decisions on very little information. In fact we take decisions based on 5% of the available information, and that?s a big worry.
Let?s take alcohol. We all think we know all about alcohol, after all we know what it feels like to enjoy it and what it means to have too much, but do we know what it does to our body? Do we really know if it makes us fat? It is a common belief that it does, but is it true?
The most important thing to realize with alcohol is that it contains a lot of calories ? which is probably why people believe it makes you fat. Alcohol is a nutrient like, protein, fat and carbohydrate, and as such it provides us with energy, lots of it. It contains nearly the same number of calories per gram as fat. Fat has 9 and alcohol has 7. Protein and carbohydrate have 4.
The interesting thing about alcohol is that it contains no carbohydrate (apart from a few sweet drinks) which means that your body can’t store the energy it provides. Faced with this dilemma it converts this new energy into something called acetate.
The body uses acetate as a source of energy as it would the stored glucose and fat in your body – but here’s the rub. It uses the ‘acetate energy’ before and in preference to your stored glucose and fat.
Another fact to remember about alcohol is that it stimulates your appetite. This is not something that you welcome when you are trying your very best to lose weight. You will also have noticed that it also reduces your resolve. Can you stop yourself from having another slice of apple pie and cream? Alcohol makes it more difficult to say ?no?. Drinking alcohol can become a habit.
If you’re trying to lose weight, alcohol has some very clear consequences. Whereas total abstinence may make life a little dull, It makes good sense to get into a new habit – a slim habit, if you like – which helps you to moderate how much alcohol you drink. All it requires is a little self-discipline to achieve the outcome you want.
