Diet

Losing weight and alcohol - how do they go together?

introduction

Around two thirds of all men and over half of all women in Germany are overweight. Many people who are overweight have a desire to lose weight. Special diets, diet changes and exercise are essential to achieve success. It is often recommended to abstain from alcohol as part of a healthy diet and especially with regard to weight loss. But how does this fit together? Do you have to go without alcohol if you want to lose weight? Which alcohol disturbs a diet and what should you watch out for when consuming alcohol and wanting to lose weight? The following article deals with interesting questions and aspects around the topic of "weight loss and alcohol".

Do you have to give up alcohol if you want to lose weight?

Most Germans consume alcohol to varying degrees. It is well known that high alcohol consumption can have many negative effects on health, but what about weight? Do you have to give up alcohol if you want to lose weight? There is no clear answer to this question.

Alcoholic beverages contain different amounts of calories depending on the type of alcohol. Beer, mixed alcoholic drinks such as cocktails, but also rum, eggnog and other spirits are particularly rich in calories.

Read more on the topic: Alcohol calories

However, it is not just the calorie content of the alcohol that is why nutritionists often recommend abstaining from alcohol as part of weight loss. Alcohol causes a lot of insulin to be released very quickly. The high insulin level leads to a rapid drop in blood sugar, so that cravings often persist a few hours after consumption. You don't have to give up alcohol to lose weight, but of course the reasons mentioned speak in favor of abstaining from alcohol.

Read more on the topic: Best tips / tricks against cravings

Does alcohol interfere with the diet?

Diets are a test of endurance for many people, as they usually require a lot of discipline and changing habits that have already existed for a long time. Alcohol consumption can adversely affect the course of a diet. Alcohol restricts physical performance and in many cases leads to careless food consumption.

Food cravings often occur a few hours after consuming alcohol, which are then satisfied with unhealthy foods, sweets or readily available carbohydrates such as pasta, fries or the like. These hunger pangs are based on the effect of alcohol on insulin metabolism. Alcohol causes blood sugar to rise rapidly immediately after consumption, so that more insulin is released. Insulin then leads to an equally rapid drop in blood sugar a few hours after consuming alcohol, and thus to cravings. In order to lose weight, however, most overweight people have to reduce their food intake, which in any case leads to cravings for many. Alcohol further increases this feeling of hunger and makes it difficult to follow a diet consistently.

In addition, most alcoholic beverages are high in calories and industrial sugar, which can lead to additional weight gain.

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Can alcohol help you lose weight?

The answer to the question of whether alcohol can help you lose weight is clearly no. Alcohol has a high glycemic index. This means that blood sugar increases rapidly through consumption of alcohol, but drops again just as quickly. This favors an unfavorable metabolic situation and ultimately leads to weight gain.

That being said, alcohol consumption is detrimental to general health and often leads to neglect of healthy eating. Severe alcoholics are very often very thin, but this is due to malnutrition in the context of severe alcohol dependence. Alcohol addiction of this kind is a serious physical and mental illness and in no way a desirable state, especially not to bring about weight loss.

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Can you only lose weight by abstaining from alcohol?

Refraining from alcohol is recommended in almost every weight loss concept. Can you lose weight just by abstaining from alcohol? Assuming you keep your other diet and completely dispense with alcohol, this can already have positive effects on weight. Many additional calories are lost by not using alcohol. Especially with regular alcohol consumption, this can already lead to weight loss.

However, simply abstaining from alcohol is not enough for very overweight people to achieve adequate weight loss. Even with very little consumption, for example a glass of wine a month, abstaining from alcohol is unlikely to have much of an effect on weight. Nevertheless, abstaining from alcohol is to be supported, as it has a generally positive influence on health and physical constitution.

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What about non-alcoholic beer?

Alcohol-free beer has become more and more popular in recent years. The taste of alcohol-free beer has improved over the years, so that consumption in Germany has increased significantly. Non-alcoholic beer does better than conventional beer not only in terms of alcohol content, but also in terms of calorie content. It contains around half as many calories as conventional beer, so it is also preferable for dieting or a desired weight loss. Of course, non-alcoholic beer still contains carbohydrates and calories that could easily be avoided and therefore it is often recommended to only drink water and unsweetened tea when losing weight. However, if you don't want to do without your beer, you should prefer an alcohol-free beer.

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Medical Assessment On Weight Loss And Alcohol - How Do They Go Together?

When it comes to losing weight, regular exercise, a healthy and low-calorie diet, and discipline are usually required. In conclusion, we can only recommend that you refrain from alcohol. Alcohol has a negative effect on the sugar metabolism, promotes weight gain and promotes the often feared food cravings. Therefore you should avoid alcohol if you really want to lose weight.

Furthermore, regular alcohol consumption can lead to serious health damage, which makes a healthy lifestyle even more difficult. At this point we can only advise you to avoid alcohol. If you do not want to forego alcohol consumption at all, you should prefer low-calorie alcohols.

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