Christmas, New Year’s Eve and so many other social life events are celebrated with a glass of alcohol. While drinking alcohol is not forbidden in the keto lifestyle, some choices might be better than others. Alcohol affects your progress if you are trying to lose weight but this does not mean you should not enjoy a glass from time to time.
The issue with alcohol is that your liver treats it as a toxin and will therefore try to get rid of it first. This means that your liver will try to process alcohol before all nutrients and in the case of a keto lifestyle, your body will try to process it before fats. So your body will produce less ketones from fatty acids. This is why we call calories from alcohol ‘empty’ calories, because they have no nutritional value. Alcohol contains about 7 kcal per gram.
Furthermore, some types of alcohol contain a lot of sugar, which has a greater influence on your insulin levels and increases the chance of breaking the ketosis. Here are a few options you could consider if you do want to drink a glass of alcohol:
- Champagne, white wine or red wine usually contains 3-4g carbs per glass. Nevertheless when talking about wine, there is a difference between a dessert wine like Muscat which contains more carbs (around 8g for a glass) than a dry white wine. Same goes for red wine : while Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot are a good choice to make, dessert wines like Porto are not really keto-friendly (around 14g carbs in a glass).
- Spirits like whiskey, vodka, rum or gin contain no carbohydrates. However, if you mix these drinks with soft drinks, rather choose a zero sugar soft or even better, sparkling water. Do not hesitate to ask about it when you are in a restaurant, the waiters will be happy to help you.
- Some beers are now being sold with less sugar than regular beers (which contain around 8-12g for a bottle).
Tip: Are you more of a cocktail enthusiast, such as mojitos or daiquiris? The problem with these cocktails is that a lot of sugar is added to the recipe. If you still want to enjoy a cocktail, take a little bag of erythritol with you and ask your waiter to make your favourite cocktail with the erythritol.
But, keep in mind that you do everything in moderation – whether you’re keto or not. Still, celebrating and enjoying life is important, so here are some tips to help you enjoy the holidays!
