Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The truth about alcohol in your diet...




Welcome to the ladies lounge!!!!


This is my first post in a series of commonly asked questions by the ladies.  They also apply to the men, it is just that, well, we ladies talk more...
The most common question I get asked is... Can you have a look at my diet? I can't lose the last 5 kilo's. (Seriously, it is ALWAYS the last 5 kilos, you are not alone).

And we have all been told that a glass a wine a night is good for us, right?

So every food diary has a few "one or two glasses of wine for dinner" entries.  The weekend food diaries rarely hit my inbox (no judgement!  I hate food diaries myself). So weekends would be more telling about alcohol consumption.

Here's the truth.  Like breakfast cereals, ALCOHOL being good for you is one of the greatest money-making marketing hoax's of all time.

Alcohol made 200 or more years ago WAS good for us.  It was safer than drinking water.  It used proper fermentation processes (not reliant on sugar).  It used non-processed plant materials.  No chemicals.  No pesticides.  It had nutritional value.

The truth about today's alcohol
Most post-mix drinks, ciders and mixers have more sugar and artificial sweeteners (boo) in ONE DRINK than you should have in a week.

Alcohol is toxic to the body.  It's not just the calories that are bad for you.  If your body has to work on flushing alcohol out, it doesn't flush out your estrogen.  If you don't flush out your estrogen it gets recycled.  Recycled estrogen equals hormone imbalance = cortisol production = fluid retention = fat hording = inability to build, repair and retain muscle = you can't lose weight and feel like shit (and other hideous health effects that are usually treated with prescription drugs and pain relief that make you fatter).

Alcohol increases cortisol production (stress hormone production) which peaks at dinner time = you reaching for that second glass of wine because you 'need to relax'

To burn off two glasses of wine, you need to run 12 K's with sub 5 minute k's.   Can you do that?  Because then you have to deal with the domino affect of cortisol production of running 12 k's.

Alcohol doesn't just increase your risk of breast cancer.... IT MAKES IT MORE PROBABLE THAN NOT THAT YOU WILL GET BREAST CANCER.  That is how bad it is to have recycled estrogen floating around your system.  I'm not prepared to die for cheap wine.  (Or a three day growth.. Blah).

FACT:  You will lose 5 kilos in five weeks if you stop alcohol consumption.  Entirely.  

What is alcohol that has some health benefits?
  1. Alcohol that is not fermented on cane sugar, corn syrups or artificial sweeteners.  So, not much that is readily accessible at your local bottlo.
  2. Alcohol that contains sediment threads (which shows a fermentation process from a 'mother' and/or barrel).
  3. Alcohol that is fermented with certified organic, pesticide free grains or fruit.

So, the really expensive organic kind.  Hard to get right?

What if you do fall off the wagon (and into the proverbial wine cask)?
  • Get good probiotics and fermented foods into your diet and gut.
  • Eat green vegetables.  Loads of them.
  • Drink loads of water.
  • Get at least 7-10 hours sleep a night.
  • Don't drink gallons of coffee thinking it's the only way to make you feel better.  And no KFC.  Ever.
  • Go train.

And make sure that you had fun.  Fun is not vomiting,  Fun is not having a scrag fight with your best friend in a night club, or scratching the face off your boyfriend.  Ahhhhhh.... it takes me back to my youth.....

No, I'm no tea-totaler.  This photo is proof that drinking makes... you... ugly....

If you had fun laugh it off, go train, and tell your friends you can't wait to do it again..... next year.  Sometimes the laughs make it all worth while.

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