Did you know that a glass of wine contains the same number of calories as a piece of cake? How about a pint of beer? Would you be surprised to learn that it has the equivalent calorie value of a hamburger?

In a 2009 Health Department survey of 2,000 adults, four in ten admitted they had no idea how many calories alcohol contained.

The study also showed that the typical wine drinker ingests an additional 2,000 calories each month. Over a year, that’s about the same as consuming 184 bags of chips or 38 roast beef dinners, a pretty starting number.

The calories contained in alcohol are very fattening.

Wine, along with beer and cider and of course spirits are our most popular drinks. All of these drinks are made by fermenting or distilling starch and sugars during the brewing process. Since alcohol is high in sugar, this means that it contains a large amount of calories that actually amounts to seven calories per gram, almost as many as in pure fat!

Alcohol calories are considered empty calories – They have no nutritional benefit. Most alcoholic beverages have small trace amounts of minerals and vitamins, though usually not in amounts that make a significant contribution to your diet.

It’s not just the calories that prove to be a problem for the waistline. Drinking alcohol reduces the amount of fat your body uses for energy. Each of us can store nutrients, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats within our bodies, but we simply cannot store alcohol. So our systems really want to lose it fast, and doing so will have top priority. The many other operations that should be going on in the body (such as nutrient absorption and fat loss) are completely disrupted.

alcohol and appetite

Along with drinking alcohol, the temptation to consume unhealthy snacks often arises. So when we go out to the pub at night, we turn to these wrong, but tasty snacks like chips and peanuts. Then frequently top it off with some greasy fish and chips from the chip shop on the way home.

The Department of Health survey reported that nearly one in three people order chips, peanuts or other pub-style foods to accompany their drinks, while nearly a fifth frequently opt for takeaway. These are frightening results from a healthy eating standpoint. Not surprisingly, since junk food is made to be attractive, it tastes good.

More than one in three said that they are likely to eat much more than usual and completely forget about the healthiest diet whenever they drink more than the recommended daily limit. And more than six in 10 drinkers admit to eating an unhealthy breakfast every time they have a hangover.

How many calories are in an average alcoholic drink?

Taking a pint of beer to be the equivalent of a medium slice of pizza, and a full-size bottle of ready-to-drink alcopop to be the equivalent of 100g of biscuits, the alcohol calories soon add up. These are the values ​​of some other drinks:

White wine, glass – 175ml = 130 calories
Red wine, glass – 175 ml = 120 calories
Bitter, pint = 180-230 calories
5% Lager, pint = 240-50 calories
Stout, pint = 210 calories
Cider, pint = 180-250 calories
Gin and tonic = 126 calories
Whiskey – 25ml = 55 calories

Some Helpful Tips for Addressing Desirable Calories

• Eat every time you drink, as food slows down the body’s rate of alcohol absorption.
• Drink slowly and stay in control: quality over quantity.
• Choose low-calorie or slimming drinks when possible.
• Adding a bit of water or even soda to your wine or liquor as a dilution really helps.

Don’t drink too much – protect your waistline and head, as these alcoholic calories really add up.