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Is Drinking Good or Bad For You?
Health | November 16, 2016
Alcohol is kind of a sensitive subject. Many of us drink. Many of us don’t. Some people feel that alcohol is a lovely gift, a way to socialize and a way to relax and toast to all of the bounty life brings us. Some people love alcohol but aren’t able to tolerate it or drink responsibly. Some people have alcoholism or the gene to develop it. Some people are ambivalent. Some people feel alcohol is straight up nutritional poison and should be avoided at all costs.
But what are the hard facts surrounding alcohol? Let’s take a closer look.
What Actually Happens When You Drink?
According to Alcohol.org.nz, “After a drink is swallowed, the alcohol is rapidly absorbed into the blood (20% through the stomach and 80% through the small intestine), with effects felt within 5 to 10 minutes after drinking. It usually peaks in the blood after 30-90 minutes and is carried through all the organs of the body.”
Alcohol starts out as a toxic substance. Our bodies break most of it down, via the liver, into water and carbon dioxide. “The rest [is] excreted through the lungs (allowing alcohol breath tests), through the kidneys (into urine) and in sweat.” No wonder you can always smell someone who’s been hitting the sauce from a mile away!
You start to feel buzzed or drunk when you drink faster than your liver can metabolize the alcohol. When your liver can’t process it fast enough, the amount of alcohol in your blood begins to build up. Most people’s livers can metabolize about one drink per hour. Of course this all depends on what you’ve chosen to drink, how fast you drink, what you’ve eaten recently, your tolerance level, size, weight, body type, etc.
If You Drink Too Much
Ok, so now that you know what happens when you drink any alcohol, let’s talk about what happens when you drink too much alcohol (besides a wicked hangover).
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH) has a list of dire health warnings that would scare almost anyone away form the bar. Again, I want to reiterate that these effects are from over drinking, binge drinking, or chronically drinking too much. That said, according to the NIH drinking heavily can cause the following:
- Heart damage, including cardiomyopathy (stretching and drooping of heart muscle), arrhythmias (irregular heart beat), stroke, high blood pressure
- Liver damage, including steatosis (fatty liver), alcoholic hepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis
- Pancreas damage that can prevent proper digestion
- Increases your risk of developing certain cancers like mouth, esophagus, throat, liver, breast
- A weakened immune system which means you’re more likely to get sick. Drinking a lot on a single occasion slows your body’s ability to ward off infections, even up to 24 hours after getting drunk.
The Harvard School of Public health says that moderate drinking in healthy people can prevent cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and stroke because it raises good cholesterol, increases sensitivity to insulin, and prevents blood clots. Moderate drinking can lower your risk for gall stones and type 2 diabetes. And don’t forget the social and emotional benefits. “A drink before a meal can improve digestion or offer a soothing respite at the end of a stressful day; the occasional drink with friends can be a social tonic. These physical and psychic effects may contribute to health and well-being”.
The Harvard School of Public health also says it doesn’t matter what you drink as long as you drink moderately. But what about from a fitness and nutrition perspective? What kinds of drinks should we indulge in that won’t totally derail our hard work in the kitchen?
What an Athlete Drinks
Just like I always say, you have to find the thing that works best for YOU. Perhaps you find that if you have a drink or two during the week the waistband of your jeans gets tight. Perhaps alcoholism runs in your family and you don’t want to tempt fate. Maybe it doesn’t matter if you have a beer every night. But for me, I follow the same rules as I do for my meal plans. I try to avoid excess sugar, overly processed cocktail mixes (all alcohol has been processed somewhat), and stay relatively low-carb. And what kinds of drinks are those…?
Stay tuned for my next article, 5 Low Sugar Alcoholic Beverages and Cocktails!
How do you drink? Do you avoid it altogether? Is drinking just not a big deal to you? Do you wrestle with drinking? As aways, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.
In good health,
Zuzka.
Private Member |
Haha, ”stay tuned” !!! You are watching Survivor, aren’t you? :)) Big fan here
Private Member |
massachusetts, united states
Hi Zuzka and friends,
My husband and I will enjoy 1 or 2 drinks on a Friday or Saturday night if we go out to dinner, I am pretty healthy otherwise but I do always feel like I’m sabotaging my goal of more muscle and better body. Of course I usually drink martinis, but they are so yummy! For the season I like the pumpkin martinis, very good! But I expect not that good for my fitness goals. A couple of months out of the year I give up drinking, just for a little detox. Otherwise I’m on board, looking forward to cocktails that you have in mind!
Private Member |
I don’t over drink but on a stressful day I enjoy one glass of red wine with my meal. It helps me relax and think.
Private Member |
Have basically eliminated all alcohol. I am to the point now where even after just one drink of any kind makes me feel awful pretty much instantly. I don’t know what happened! Age?! I’m 41 and it just makes me immediately tired and usually a bit of a headache. Just not worth it for me anymore. Bummer 😞
Private Member |
Nooooooo!!! The waiting for 5 Low Sugar Alcoholic Beverages and Cocktails is going to kill me! 🙂 Just joking. I like dry red wine and will have it some weeks. Not always every week. And I normally will buy only a 500ml box wine and that must keep the whole week. It normally equites to 1 glass per day for about 3-4 days out of the week. Love ya Zuzka. xoxoxo
Private Member |
seattle, washington
I don’t drink much more than about a 6 pack in a year. Usually all of it around weddings and these winter holidays coming up.
Private Member |
czech republic
I dont drink at all. I hate the smell of it 😀 I dont even have a glass of wine on Christmas, nor on New Yeears Eve, nor on my birthday… when someones open a bottle I literally get sick only by the smell from the fragrance the bottle releases 😀
Private Member |
I am indifferent. I might have the occasional drink (like 1 drink every 3 months) but if someone told me I couldn’t have it i definitely wouldn’t cry. Although after having my baby 15 months ago i am sometimes tempted to pour a glass of wine after he goes to bed haha (but I don’t.) To each their own.
Private Member |
My husband and I both grew up in a families where having a glass of wine with dinner every night was a very normal thing to do, and it is a habit we have carried into our adult lives. My dad is an amateur-sommelier and always loved experimenting with food and wine pairings, He raised me with the idea that wine and other alcoholic drinks are meant to be savoured and enjoyed mindfully – just like food – and that they are not a means to get you drunk or “take the edge off’.
My daily glass of red wine is what I consider “dessert” (I don’t have much of a sweet tooth), and like to nurse it for a long time, enjoying every sip. On weekends we’ll often have more than one drink, especially is there is a special occasion, but we hardly ever drink during the daytime, and I tend to stay away from cocktails and other mixed drinks with a high calorie count or sugar content (my husband not so much :)).
Private Member |
aberdeen, scotland
Hi Zuzka, thank you so much for this. I think in Britain we have a huge cultural problem with alcohol. Women, in particular, are targeted by the drink industry and drinking is equated with relaxation, self-care, and sophistication. I stopped drinking four months ago after around 20 years of drinking almost every night. The difference is unreal! Body but also mind. Here’s a link to Soberistas (a fantastic support community set up in Britain), in case anyone else was struggling with controlling drinking.
http://soberistas.com/
All the best