Are you looking for the healthiest alcohol drink for Christmas?
When it draws close to Christmas time, we all start to think about celebrations and gifts. And, lots of food and lots of drink! We think about Christmas decorations and fairly lights. Little kids (and big kids) look forward to a visit from Santa Claus! We think about spending time with family and friends, and we look forward to some time off work, and some time to relax and unwind.
Come the New Year, and our minds turn to what we want to achieve throughout the coming year. Inevitably we aspire to improved health, and a little more wealth! So what could we be doing during Christmas celebrations to set ourselves up for the best possible New Year?
We need to be mindful of eating healthy foods, and being sensible about how much alcohol we drink. There is no doubt that when we celebrate, we have a tendency to excess in these areas. And it is certainly acceptable to enjoy ourselves during the festive season. But not at the cost of our long term health! It’s just a season, you say? The choices we make at these times often reinforce habits or set up unsavoury habits for the future. So having a ‘blinder’ of a Christmas season is not as low-impact as some would argue!
What are the effects of drinking on our health?
Unfortunately, as we know, too much food and too much alcohol can be pretty bad for our health. So we need to make healthy choices with what we eat and what we drink. Food is easy to choose healthy forms of. We all know that we need to eat a healthy mix of fruit, vegetables, and protein. But when it comes to drinking, what is the healthiest alcohol to drink?
One of the problems with drinking alcohol at Christmas time, or any time of the year, is that it contains empty calories. This can be more of a problem at Christmas time, because we tend to indulge in even more food than usual. In addition, it’s a time when we have lots of espeically rich treats, so there is an increase in calories due to food alone. Put empty alcohol calories on top of the food indulgence, and consequently there is a massive excess of calories.
With additional opportunity to celebrate, it’s easier than ever to tip over into binge drinking, which is fraught with danger. Not to mention the carcinogenic by-products of alcohol metabolism that our body has to deal with as a result of drinking. Insulin dependent diabetics get no favours from including alcohol in their diet – quite the opposite effect, in fact.
How do we reduce the overload of calories?
Many people seek to choose the healthiest alcohol, hoping it has less calories. But this can vary depending which part of the world you come from. I live in the southern hemisphere, so Christmas is associated with summer and hot weather. As a result, people often choose cool drinks, such as cold beer or chilled wine. Other climes have cold weather favourites such as port, spirits or liqueurs. There are even cultural specialities like gluhwein, a seasonal favourite around Christmas time.
Is there a healthiest alcohol that has less calories?
A problem with beer is that it contains a lot of calories. So too does sweet, white wine. So that can make it difficult to keep a check on calorie intake. Even if we turn to spirits, many people like to add a mixer. Mixers often also contain a lot of sugar, and therefore added calories. Think Scotch and Dry (Ginger Ale). Any mixer that is a soft drink, or “soda”, is calorie laden. The non-sugar versions contain artificial sweeteners which have been under investigation as possible carcinogens. No direct, conclusive link has been make, but why take the risk? Unfortunately, many gluwein recipes add a little extra sugar also. This makes it yummy to drink, but loads up the calories. So it can be extremely difficult to find which is the healthiest alcohol to drink, even if you’re just considering calories alone.
Is there any point in trying to find the healthiest alcohol?
As we have discovered, it can be a rather pointless exercise looking for the healthiest alcohol out of those avaliable. No alcoholic beverages are good for our health. This is both in terms of the calorie count, as well as the alcohol content. Because we tend to be more relaxed during the festive season, we tend to drink more than normal. Because we spend time with family and friends, we have more opportunity to drink more alcohol.
There are articles written about what is the healthest alcohol. Would you believe people Google “Healthy Alcoholic Drinks”? The whole foods that the alcoholic drinks is made from were probably healthy, once! Be sure to note that “organic” does not mean “healthy”. It just means there are no pesticides besmirching your alcohol. “Less unhealthy” forms of alcoholic drinks, is potentially reasonable to acknowledge, however.
Is there really any such thing as healthy alcohol?
We suggest it is a myth to search for the healthiest alcohol. Anyone who is serious about their health needs to understand that alcohol is a poison. There is no healthy form. Searching for one is deluding ourselves! A bit like kids waiting for Santa to arrive on Christmas eve. Even if they are old enough to know the truth about Santa, some kids still look forwards to receiving presents from Santa!
Don’t be deluded. Alcohol is alcohol. Poison is poison. Sorry, but Santa does not exist. We can’t have our cake and eat it too, despite what misleading newspaper, magazine and blog articles would have us believe. Absolutely, choose to drink if you feel that’s the right decision for you. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that there are any healthier forms of alchol. Choose to drink, or choose not to drink. But don’t make excuses. If we care about our health and quality longevity, we need to take responsiblity for our choices, and not look for loopholes.
Do you believe in drinking the healthiest alcohol?
People who search for the healthiest alcohol are a bit like kids waiting for Santa. There is no healthy alcohol to drink, the problem is the alcohol, not the package that it comes in. All alcohol is bad for us. Searching for the healthiest alcohol is just a vain attempt to hide and justify a worrying habit.