Alcohol: Your best friend, and worst enemy

By: Jeff

Think twice about your alcohol consumption...

Let's be honest with one another. Most of us reading this love to kick back and have an alcoholic beverage from time to time. It relaxes the body and a serving of alcohol a day has been proven to have health benefits. However, What most people don't realize is the damage alcohol can do to their fitness goals. To put it simply, it can cut your legs right out from underneath you.

When special occasions and holidays approach, it is easy to let yourself go and have one more than you probably should, but if you keep in mind the impact it has on your body, as well as your fitness goals, you might abstain from drinking so much next time.

In the average lager beer there are roughly 180 calories in the 12 ounce beverage. A cup of white wine can contain around 160 calories.

For those that might not realize the amount of exercise it takes to burn off calories, take a look at what it takes to burn 100 calories:

- 10 minutes of intense rowing on a rowing machine.
- 10 minutes of jumping rope
- 15 minutes Sprint interval training
- 10 minutes of riding a stationary bike for 14-16 mph

I could go on, but I think you grasp the concept I'm trying to convey. Alcohol does have some nutritional benefits, but at the same time, if you do the math in terms of how much alcohol you are consuming and what it would take to simply burn off the calories you've inserted into your body you might be asking yourself, "Is it worth it?"

If you drink 5 Miller Lites (96 calories per 12 ounces) at an office gathering after work, you have consumed 480 calories from those beverages. Not counting any food you've eaten, you are now looking at almost an hour on a rowing machine to burn off just the alcohol you've consumed and getting back to where you were before consuming those beers.

Be wise about the type of alcohol you consume too. Beers can contain different types of caramel coloring, GMO  (genetically modified organism) wheat and barely as well as other preservatives which danger the body much worse than just calories consumed.

In other words, next time you are staring at a cooler full of beer or a table filled with wine, think about the consequences your actions have on your overall health and fitness. One or two drinks won't set your fitness goals back, and it will allow you to enjoy yourself throughout the get-together.

Enjoy this time of year, but enjoy it responsibly!