Tagged with 'alcohol'

When I have conversations about weight loss with women at any age—30’s, 40’s and 50’s, the topic of alcohol frequently comes up.

One thing I like to tell women is that alcohol is metabolized differently than other foods and beverages. The digestive process changes when alcohol is present because alcohol gets immediate attention. It's viewed by the body as a toxin and doesn’t need to be digested.

When the body is focused on processing alcohol, it is not able to properly break down foods containing carbohydrates and fat so those calories are converted into body fat and are carried away for permanent storage in your body.

Low doses of alcohol appear to reduce the risk of heart attacks and certain strokes. Larger amounts increase the risk of many health problems such as liver disease, high blood pressure, behavioral problems, and premature death. But women face an extra risk: Even low doses of alcohol can raise their risk of breast cancer.

Don’t Sabotage Your Weight Loss Efforts

Strategies for including alcohol without sabotaging your weight loss efforts.

Quantity is Make or Break

Probably the most important consideration is quantity. One glass of many types of alcoholic beverages is usually ok. It's the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th glass that takes total calories out of the weight loss range, and more likely into the weight maintenance or even weight gain range.

Lower Calorie Options

Lower calorie alcohol choices include wine and hard liquor. Wine contains 20 calories per ounce, so there are 100 calories per 5 ounce glass. This is reasonable for a weight loss diet. Just stick with only one glass and 5 ounces or less. The number of calories in hard liquor depend on the proof, so 100 proof liquor contains 125 calories, and 80 proof liquor contains 100 calories. If drinking beer, try a lower calorie, light alternative.

Mixers Beware

Added mixers, syrups, soda pop, and tonic are the culprits that really boost the calories. Try soda water, diet soda, or a fresh squeeze of lemon or lime.

Opt Out on Mixer

Skip the mixer altogether. Try ordering your favorite spirit or one of the new flavored liquors on the rocks. Infused vodkas are very popular because they're not sweetened rather infused with flavors, from jalapeno to peach, which doesn’t add any extra calories.

Pass on Liqueurs

Limit high-calorie liqueurs. These are extremely deceptive (they taste so good) and will add enormously to overall calorie content.

Inhibitions Drop

Keep healthy food on hand when drinking. Drinking will relax the inhibitions and cause one to compromise their nutritional habits.

Include Water To Slow the Pace

Drink water between alcoholic drinks. This will help to slow the pace of quantity consumed and also increase feelings of fullness and may help to prevent over consumption of alcohol. Water will also keep your hydrated.

What strategies do you when you want to imbibe while losing weight?

In Health and Happiness,

Kelly Harrington, MS, RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for Healthy Goods

More than a quarter of migraine sufferers have specific triggers, including food. Pay special attention to these particular foods and ingredients and you could save yourself a headache!

Tyramine

Tyramine is an amino acid, and is one of the most powerful migraine triggers. One of the most common triggers is aged cheese. The longer a food ages, the greater the tyramine content is. Other foods high in tyramine include chocolate, processed meats, pickles, onions, olives, citrus fruits, certain types of beans, raisins, nuts, avocados, canned soups, and red wine. Levels of tyramine increase over time, especially if food is stored improperly, so migraine sufferers should avoid eating leftovers.

Caffeine

Caffeinated beverages, even in small amounts, can trigger a migraine in some people. This includes coffee, green tea, and soft drinks. At the same time, caffeine may also help get rid of a headache.

Alcohol

This is such a bummer for many people, but proceed with caution! Alcoholic beverages especially red wine, beer, vermouth, and sherry contain large amounts of tyramine. Alcohol may also cause dehydration, which is also a major cause of headaches.

Nitrites/Nitrates

Nitrates may intensify headaches in people suffering from migraine. Nitrates are added to food primarily as a preservative and for added flavor. They’re used to cure bacon, hot dogs, deli meat, ham, salami, and other luncheon meats. To find out whether or not a food has nitrites, check out the ingredients. To stay safe, look for nitrite-free varieties of these foods at the grocery store and steer clear of them when dining out.   

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

MSG is a food additive used as a flavor intensifier. It’s often found in salty foods, such as canned soups, broths, bouillon, Chinese food, and salty snacks such as nuts and pretzels. MSG is also a component of yeast extract and hydrolyzed vegetable protein. It may stimulate nerve cells to release certain neurochemicals that cause headache and migraine symptoms.

Sulfites

Sulfites, another preservative, are chemicals used to keep cut fruits and vegetables looking fresh. They’re commonly found in dried fruits (ie: apricots, prunes, figs), wine, and many processed foods. Check the ingredients on the label carefully to avoid this sneaky migraine trigger. FYI, the dried fruit in our Live Superfoods brand don't contain this troublesome preservative.

Aspartame

Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) and other artificial sweeteners can be a migraine trigger.  It’s often found in diet beverages, light yogurt, sugar-free sweets, and basically anything sweet that’s low-calorie or low-sugar.

Tartrazine Dye

Also known as Yellow dye #5, and gives foods a yellow color. On a label, you may see it as: FD & C yellow #5. The direct link between this yellow dye and headaches is not entirely known, but if you suffer from migraines, ingest with caution.

If you suffer from headaches and don’t know the cause, identifying your triggers is a good place to start. I suggest keeping a headache diary. If you get a headache, write down any food or drink you consumed that day and the day before. Be diligent in recording what you eat, including all the different foods listed above. In the meanwhile, avoid eating the foods and ingredients mentioned.

In Health and Happiness,

Kelly Harrington, MS, RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for Healthy Goods

Zinc is called an “essential trace element” because it's necessary for numerous chemical processes that take place within a cell. It is required for the activity of approximately 100 enzymes and it plays a role in immune function, protein synthesis, wound healing, DNA synthesis, and cell division. Zinc also supports normal growth and development during pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence and is required for proper sense of taste and smell. To maintain a steady state of zinc, daily intake is required because our bodies don’t have a specialized system for storing zinc.

There are six instances when people are at risk of zinc deficiency or inadequacy. Supplemental zinc may be appropriate in certain situations.

People with Gastrointestinal and Other Diseases

Digestive disorders such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and short bowel syndrome, can decrease zinc absorption. Other diseases associated with zinc deficiency include malabsorption syndrome, chronic liver disease, chronic renal disease, sickle cell disease, diabetes, malignancy, and other chronic illnesses. Chronic diarrhea also leads to excessive loss of zinc.

Vegetarians

The bioavailability of zinc from vegetarian diets is lower than from non-vegetarian diets because vegetarians do not eat meat, which is high in bioavailable zinc and may enhance zinc absorption. In addition, vegetarians typically eat high levels of legumes and whole grains, which contain phytates that bind zinc and inhibit absorption.

Vegetarians sometimes require as much as 50% more of the RDA for zinc than non-vegetarians.

Pregnant and Lactating Women

Pregnant women, particularly those starting their pregnancy with borderline zinc status, are at increased risk of becoming zinc insufficient due, in part, to high fetal requirements for zinc. Lactation can also deplete maternal zinc stores. For those reasons, the RDA for zinc is higher for pregnant and lactating women than for other women.

Older Infants Who Are Exclusively Breastfed

Breastmilk provides sufficient zinc (2 mg/day) for the first 4-6 months of life but does not provide recommended amounts of zinc for infants aged 7-12 months, who need 3 mg/day. In addition to breastmilk, infants aged 7-12 months should consume age-appropriate foods or formula containing zinc. Zinc supplementation has improved the growth rate in some children who demonstrate mild-to-moderate growth failure and who have a zinc deficiency.

People with Sickle Cell Disease

Results from a large cross-sectional survey suggest 44% of children with sickle cell disease have a low plasma zinc concentration, possibly due to increased nutrient requirements and/or poor nutritional status. Zinc deficiency also affects approximately 60%-70% of adults with sickle cell disease. Zinc supplementation has been shown to improve growth in children with sickle cell disease.

Alcoholics

Approximately 30%-50% of alcoholics have low zinc status because ethanol consumption decreases intestinal absorption of zinc and increases urinary zinc excretion. In addition, the variety and amount of food consumed by many alcoholics is limited, leading to inadequate zinc intake.

Foods Containing Zinc

A wide variety of foods in the American diet contain zinc. Oysters contain more zinc per serving than any other food, but red meat and poultry provide the majority of zinc. Other good food sources include chickpeas, kidney beans, almonds, cashews, certain types of seafood, such as crab and lobster, whole grains, fortified breakfast cereals, cheese, milk, and yogurt.

Aside from eating well-balanced, nutritious foods everyday, if you feel you are at risk of zinc deficiency, talk to your health care provider. 

In Health and Happiness,

Kelly Harrington, MS, RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for Healthy Goods

Reference:

1. National Institutes of Health; Office of Dietary Supplements. Zinc: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals 

When I worked as the sports nutritionist for a Division 1 University, many of the athletes were curious how drinking alcohol the night before a game or practice effected their performance.

Here’s what I told them…alcohol use increases dehydration, gets in the way of muscle recovery, and increases your risk of injury. It can also lead to muscle cramps.

Few athletes realize consuming alcohol after a workout, practice, or competition can cancel out any physiological gains you may have received from such activities. Long-term use reduces protein synthesis, which makes it very difficult to repair and build muscle. But even short-term alcohol use can hinder muscle growth.

Alcohol use requires increased conditioning to maintain weight.

Alcohol holds very little nutritional value to the athlete. The relatively high calories in alcohol are not available to our muscles. Alcohol calories are not converted to glycogen, a form of stored carbohydrates, and thus are not a good source of energy during exercise. Each drink contains approximately 100-150 empty calories. The body treats alcohol as fat, converting alcohol sugars into fatty acids.

Alcohol causes dehydration and slows down the body’s ability to heal.

Speeding the recovery of sore muscles and injuries is integral to optimal performance. Alcohol is a toxin which travels through your bloodstream to every organ and tissue in your body, causing dehydration and slowing your body’s ability to heal itself.

Alcohol use prevents muscle recovery.

In order to build bigger and stronger muscles, your body needs sleep to repair itself after a workout. Because of alcohol's effect on sleep, however, your body is robbed of a precious chemical called "human growth hormone" or HGH. HGH is part of the normal muscle-building and repair process and the body's way of telling itself your muscle needs to grow bigger and stronger. Alcohol, however, can decrease the secretion of HGH by as much as 70%! Also, when alcohol is in your body, it triggers the production of a substance in your liver that is directly toxic to testosterone. Testosterone is essential for the development and recovery of your muscles.

Alcohol use depletes your source of energy.

Once alcohol is absorbed through your stomach and small intestine and finally into your cells, it can disrupt the water balance in muscle cells, thus altering their ability to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is your muscles' source of energy. ATP provides the furl necessary for your muscles to contract.

Alcohol also reduces energy sources by inhibiting a process known as gluconeogenesis in which glucose is formed from substances other than glucose. When alcohol is oxidized by alcohol dehydrogenase (an enzyme), it produces an elevation of NADH, which ultimately reduces the amount of a coenzyme that is essential in the production of ATP. This loss of ATP results in a lack of energy and loss of endurance.

Drink Responsibly.

In Health and Happiness,

Kelly Harrington, MS, RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for Healthy Goods

Article courtesy of: Firth, G. How Alcohol Affects Nutrition and Endurance.  UC San Diego.

Other references: Vella, LD, Cameron-Smith, D. Alcohol, Athletic Performance and Recovery. Nutrients. 2010 August; 2(8): 781-789.