I am wondering if alcohol has any calories. And if so, how many.
I know that most booze has about 100 calories per shot. Whiskey, Gin, Vodka, etc. But, these drinks are about 80-100 proof which is 40-50 % alcohol. I would imagine that the 100 calories could be coming from whatever else is in the drinks that are giving it the flavor.
If you made a drink with 0 calorie diet soda and pure grain alcohol would it have any calories?
Grain alcohol can be bought in some states and is 195 proof. So, that’s about 97.5 % pure alcohol kids! :eek:
ultrafilter: Alcohol is VERY well-absorbed. The caloric intake of alcohol is one reason alcoholics don’t eat very much. They don’t usually need to, because the caloric intake from the booze is enough. (Not enough to be healthy; many alcoholics suffer from nutritional deficiencies when they sober up.)
In fact (and I’m sure QtM will back me up), some alcoholics crave a LOT of sugar because the end result of alcohol metabolism is sugar. An old remedy for detoxing mentions Karo syrup for energy and stewed tomatoes for vitamins. I myself sobered up on chocolate milk because there was a lot of sugar in it to curb the jones for sugar, and milk is somewhat calming on its own.
Well, I really thought I might have been on to something there. Oh, well. I guess the only way to make a 0 calorie Gin and Tonic is not not put any Gin in it.
BTW, my SO gave me the biggest :rolleyes: I have ever seen when hearing about my plan. I have no idea why.
**Alcohol contains calories, but drinking alcohol doesn’t lead to weight gain, according to extensive medical research, and many studies report a small reduction in weight for women who drink.
The reason that alcohol doesn’t increase weight is unclear, but research suggests that alcohol energy is not efficiently used. Alcohol also appears to increase metabolic rate significantly, thus causing more calories to be burned rather than stored in the body as fat. Other research has found consumption of sugar to decrease as consumption of alcohol increases.
Whatever the reasons, the consumption of alcohol is not associated with weight gain and is often associated with weight loss in women. The medical evidence of this is based on a large number of studies of thousands of people around the world. 5 Some of these studies are very large; one involved nearly 80,000 and another included 140,000 subjects.**
“In fact (and I’m sure QtM will back me up), some alcoholics crave a LOT of sugar because the end result of alcohol metabolism is sugar.”
This doesn’t make sense to me. Why would you crave something that is the end product of something you are regularly metabolizing(if we are talking about an alcoholic)? Also alcohol is the end-product of sugar metabolism by yeast, yes? I’m not sure the equation is reversed for humans. In fact, I’ll look it up:
I can’t find a cite right now, but I’m sure it’s not the beer, it’s the life style. People who’re heavy beer drinkers, need a lot of beer to get a buzz from the alcohol. So quaffing ten pints a night is not unusual.
This extends the stomach.
The alcohol is also a solvent, which explains why many people have ‘the runs’ the day after drinking. So drinking lotsa beer, extends the stomach, and empties it. Next day hunger sets in. Serious hunger.
Keep this lifestyle going, and you’ll end up eating too much food. Often junk food. I don’t crave carrots, when hung over, I crave Double Whopper Cheese w/ x-tra mayo, large fries, large shake and onion rings.
I may be on to something after all, eh Inky-. It would not be calorie free to drink grain alcohol but it would certainly be better for you than drinking the equivilent amount of beer or Gin.
On a random note, I usually find that I lose as much as 5 - 10 pounds in a good night of drinking. Of course this must be all the water that I have robbed my body of by dehydration. So it doesn’t really count.
After checking, I see that a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. I easily drink that much to kill a good hangover.
