Can you drink alcohol on the keto diet?
The age old question, “how much can I get away with while being on a diet”. In this case we will be doing a deep dive into alcohol and the Keto Diet. To sum up your question, yes you can drink alcohol on the Keto Diet. However, in this article i’ll get you some more information of what type of alcohol is best consumed while trying to lose weight.
how much alcohol can I get away with?
Personally I’m not a huge fan of alcohol which keeps me in a good position considering I live in Las Vegas. I believe you can enjoy just about everything in moderation. In fact it makes the suffering much more validated when you get to indulge from time to time. For the average person I’m recommending no more than a few drinks per week. Preferably having your alcohol consumption be in a single day of the week.
When you consume alcohol you raise estrogen levels and are also consuming unnecessary calories, these two reasons are the main knocks against alcohol consumption. If you can limit this to once a week you will notice it does not effect you as much as consuming even a small amount of alcohol daily.
Hard seltzer Overview
Unless you’ve been living under a rock its pretty safe to say you’ve now heard about hard seltzers like White Claw Or Truly. These seltzers are unique because its essentially spiked carbonated water. These are great if you're at home and looking for something on the “light” side in terms of booze consumption. This is an option I would highly recommend because of its lack of unnecessary ingredients. Here are some examples of the macros of your favorite seltzers.
Truly - This gem has 100 calories , 0 grams of fat and only 2 grams of carbohydrates.
White Claw - This viral drink has 100 calories , 0 grams of fat and only 2 grams of carbohydrates.
Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer Grapefruit - Known as the best grapefruit seltzer this drink has 90 calories , 0 grams of fat and 1-2 grams of carbohydrates
Ficks Hard Selzter - 100 calories and only 1 gram of carbohydrates
Henry’s Hard Sparkling Water - This seltzer has the least amount of calories per can at 88 calories and 1.6 grams of carbohydrates
Light Beer Overview
When you want to feel masculine but don’t want the body of a Russian arm wrestler, I’d reach for a light beer. For some reasons light beer seems like a dirty secret to me, its a complete hack on the traditional beer experience. Most of these alternatives to regular beer are quite comparable to the real thing. Here’s my list of the top light bears you need to try!
Corona Premier - Everyone loves a corona on the beach, this beer is 12 ounces and has 90 calories and 2.6 grams of carbohydrates.
Michelob Ultra - This drink will set you back 90 calories and 2.6 grams of carbs per 12 oz bottle.
Shiner Ruby Redbird Lager - This is the best grapefruit beer on the market and only has 95 calories and 3.1 grams of carbs per 10 ounces.
Hard Alcohol Overview
You’re either drinking hard alcohol because you’re celebrating or exploring your new found freedom from the old ball and chain. In terms of effectiveness this is by far where you will find the best situation for getting the “fun” from alcohol but not all the calories. The quality of alcohol consumed is extremely important in this equation as well. Hard alcohol has the most potential on this list to be the worst for you, not because of the substance by itself, but because it is typically consumed with an additional drink like soda.
If you’re going to be exploring this avenue I would suggest your mixer be sparkling water or a calorie free drink. If you’re having a traditional jack and coke its easy to rack up points in the carbohydrate column. This is obviously something you don’t want to do while on the Keto Diet.
Here are some examples you can go off next time you find yourself making bad decisions at 2 am.
Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey - per 1.5 oz this drink has 122 calories and 0 grams of carbohydrates.
Stoli Elite Vodka - per 1.5 oz you will be consuming 100 calories and 0 grams of carbs.
Proper Twelve Whiskey - I prefer this to traditional Jameson, you’ll find close to 95 calories per 1.5 ounces and 0 grams of carbs.
Bombay Saphire Gin - This might be the best on our alcohol list with only 59 calories per 1 ounce and 0 carbohydrates.
Overall this is going to be where you’ll get the desired effect from alcohol without the negative macronutrients. Be careful in your selection of mixers and you’ll be just fine!
Wine, Wine, Wine
Everybody loves wine, myself included. Not only is this a kite friendly substance but it also has something in it called reversatrol which is specifically found in red wine. Studies link this to anti aging and better overall health if you drink one glass of wine per day. So now you have complete justification for the daily cup of wine! Here are some simple nutrient facts on wine.
Red Wine - Red wine is the most beneficial alcohol on this list due to its various positive health effects. You’ll find 125 calories per 5 oz and 4 grams of carbs.
White Wine - 120 calories per 5 oz and 4 grams of carbs
Champagne - 96 calories and 1 gram of carbohydrates
Chardonnay - 118 calories and 3.7 grams of carbs per 5 oz serving
Conclusion
Now you’re an expert on making the best out of a relatively bad health decision. After about 6-7 years of experimenting with alcohol consumption, my take is you can have 2-3 alcoholic beverages per week and not see a huge difference in body composition. I would also suggest you “cheat” on your diet no more than one time per week. So make sure you fit the alcohol consumption into one day per week. You are also best consuming wine over other beverage choices because of the numerous amount of benefits it can offer.