Beer, Wine, or Liquor, Which is Heathiest: The Hard Stuff

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Yesterday we were able to learn the difference between beer, white wine, and red and today we will be talking about hard liquors. If you have not read the previous article you can take a gander at it here. After reading both articles, the winner for lowest calories and healthiest overall drink should be pretty obvious. Honestly, it was not what I expected it to be. Hopefully, these articles can save us all some extra lb's over the next year. Especially considering that drinking a six-pack of beer once a week for a year will translate to 15-lbs. What?!! Talk about a serious beer belly!

The Hard Stuff

The hard liquors like vodka, whiskey, and scotch tend to have the lowest calorie and carbohydrate content, but still give us a bang for our buck when it comes to antioxidants. Like beer and red wine, research has found that hard alcohols can help increase levels of the good cholesterol in our bodies. Amazingly, researchers have also found that averaging two drinks a day can increase women's risk of breast cancer by 10% or more! That said, keeping moderation in our drinking is key to getting the health benefits while still maintaining optimal health.

Generally, the higher the proof, the higher the calories and mixed drinks will always have more calories (sometimes 800 calories per drink!) than the straight liquor. One ounce of an 80 proof alcohol averages:

• Calories: about 67 (cordials can have as little as 15 calories per ounce while Schnapps can be over 100)
• Carbohydrates: 0 grams
• Fat: 0 grams
• Protein: 0 grams

Low Calorie Mixes

Mixed drinks can have as few as 100 calories or as many as 800+ for those cream and dessert drinks. Mixtures that use club soda, diet soda, or tonic tend to have a lower calorie count, rounding out to about 100 calories per serving. A great example of this is gin and tonic; this drink has 103 calories per serving! Vegetable and fruit juice mixes are another great mix option when we are counting those calories. One Bloody Mary has 123 calories and about 5-grams carbs.

One of the main reasons that things like flavored vodka have gained in popularity is because we get the flavoring of something extra with no extra calories. These flavored liquors can be mixed with tea or club soda for little to calories outside the alcohol itself. These are a few great drink recipes for those watching there weight.  mudslide mojito martini whiskey sour

Mudslide: This drink breaks the mold for healthy and dessert-like cocktails. One mudslide has about 185 calories.

Martini: Martini's are a a great option as long as it is not one of those dessert options with tons of chocolate and dairy. Most martini's average 160 calories and less than 1-gram carbs.

Whiskey Sour: For those who enjoy darker liquors, the whiskey sour clocks in at a 160 calories, but be careful, they have a whopping 14-grams carbs per serving!

Mojito: Mojitos are quite low in calories at 160 calories per serving. Lower the carbs by opting out of the sugar rim for a bit healthier option.

Beer, Wine, or Liquor, Which is Healthiest: Beer and Wine

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Does anyone else feel like the first part of the year was made for party and the second half is for business? I mean, we start of the year with New Year's where champagne is handed out like candy way before they ball drops until way after. Then, we move to Valentine's Day for the wine lovers followed up by St. Patrick's Day with it's green beer, Irish beer, and any other kind of beer available anywhere. Thankfully, we get a month off until Cinco de Mayo strikes. These holidays can leave any waist-watching human in a bit of a lurch. We all know that alcohol packs on the pounds, even for those who are only have a glass or two a week (some models swear it off months before big shows).

With St. Patrick's Day coming up, it seems like the perfect time to talk drinks- which are good, which are bad, and which we should avoid like the plague. Surprisingly, beer is not one of those that need be avoided.

When I started this article, I planned for it to be one, super informative bit with recipes, health benefits and risks, and nutritional information for beer, red wine, white wine, and liquors. But, it was going to be the longest article ever written on P+K by a long shot. Instead, we will have two segments of drinks over the next three days. Today, we will start with beer and wine and tomorrow will be the hard stuff

Beer

Beer drinkers rejoice. New research shows that beer can help lower cardiovascular disease and has more protein and B vitamins than red wine. The hops actually help reduce bad cholesterol from the polyphenols found in hops naturally. The yeast that comprises beer is also a probiotic that aids our body in digestion, much like yogurt. Even better, new research has also found beer to have the same amounts of antioxidants as red wine. As a rule of thumb, the darker the beer, the richer it is in antioxidants.

Unfortunately, the health benefits end after 12-ounces so keep your intake low to get all the benefits with fewer of the beer pitfalls known as a beer belly. Here is the nutritional info of your average beer:

• Calories: 140-270 depending on the beer. Craft beers tend to have a higher calorie content than your Michelob or Bud counterparts. Color does not make a difference for calories. Light beer has under 100 calories
• Fat: 0 grams
• Carbohydrates: 10-15 grams, depending on the beer.
• Protein: 1 gram, on average

Red Wine

It is a common known fact that red wine is better for us than white. Red wine has antioxidants that help increase the good cholesterol and fight against heart disease. This is mainly due to the antioxidant, Resveratrol. Resveratrol could also be linked to decreasing the risk of blood clotting and inflammation. Other polyphenols in red wine could also help protected the lining of our blood vessels and heart. Just like beer though, red wine's benefits are not seen after one glass.

The average red wine has among the fewest calories, fats, and carbs compare to most other alcohols. An average serving, or 5 fluid ounces of wine has:

• Calories: 125 (25 calories per ounce)
• Carbohydrates: 3-5 grams depending on the red wine
• Fat: 0 grams
• Protein: 0 grams

White Wine

White wine is among the least beneficial drinks when it comes to nutritional content, but, is better in the form of calories. On average, white wine has four calories less per ounce than red wine. Dessert wines tend to have a much greater calorie count at 45 calories per ounce. The average 5 fluid once glass of white wine contains:

• Calories: 121
• Carbohydrates: 4 grams
• Fat: 0 grams
• Protein: 0 grams