"Not all drinks are created equally."

I want to start this post by stating that I, in no way, wish to advocate for or promote the consumption of alcoholic beverages, especially under-age drinking.  This post is not intended for persons under the age of 21 or for those over the age of 21 who choose not to consume alcohol (healthiest and safest choice).

However, that being said, social drinking does occur in college and for those of you who are health conscious but still choose to consume alcohol, there are ways to make drinking less unhealthy.  I intentionally used "less unhealthy" instead of "healthy" because, with the exception of an occasional serving of red wine with a meal, I have yet to hear or read about alcoholic beverages providing any substantial health benefits.

If you are extremely serious about significant weight loss or muscle gains, alcohol consumption should be cut out completely.  I know that is probably not what you wanted to hear but once alcohol is consumed, it is the first to get burned as energy in your system, leaving that healthy, nutrient filled meal you had earlier to be converted and stored in your body as fat.  Additionally, alcohol impairs your body's hormone regulation and sleep pattern which are necessary for any significant fitness gains.

However, if you are not looking to be the next Iron Man or Woman and just want to enjoy the social aspects of college drinking without packing on the extra pounds, here are some tips I have learned from both my own experiences (as a 22 year old who can legally consume alcohol) and from Nerd Fitness, another health-conscious college blogger.

"Less Unhealthy" Drinking Summary

First, understand that drinking is essentially the consumption of empty calories.  If you are a larger person, which plenty of health-conscious males and females focusing on muscle building are, it will typically take more alcohol to feel its effects than those with less body mass (there are exceptions to this rule).  If you fall into this category, your drink of choice should not be beer.  Beer, compared to other drink options, is high in carbohydrates, calories, and sugar, and is relatively low in alcohol.  This means you will have to drink more beers and ingest more carbohydrates, calories, and sugars in order to feel the same effects as someone with less body mass.  A less unhealthy option would be one of the following alcohols: red wine, whiskey/brandy/cognac, tequila, or vodka.  These drinks are higher in alcohol content and much lower in carbohydrates (none in whiskey) and sugars. If you wish to combine hard alcohols with mixers, stay away from "the sweet stuff" which includes and soft drinks or fruity mixers.  I say this for two reasons. One, adding these sweet mixers heavily increases the calories in the drink, making it no "less unhealthy" than beers. Second, eliminating the sugars from the drink make the drink taste quite a bit stronger and will generally cause the drinker to slow their drinking pace and ideally decrease total consumption.  If you wish to consume hard alcohol but do not enjoy your drinks straight, some better mixer options include: lime juice, club soda, and water.

Moral of the story, the next time you go out with friends, understand that all drinks are not created equally, and while social drinking will never improve your health or fitness, there are options that will harm it less.

Final approach in sight. Over and out.

MJH