Alcohol and Keto diet – Keto alcohol mixed drinks
If you follow the ketogenic diet, often called the keto diet, you know that there are quite a few restrictions.
While this type of diet is a wonderful way to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle overall, one of the drawbacks is that you are maintaining a mostly low-carb lifestyle and can’t usually enjoy all the drinks you used to.
However, just because drinking alcoholic beverages should not be on the top of your list, you may want to head to happy hour with friends on a Thursday afternoon after work, or enjoy a cocktail at a party for a special occasion.
When it comes to drinking on the keto diet, it isn’t a strict no-no, but you need to keep a few things in mind.
Why Drinking Alcohol in Ketogenic Diet Can Be Frowned Upon
First of all, you should know that the keto diet does not tell you that you can’t ever drink any type of alcohol or liquor, but advises against it.
The reason is because it can stall your weight loss progress. As long as you stick to the right types of adult beverages, you should still be able to remain in ketosis, but you might notice that your progress slows down a little bit.
This is why you should save it only for special occasions, instead of trying to have a drink every night.
When you drink something with alcohol in it, your liver starts to process it right away.
This is a fat burning process that often helps lead to the ‘buzz’ from drinking alcohol.
Unfortunately, this can disrupt the regular fat burning process of food you are eating, so it slows down your metabolism, thus slowing down your weight loss.
The Alcohol Taken When In Keto Diet Must Be Low-Carb
It is important that you stick to only low-carbohydrate alcoholic beverages, whether you are going for liquor, a cocktail, or even a beer or glass of wine. The following information is going to give you a little more insight into what types of alcoholic drinks you can have while you are on the keto diet.
How to Choose the Right Low-Carb Alcohol for Keto
If you decide to drink adult beverages while on the ketogenic diet, then you will first need to know what types of alcohol you can drink. Remember that you are looking for the lowest amounts of carbohydrates possible.
The more carbs in your drink, the more risk there is of getting out of ketosis.
This also reduces how many carbs you can have with the rest of your meals that day.
Stick With Straight Liquor
The best thing you can do is stick to the clear liquors, since they tend to have the least amount of carbs.
You want to look for 40% alcohol in clear liquors, such as vodka, gin, and white run. If you are not a fan of these liquor options, you can also go for the darker liquors, but make sure you know the carb count before you get a shot or mixed drink.
Some liquors that are good are scotch, whiskey, brandy, and tequila. Most of these liquors are going to have 0 carbs, but that is just for a single serving size.
The amount may go up if you drink more of it. Cognac is the only exception, which has 2 carbs.
If you like straight liquor, either as a shot or over ice, that is ideal because you don’t have to worry about mixers or chasers that might contain more carbs.
You Can Still Have Wine
Believe it or not, drinking wine is still an option, but again, count the carbs and know what is in the type of wine you choose.
It really helps to look them up beforehand if you end up going to a restaurant, since most menus aren’t going to have the nutritional facts of their drink section.
Wine with the lowest amount of carbs per 5-ounce serving is champagne and sparkling white wine, both of which have just 1.5 carbs per 5-ounce glass.
The next best choice is pinot grigio at 3.2 carbs, then pinot noir and 3.4 carbs. It starts getting a little higher when you get into chardonnary and merlot, both with 3.7 carbs per serving and cabernet with about 3.8 carbs per serving.
Riesling has 5.5 carbs per serving, so it is best to avoid it. Ports and sherries tend to be higher, so it is best to avoid them.
Remember if a wine a dessert wine, it is probably sweeter, therefore higher in carbs.
Choose Your Beer Wisely
Now for the beer! Believe it or not, some beers are actually less carbs than a glass of champagne or wine.
Just go for the ‘lite’ or ‘low carb’ version of the beer you enjoy the most, but also look up the nutritional facts to see if it is a good option for you.
For a beer under 2 carbs, go for Bud Select, as it only has 1.9 carbs per 12-ounce bottle or can.
To have beer under 3 carbs, you can go with Rolling Rock Green Light, MGD 64, or Michelbo Ultra. Bud Select, Millet Lite, and Natural Light have between 3.1 and 3.2 carbs per serving. Coors Light, Bud Light, and Amstel Light seem like they would be low in carbs, but they all have over 5 carbs per serving.
Mixers and Chasers You Can Have
There may also be times when you want a mixer or chaser with your alcoholic beverages or mixed drinks.
You also need to think about the carbs with these, otherwise you risk getting out of ketosis. First of all, avoid mixers that have sugar in them, so no fruit juice or soft drinks.
However, you can have sugar-free or diet versions of these drinks in very small amounts.
You can also use diet tonic water, seltzer water, and diet bubbly water for your drinks.
