How to Incorporate Alcohol into A Healthy Lifestyle + A Healthy Cocktail Recipe

How to incorporate alcohol into a healthy lifestyle, a healthy cocktail recipe, low-calorie alcohols + how to lose weight while still drinking alcohol. I’m covering it all in today’s post! This post is sponsored by Perrier® Carbonated Mineral Water, but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

“Do you drink alcohol?”

“How can I incorporate alcohol into my diet and still be healthy?”

“Can I be fit/lose weight while still drinking alcohol!?”

I get some variation of this question pretty frequently on instagram so I figured it was time to break it down for you all on the blog!

Let’s get into it.

In short the answer is YES YOU CAN! You can absolutely drink alcohol and still maintain a healthy lifestyle or achieve the body you desire.

I really try not to eliminate too many foods/drinks from my clients diets because you have to be realistic with your health goals. Are you seriously never going to eat bread again or swear off margaritas for life? No, you’re not. So it’s important to learn how to incorporate them into your lifestyle instead of cutting them cold turkey 🙂

ALSO — restricting leads to binging and we never want that!

Let’s talk alcohol:

Alcohol has calories. I know, it sucks. We all know that eating more calories than our body burns causes weight gain. The good ole calories in vs calories burned method.

Even though counting calories/steps/anything is stupid, calories still do exist and we need to be aware of them. Especially when it comes to alcohol consumption.

FIRST, Let’s break down the calorie/carb count:

• 12 oz beer: 140-220 / 10-30G Carbs
• 5 oz Glass of wine: 80-120 CALORIES / 5-11G carbs
• 1 oz Liquor: 65-90 CALORIES / 0G Carbs

What happens when I drink alcohol!?

Our bodies make clearing the alcohol in our system the tip top priority once it’s been consumed. It contains acetate, which is toxic. Your body wants to flush it out ASAP.

All other normal metabolic processes are put on the back burner when you consume alcohol. Obviously this isn’t what anyone desires that’s on a weight-loss journey!

Well… which alcohols + cocktails should I drink!?

Clear liquors. High-quality vodka, gin and tequila are much better optians than dark liquors (like whiskey for example). They’re purer forms of alcohol. You’ll most likely notice a difference in the way you feel the next day if you make the switch, too!

Choose vodka, gin, or tequila with carbonated mineral water or regular water. As for me, I love a good fizz so I usually opt for Perrier’s watermelon mineral water. Flavor your drink with a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime, berries, fresh cucumbers, bitters or fresh herbs.

I also love using Perrier’s flavored mineral waters because I find myself not having to add as much fruit when I use their fun flavors. They offer pink grapefruit, strawberry, lime, l’Orange, watermelon (MY FAV!!), lemon and the new peach.

Also — bitters are actually great for digestion, and they taste a lot better than you think! You can read more about bitters here.

And y’all… just say NO to juice or soda mixers (coke, cranberry juice, etc).

Can I just save up all my calories for drinking when I know I’m going to go out!?

Pleaseeee don’t do that. Cutting out a few starches + carbs throughout the day is a solid plan, but you definitely need to be eating throughout the day before a night of drinking.

Eliminating a serving of something else to replace the anticipated calories from alcohol is fine, but eliminating too many calories can also lead to:

• Going overboard on drinks because you feel the caloric defecit freedom to do so.
• Messed up blood sugar levels leading to binging on foods later in the night (like fast food, pizza, mac n cheese, etc.)
• Too much alcohol causes bloating. You become dehydrated from trying to flush out the alcohol, and then you’ll start holding onto water to prevent dehydration happening again.

Eat around 25-30 grams of protein before you go out or while you’re having drinks. You want to also aim for around 15 grams of fat to stabilize blood sugar levels and of course lots of fibrous veggies!

Now that we’ve got a good idea about how all this works… I want to introduce you all to one of my FAV healthy cocktails/mocktails for a healthy night of drinking.

Literally it’s SO simple but SO refreshing and delish!

What you’ll need:

Perrier Carbonated Mineral Water
Cucumber
Strawberries
Limes
& Vodka of choice