Tuesday, April 28, 2015

LAST ORDERS ... DRINK UP PLEASE!

Despite how much exercise people do or how well they say they eat, I find one weakness that tops them all and I use the word weakness deliberately.
Of the many client surveys that I have conducted I find alcohol to be the most difficult thing for people to control. Although it is a surreptitious addiction, many people are unaware that it is also a huge source of sugar and one that is easily consumed with great speed. Two glasses of wine a day has the same calories as 9 Jam Donuts a week! That usually gets there attention..... though some say 'but I don't like donuts' thereby completely missing the point. ... it's the equivalent is all I'm saying.
Would you eat one and half donuts every day ? ... thought not.
Even today I read that a large glass of red wine is the same as a chocolate bar. Its one of the few food/drinks that's has no ingredients label or nutritional value table. And guess what? It's the drinks companies that are fighting against the imposition of it.
   The problem is the social acceptance, non drinkers get a bad rap as being weird. Smoking use to be the norm, now we all know better. There is no question that certain foods, fizzy drinks and yes alcohol will one day be seen as a problem that has just been swept under the carpet. Am I biased? yes. I have seen several lives ruined by not only alcohol abuse but also by a creeping malaise that can affect relationships, work and cause physiological as well as physiological damage on many levels.
  If you drink in moderation then fair enough, its not going to kill you but I know people who eat very well and exercise three or more times a week but are overweight and they don't seem to know why. Well the answer is obvious when you ask how much they drink. They ALWAYS say about two glasses of wine a day .... Yeh, right, I believe you... and besides that's still 14 glasses a week minimum.
  So what do we do?
 The answer is I don't know, all I can do is make us aware of the facts and point out the harsh realities. The various illnesses linked to drinking are long and well documented but everyone thinks it doesn't apply to them.
  If I hear one more person say 'but its full of resveratrol', I think I'll scream. Lets clear up this myth once and for all.
Red wine isn't any better than beer, white wine or liquor for heart health. Essentially there's still no clear evidence that red wine is better than any other forms of alcohol at all.
Antioxidants in red wine called polyphenols may help protect the lining of blood vessels in your heart and resveratrol is one such substance in red wine.  It might, (that's might) help prevent damage to blood vessels and reduce LDL but these findings were only reported in mice not in people and furthermore ;-  'to get the  same dose of resveratrol used in the mice studies, a person would have to drink more than 1,000 liters of red wine every day'!
  Okay have we got this now.
  I am not going to list the negative effects of alcohol because its just too long and I know many of you have switched off already.... and probably ordered another drink!
  You cannot exercise away a bad diet or alcohol. Its all in what we consume and the food choices we make. Apparently Type-2 diabetes in young adults in the UK is already approaching dangerous levels and will soon be on a par with the US. Everyone talks about giving more money to the health service, why not deal with the causes of why the health service is creaking. Heal thyself.
 And its not just the calories consumed. The body clears alcohol from its system via the ADH pathway which produces certain by products but your body sees these by-products as dangerous, it wants to use them as fuel. This means your body will significantly blunt fat-burning close to 75% after just one and a half drinks. And it will stop using carbs for energy. Therefore, although very little alcohol will be stored as fat (less than 5%), the fat and carbs you are eating have an increased risk of being stored as fat.
Maybe I'm banging my head against a very big wall... but I try.
On a lighter note I heard the best excuse for not losing wait ever. A friend of Sue's had planned to lose 7 kilos so she could fit into a dress for a special occasion. She didn't lose any weight at all and when Sue asked her friend why not, she replied :-

           'I'm sorry Susan but I just forgot!'

 Fabulous ... anyway, 'Sante'



 

 

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