Alcoholic calories

Christmas season brings wine drinking, beer consumption and many alcoholic beverages. The question now is, would these drinks can add weight on us?

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition puts alcoholic drinks second only to “calorically sweetened beverages” (soft drinks) in terms of being the most fattening. However, unlike soft drinks, there is a bit of controversy over how much an alcoholic drink actually benefits your health — such as a glass of red wine. Still, everyone seems to agree that too much alcohol is a bad thing. The question then becomes: If you want an alcoholic drink and you’re watching your weight, what is the best way to go? Ultimately, you’ll want to explore low-calorie alcohols. We’ve already discussed the calorie content of alcohol and here you will find comparisons of various beers, wines and liquors so you can better decide.

Beer
Most people consider beer to be the biggest culprit when it comes to alcohol causing weight gain — everyone has heard of the dreaded beer belly. The first thing to consider is that beers with less alcohol generally work out to be less fattening. Of course, if drinking low-calorie alcohol means you’ll have twice as many beers, then the math no longer works in your favor.

Many beers fall below 150 calories per bottle. Guinness, for instance, is often looked at as a fatty brew, but it comes in at a surprisingly average 153 calories per serving. For the most part, though, the biggest offenders are dark beers. But the thing to remember is that you can easily hit 500 plus calories once you start drinking more than two bottles of almost any brand of beer.

Fattest
Among the fattiest American beers is Anchor Porter, weighing in at 209 calories in a 12-ounce  serving. Looking at imports, the McEwans Scotch Ale delivers a staggering 295 calories per 12-ounce serving.

Low-calorie alternatives
Pabst Extra Light Low Alcohol is only 67 calories per 12-ounce serving. One of the few other beers coming in under 100 is Anheuser Busch Natural Light at 95 calories per 12 ounces.

Wine
Wine is an interesting drink to examine here. In terms of health, popular belief about wine seems to be the polar opposite of that of beer. In fact, many studies suggest that a glass or two of wine each day is quite beneficial to our well-being. Of course, good for you and non-fattening are two different things.

Most regions don’t require winemakers to reveal health information, so counting calories can be problematic. The bottles do, however, list their alcohol content and for the most part it’s safe to assume that the more alcohol a wine has, the more calories it will have.

Port wine tends to be one of the greater high-calorie offenders, but if you are really trying to cut down, one of the best options is to stick with spritzers. This gives you less alcohol but more drink.

Fattest
One of the highest calorie counts for a glass of wine comes from Ruby Port. In a 4-ounce glass, Ruby Port can deliver 185 calories.

Low-calorie alternatives
While various brands may vary, for a 4-ounce glass of wine, White Zinfandel tends to be one of the safest bets with a modest 80 calories. Other smart choices are Chablis, at 85 calories, and Chardonnays with around 90 calories — both from 4-ounce servings.