Booze is one of the toughest things to reign in over the holidays. Even the most disciplined (including us) cave to peer pressure to drink more than we need to during the month-long string of holiday parties. Most of us will want to indulge a little more during these situations. So ere are our trainer tips on how to enjoy those parties without wrecking your hard work in the gym, ensuring more than just that big ‘ole ugly Christmas sweater still fit in January.
1. Choose Spirits. Mixed drinks generally contain higher alcohol per volume than beer or wine, and thus leave less room for sugar. Go with a premium grade. The extra distilling removes more of the toxins that exacerbate a hangover, and frankly make liquor taste crappy. Vodka – Grey Goose, Kettle 1 or Belvedere. Even better: Ciroc and Chopin are made from grapes and potatoes respectively, thus gluten free! Tequila, go silver – Patron or Don Julio. Costco’s Kirkland’s brand of Vodka & Silver Tequila taste phenomenal (especially for the price) and are also rumored to be manufactured at the Grey Goose and Patron plants respectively.
2. Skip Sugary Mixers. Club soda water is the lowest calorie mixer. Squeeze in several slices of fresh lime or add just a splash of cranberry, but don’t switch fully to juice mixers. The bars go cheap and rarely get anything more than 25% juice and make up the difference with high-fructose corn syrup. Tonic water contributes 90 calories per 8oz serving, and every one of those calories comes from sugar.
3. Be Picky about Your Beer. If you desperately want a beer – grab a bottled beer. Drafts typically contain several servings and thus, a heckuva lotta garbage calories. Click link to check out the winners of Byron’s Healthy Beerfest.
HEALTHY BEER CHOICES
4. You a Wine Swine? Opt for a glass of very dry red, like a good Cabernet that packs a lot of satisfying flavor and less room for sugar. Remember a glass is 4 ounces and there are 4.5 servings in a standard bottle. Wine falls at the bottom of the approved list as it is heavily caloric, mostly sugar calories, which magnifies hangover. Lower alcohol content per volume, generally delivers less of buzz, which I assume is the reason we’re all drinking. Right? If it were for simply for taste, I’d be drinking a chocolate milkshake.
F&F General Drinking Tips:
1. Try to limit your drinking to at most 2 nights in a week.
2. If you’ve already used your 2 nights/week, but you have to go out for social/schmoozing reasons, drink club soda and lime.
3. Drink at least one large glass of water for every drink to slow you down. Plus, the sheer volume will make you feel you’ve consumed more.
4. Anticipating a big night? Take a multi-vitamin before drinking 2 or more drinks. Water and the multi-v will do wonders to decrease ferocity of a hangover, which is worsened by dehydration and depletion of your vitamin and mineral base.
Drinking will NEVER be a healthy improvement to your life, but by following the above ideas, you can at least minimize damage to both your waistline and liver.
At Your Next Soirée, Enjoy F&F’s “healthier”
NO SUGAR ADDED DRINK RECIPES!
NATURALLY SUGARFREE
SKINNY MARGARITA
Simple. Satisfying. Gets you tipsy fast.
SPIKED HOT APPLE CIDER
Cut 38 grams sugar and 62 calories per cup using vodka in place of rum and losing the brown sugar in traditional recipes. Less room for sugar = more room for booze = less drinks required to get tipsy.
COCOA WITH A KICK
Enjoy a giant 12oz cup of creamy, indulgent hot chocolate without the guilt! It’s sweetened with calorie free stevia extract and latose-free coconut milk replaces dairy! Undetectable premium gluten free vodka delivers the kick you’ve been seeking in hot cocktails.
SANGRIA (COUGAR PUNCH)
If wine weren’t sugary enough, some genius decided to dump a bag of sugar into it and call it a light beverage! Here’s how to cut the sugar and enjoy yours without the added baggage (hangover).