Hello Ketonians! Let’s talk about Keto and booze.

So if you are like me you like to socialize and have a drink or two. Well with keto you have to be a little pickier and a little bit more cautious because even though you will burn alcohol faster you will also get intoxicated easier the further you get into the diet. Here is a little list to help guide you into a good time.

But first a little bit about How and Why Alcohol Affects Us

Alcohol molecules slow down signals from the brain for actions such as walking and talking” Alcohol is actually the fourth macro nutrient, providing our body with 7 calories per gram. If you aren’t familiar with macro nutrients, you can read more about macro nutrients here. Since alcohol is not needed for survival and is considered toxic to humans, it’s ignored under this umbrella of essential macro nutrients.

When we ingest alcohol (in the form of ethanol), our body begins to work to metabolize it or destroy/break it down to get energy. Since alcohol is toxic to our bodies, we begin to metabolize it as soon as possible. The tipsy feeling, we get is the alcohol being metabolized. Since alcohol molecules are water and fat soluble, they’re able to pass through and be delivered to pretty much all parts of our body, most importantly, our brain and liver. About 98% of the alcohol we consume is processed in the liver; the rest is excreted through urine, sweat and breathing.

Some symptoms of being drunk like slurred speech, impaired judgment and poor gross motor movement is caused by the alcohol molecules slowing down signals from the brain for actions such as walking and talking. For this reason, it’s classified as a depressant, as it slows down our bodily functions – fat burning being one of them.

A list to help you

• Unsweetened/unflavored champagne, dry red wine, and dry white wine. These are going to be the lowest carb wine that you can consume. These typically range in the 4-5g net carbs per glass (5 oz.) range, but you have to be careful.
• Vodka, rum, gin, tequila, whiskey. All unsweetened and unflavored liquor will have 0g net carbs. Liqueurs and most mixers do have carbs, so avoid them.
• Bud Select, Miller 64, Michelob Ultra. Most beers are very high in carbs so they should be avoided. Typically, lighter beers will have nutrition information online, so make sure to check beforehand.