Tag: alcohol

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The Best Health and Fitness Articles of the Week #90 – B12 Effectiveness After Being Cooked, Nutrition for Vegan Children and How to Shop for Coconut Milk

Deva Vegan b12 bottle

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

Cooking B12

All vegans should be supplementing with B12, otherwise serious neurological problems can occur, but I bet not many vegans knew that B12 in fortified foods is damaged by cooking those foods. If you’re vegan, rely on uncooked sources of B12.

Seitan – A High Lysine Food

Lysine is an essential amino acid that can only be found in food or supplements. A deficiency in lysine can result in fatigue, dizziness, anemia and other issues. It’s easy to get enough of this amino acid in foods like meat, cheese, fish, and eggs, but vegans can find it nuts, legumes, tofu, spirulina and as this article suggests, seitan. Since seitan is basically a log of gluten, I’m not sure I’d like to get most of my lysine from that source, but it’s good info to know nonetheless.

Six Done-For-You Exercise Resources To Get A Killer Workout Without The Mental Strain

This sounds like a really fun workout schedule, but to follow this exact plan, you’d have to purchase a lot of different products. This plan is very fitting for a triathlete. I think it’s a great example of how we can stay healthy by doing activities that we enjoy.

A Healthy Start for Vegan Children

When it comes to vegan nutrition, in children or adults, Ginny Messina knows what she’s talking about. I’m not a parent myself, but I can only imagine how scary it is for new parents to find articles online about vegan children having nutrient deficiencies or when their doctors recommend animal-based supplements. But there’s no need to worry. It’s totally possible, and safe, to raise vegan children.

How To Shop For Coconut Milk

Should you buy coconut milk canned, in the carton or should you make it yourself? The healthiest way is to make it yourself, but the next best option is probably to buy it canned. I’ve read the ingredients on carton coconut milk many times and I never felt great about all of those weird ingredients, but I buy it anyway. Not anymore though. It’s canned or homemade from now on.

Find Your Strength: Strongman Training In Your Average Gym

This sounds like an excellent strongman training program. It’s basic, but it makes total sense. I would love to come back to this one once I get some fat grips and heavier dumbbells to do carrying exercises.

Lessons from the History of Insulin

Interesting post from the folks over at the Science-Based Medicine blog. I always love reading these posts because the writers on this site have a much different perspective on health and medicine than most of what we read online – a perspective based on academics, research and facts. This post discusses not only the history of insulin, but also the benefits of GMO and big pharma, which is something you’ll never hear anyone else say.

Dear Mark: Vegetable Juicing, G_BOMBS, Blood Sugar, and Hot Workouts

If you’re a fan of juicing, you should read this article from Mark Sisson. The key takeaways for me are that you should juice mostly vegetables, eat fruits instead of juicing them, you don’t really need to worry about insulin spikes and if you really want to drink fruits, consider blending them instead of juicing them.

An Unnamed Single Leg Gem of an Exercise

If you’ve done P90X, you’ll be familiar with the “skater squat” and you know how difficult it is. The version shown in this article is an advanced version of the skater squat and puts more emphasis on proper form. There are some great tips on progression here too.

New Innovative Ways to Use Your Fat Gripz

This made me laugh. To hell with the trolls in the comments. I’m glad these guys had fun putting this post together.

Is it Dangerous to “Squeeze the Glutes” During Hip Extension Exercises?

In short, Bret Contreras recommends that all lifters should squeeze their glutes when performing the hip extension. It helps protects the hips and the spine. You’ll have to read the article to learn the science behind it.

Plant Based Nutrition – Will I Get Anemic?

I just recently had blood work done and everything came back fine. I don’t think anemia is something most vegans need to worry about but getting tested is still a good idea, if nothing for peace of mind. I love the response from Marcella to a commenter in the comments section. A person named Bob said “wait a couple of years a retake your tests, and then tell me what your restlts are.” To which Marcella responded “Wait a couple of years after…what? I’ve already been vegan for 12 years and Derek has been vegan for 5 and we both have always tested with excellent iron levels – I even had above average iron levels while pregnant. Additionally, your results reflect your current diet…it doesn’t take years for your diet to influence your iron levels.” Bob is a great example of how clueless people are when it comes to nutrition.

Non-Alcoholic Beer, Non-Alcoholic Wine, Gluten-Free Beer, and Other Foods Scrutinized

The part I liked most in this post is about when Mark scrutinizes maca powder, because it’s a supplement I use regularly. I don’t use it for any of the sex-related benefits mentioned in the post, but it’s good to know 😉

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Alcohol and Weight Loss: You Don’t Have to Give Up Alcohol To Lose Weight

To be completely honest, I put this article together based on my own research for myself, because one my New Year’s resolutions is to start taking my nutrition more seriously. I hang out with friends almost every weekend and this usually entails going to a restaurant and having beers. I don’t drink all that much anyway, but when I do, I want to make healthier choices.

Beer

Probably the most common alcoholic beverage around, beer actually has quite a few healthy benefits, despite what many people think. Beer contains many healthy vitamins, fiber, and readily absorbed antioxidants and minerals, according to studies. And it doesn’t have any fat, salt or cholesterol and has much less sugar as compared to other beverages. The problem is that beer contains lots of empty calories and many people don’t drink just one beer.

Light beers contain anywhere from 50-100 calories per 12 oz. while other beers range anywhere from 150 calories to upwards of 300. That’s a lot of useless calories to put into your body. If you choose to drink beer, go for the ultra-light variety. It won’t get you buzzed as fast, but at least you can still drink with friends. If you’re wondering how many calories are in your favorite beer, check out this handy beer calorie chart.

Wine and Champagne

Most people have already heard that one glass of red wine a day can be healthy for the heart. This is because it contains the resveratrol, which is an antioxidant that studies have shown can reduce cholesterol and prevent blood clots in the arteries. Studies have also shown that red wine can protect the brain from damage after a stroke. Those are great benefits, but just like with beer, it needs to be taken in moderation. One glass of red wine typically has about 80 calories.

Another option when drinking wine is to turn it into a spritzer. Whatever wine you have handy – white wine, red wine, zinfandels – cut them in half with club soda and you’ll reduce the calories by quite a bit. One word of advice; avoid wine coolers. They are processed and usually contain lots of calories. Something you might not have expected though is that the very popular boxed wine, Franzia white wine, only has 90 calories.

For special occasions, such as New Years Eve, weddings and wild trips to Vegas, you might also find yourself drinking champagne. Champagne is actually very similar to wine in terms of calories, one glass (or about 5 oz.) contains around 100 calories.

Hard Cider

If you’re simply looking for a low-calorie alcoholic beverage, you might consider picking up some hard cider. Hard cider often has lower calories than even the lightest of beers. And you can even find many hard ciders with higher alcohol content than beer too.

Hard Alcohol

Many people think the healthiest choices are straight up shots. This isn’t always true because many hard liquors contains lots of sugar, fat and calories. This depends on the type of alcohol of course. “Spirits” such as vodka, whiskey and rum contain about 100 calories per shot and are the best choices if you’re looking to do shots.

Generally, you can stick to these guidelines:

  • 80 proof liquor has 100 calories in a 1.5 oz. shot
  • 100 proof liquor has 124 calories in a 1.5 oz. shot

Mixed Drinks

Mixed drinks are usually the worst choices because they are often made using lots of sweeteners such as grenadine (20 cals. x 1 tsp.) or other sugary liqueurs such as Kahlua (91 cals. x 1 oz.) and midori (80 cals. x 1 oz.). If you choose to go with a mixed drink, choose drinks that are simple – two or three ingredients only and when mixing with soda’s, use diet versions.

Here are several mixed drinks that won’t wreak havoc on your diet:

  • Rum and Diet Coke
  • Bacardi Limon and diet 7-up
  • Bloody Mary (lots of vitamins but also kinda high in sodium)
  • Vodka (or Gin) and Diet Tonic
  • Vodka Cranberry
  • Sugar Free Red Bull & Vodka
  • Mimosa – Minute Maid Light Orange Juice and Champagne (3 oz.)

Drinks to Avoid

During the holidays, many of us like to drink festive beverages, but these are often the worst. A spiked eggnog has approximately 391 calories, while drinks such as Irish cream liqueur can have around 407 calories in only 4 oz. That’s as many calories as one full meal in just one drink.

Here are a few more examples of some drinks you should avoid.

  • Martinis – 400-500 calories
  • Margaritas – 200-800 calories
  • Smirnoff Ice (12 oz.) – 241 calories
  • Mike’s Hard Lemonade (12 oz.) – 220 calories
  • Bartles & Jaymes (12 oz.) – 190 calories
  • Long Island Ice Tea – Up to 780 calories

I think the real key takeaway here is that to drink alcohol and still maintain a healthy diet, is moderation. Drinking any alcohol in excess, no matter what your drink of choice is, can eventually lead to weight gain, heart problems, liver problems, high blood pressure and other serious health issues.

Citations

“Beer sampler” image courtesy of J. Rosenfeld
“Pour me some wine please” image courtesy of Sonja Pieper
“@Lady’s Well” image courtesy of CresySusy
“Rum and Coke” image courtesy of RyAwesome
“Pretty Margarita” image courtesy of Bonita Suraputra