In my recent lecture of balanced meal management, I was discussing the importance of antioxidants in the diet.
And then one students got up to ask me ”Can a person have red wine as the source of antioxidants?”
‘Pine walo ko bahana chahiye’ I said. 😈
Really, people who want to drink alcohol, they always find ways to drink it. isn’t?
They’ll keep surfing the internet to see the benefits of alcohol, which type of alcohol is better; can I have red wine instead of vodka or rum? Etc, etc….
Alcohol is a foreign substance to our body.
Our body is not designed to digest alcohol. It tries to protect your organs from getting damaged, but if you consume alcohol regularly, our body malfunctions. Our brain starts giving signals to our system to eliminate this foreign substance and stops burning fat at the same time. Therefore, it stops your fat loss process.
What is the Nutritive Value of Alcohol?
- Alcohol has empty calories, i.e. it is calorically higher than carbohydrate (Simple carbs like sugar).
- It does not give any other important nutrient supply to our body.
- It acts as an obstacle in the absorption of other vitamins and minerals.
Don’t forget red wine which is rich in antioxidants is also high in alcohol. Substituting red wine with other alcohol sources is equally harmful. Alcohol in red wine is also a foreign source in our body. You rather start taking antioxidant supplements and natural food sources to fulfill your requirement instead of abusing your body with alcohol. So stop listening to people who say red wine is good for health.
Does only beer gives you a beer belly?
”Replace beer with any other source of alcohol to avoid beer belly”
Totally a false statement!
Any alcohol will increase the abdominal fat.
How does Alcohol increase Belly fat?
Alcohol creates an imbalance in the hormones. It increases your estrogen levels (Estrogen is a dominant hormone present in females which gives them feminine features, whereas males have high levels of testosterone hormone is their body which gives them features of muscularity. Testosterone levels are low in females and estrogen levels are low in males).
Estrogen is responsible for high body fat in females especially in the maternal tissues to prepare her to carry a baby. That is why; women have more fat around the stomach area to support the growth of the fetus. Since, this hormone is found low in males, you can imagine when they consume more alcohol, their estrogen level shoots up giving them an appearance of a pregnant woman i.e. Pot belly. In women, estrogen levels are high already; therefore, their capacity to drink alcohol is lesser as compared to males.
Other side effects of Alcohol:
1- Dehydration
The more you consume alcohol, more often you run towards the washroom. Alcohol causes severe dehydration to people.
2- Nervous system imbalance
One of the major functions of our brain is to control our nervous system. Alcohol hinders the normal functioning of brain, leading to abnormal working of nervous system. Excess consumption of alcohol, lead to uncontrolled balance of the body movement. Slowly, this can become a permanent damage to your nervous system which has long term complications like forgetfulness, loss of memory etc.
3- Beer removes the kidney stone
I know what you are thinking, ”Doctors recommend this right?”
Kidney stone is removed when you urinate a lot. As beer dehydrates you, excess water is lost from the body leading to slipping out of stone in from the urine. But remember one thing, due to dehydration, there are high chances of you to aggravate the formation of kidney stone. Therefore, stick to other sources like coconut water, and soups, lemonade, and simply drink enough water to through the stone out than drinking beer.
4- Other complications
Alcohol causes irritation in your stomach, which causes vomiting. It stops your gag reflex (as it affects your nervous system), and leads to choking, or difficulty to inhale. Sometimes your own vomit enters your lungs which can be fatal.
Most common complications seen in hospitals are a sudden drop in blood glucose levels, leading a seizure attack, low body temperature (hypothermia), low blood pressure as the nerves are not able to signal the heart to pump normally. This is a biggest threat to your life.
5- Long term complication- Liver function failure
Excess alcohol will damage your liver causing liver cirrhosis. In further stages, it starts affecting your brain causing hepatic encephalopathy. Such patients have erratic sleeping pattern, mood swings, anxiety, depression, problems in coordination, shaking of hands (asterixis). In serious cases, they can also go in coma, which can be fatal.
Avoid alcohol abuse to your body. It is just creating a problem for you and has no benefits at all. You drink because of peer pressure or thinking you will not be included socially. But when you start having such complications no one will accompany you in this pain. So, take the charge of your own health and live a risk free life.
Alcohol is more harmful to women
Muscles have 70% water. Since, males carry more muscle mass than women, they have more amount of water. When a male and a female drink equal amount of alcohol, the alcohol disperses into the body water, and you will find that women have more alcohol concentration in the blood because of low body water. This is the reason; they are at greater risk of harm than males.
So, here goes my Magical action plan to avoid alcohol or if you wish to drink alcohol at times and be safe:
1- Best thing will be to avoid Alcohol completely. Don’t fall pray to peer pressure, let them laugh, or make fun of you. You health is more important than their jokes.
2- You can give excuses like ”I’m on medications, therefore, I can’t drink” or ”I’ve to drive, so can’t effort to drink”. Think of better excuses to let them understand that you can’t drink.
3- Note, there is no minimum amount of alcohol consumption. It is harmful even if you drink a small peg.
4- If you have alcohol rarely, then have only in restricted amount i.e. not more than one or two pegs.
5- Have at least two glasses of water with one peg of alcohol to avoid dehydration.
6- Never drink empty stomach. Eat a heavy meal to hinder the absorption of alcohol.
7- Never have tea or coffee, after having alcohol. It dehydrates you even more.
8- Never have cold shower, as it further reduces the body temperature.
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