“I’m not drinking beer, I’m trying to cut down my weight.” Every time I hear I recall those long airplane flights with nothing to do but read the ingredients label on the pitifully meager snacks I’m so generously offered. Have you ever taken the time to read the nutritional values of the juices, soft drinks and those micro tiny package of peanuts, pretzels and chips. So it was with much confidence I went to the U.S. government’s web site for beer and food comparisons searching the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference at www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl
Don’t tell me that beer is fattening! Please spare me. Take a look at the facts yourself. There’s not a whole lot to write about in order to make my point. The data speaks for itself.
According to the U.S. government a 12 oz. serving of “regular” beer has less calories than 12 oz. of apple juice, orange juice, 2% milk and cola. If you are really serious about losing weight and don’t want to drink beer, then drink water.
A 12 oz. serving of beer has fewer calories than a one-ounce serving of potato chips or peanuts. A 12 oz. serving of beer has half the calories of a just under a quarter-pound hamburger. So go ahead and eat the hamburger, but trade out the extra handful of potato chips or half handful of peanuts for two beers! I won’t even get into a discussion about French fries, the cheese on the cheeseburger or the sugar spiked bun!
And just in case a wine drinker ever tells you that beer is fattening, tell them 12 ounces of wine has 75% more calories than 12 ounces of beer.
So please, let’s cut the fat talk and get real. This data is not new. I realize I have simplified a discussion involved with many extenuating circumstances, but if the consumer is going to simplify “beer is fattening,” then an equally simple response is warranted. Beer is no more fattening than so many other things we eat and drink. Enjoying beer should be about quality not quantity. Overdoing anything is not healthy. Beer is about being an individual with individual responsibilities. Our friends need to be reminded.
Comments
My favorite Guinness ad was a big billboard with the tag lie:
"Guinness only has 125 calories, but not on purpose."
I read on Fast Company that since that ad campaign ran their sales went through the roof.
Enjoyed this article - I guess the term beer belly is a bit of a misnomer now. I posted this to the http://brewpoll.com upcoming page so others could enjoy it.
It's (a) an excess of beer and (b) the tendency to get drunk and hungover and eat rubbish that makes a lot of drinkers fat. But then the same would apply to any alcoholic beverage. Moderation and a balanced diet and lifestyle are key. Don't blame the beer!
Well, yes and no. The real reason that cutting back on alcohol can be important to losing weight is that your body will metabolize alcohol calories before anything else. It's kind of a buffer your body needs to eat through before getting down to any other sort of carbohydrate or fat reserves. I definitely agree though that people who forgo beer for anything but water and say that it is for weight-loss reasons are just plain misinformed.
Charlie,
You are so right!
The wife and I decided to do the low carb diet, so beer being full of carbs was off limits (I know, please forgive me). Well I made it the first three weeks without drinking ANY beer, then decided I was going to do the low carb thing, but drink and enjoy beer like usual. The carbs in beer must be empty carbs or something, because I can do good on avoiding the food carbs and drink quite a few (QUITE A FEW) big carb laden beers and still lose weight. I hit my weight goal about 4 months ago and now I have to cheat and do carbs a few time a week to maintain. I am 45 and I do not look like I am 14 months pregnant anymore. My guy was not from the beer... It was potato chips I think!
Love your blog, somebody posted on the BeerTribe.com forum recommending it. I must subscribe.
Brewin to the MAX!
Johnny Max
Good on ya Charlie!
Knock down those walls. I like to be provocative and call it a "butter belly" whenever I hear someone talking about a beer belly or beer gut (we're a country obsessed with dairy products, and turning a blind eye to much of the damage dairy farming is doing to our country).
Nice to see this blog.
Stu McKinlay
SOBA - Society of Beer Advocates
New Zealand
www.soba.org.nz
Charlie,
Great post and even better reminder. I suppose when you have twelve beers though the calories tend to add up...dang it.
I like my mother seem to be able to live on beer...it does not stimulate my appetite it seems to supress it..there fore I do not eat properly if I drink beer...I have come to the conclusion its due to the wheat and or barleys.Is there any information around that might support this and if so has there been any studies on other types of beer(such as rice based) that might show them to be better for people like me?
Exercise and diet and a combination of genetics are responsible for obesity. Not beer.
What process in the body occurs which makes some of us fatter than others in relation to consuming beer? Is it the carbs/calories/metabolism or what?
Controlling weight isn't a simple matter of counting calories. A thousands calories from carbs is a lot more fattening than a thousand calories from protein or fat (fat is not fattening, contrary to popular belief). beer = carbs, as a bodybuilder I try to limit it as much as I enjoy it.
I am 36 and until I met a gourmet chef I never weighed more than 100 lbs. Why?
I loved my beer. He thought it wasn't good for me for I was drinking in excess but then again I also thought he put WAY TOO MUCH butter on things such as vegetables which I liked plain before
We broke up but I think the lesson was the same that everyone has. Don't blame the beer in itself. Beer in moderation is fine..it's really the cravings that lets us forget to eat veggies and instead calls for a supreme Pizza Hut concoction of grease and artificial fat that creates the REAL beer belly.
Drink on All! Life is too short not to enjoy a good brew. In moderation, of course!!
"12 ounces of wine" constitutes THREE glasses of wine, whereas "12 ounces of beer" constitutes LESS THAN ONE pint of beer (a pint is 16oz). A serving-to-serving comparison would yield about 100 calories for the wine drinker to 200 calories for the beer drinker.
None of this is to suggest that beer can't be healthfully consumed in moderation; I just think one should be honest with his facts.
God bless you, Charlie. You've been making my life so much better since I was 12 and got my hands on the "Joy of Homebrewing."
I think the point you are missing is that beer, being moorish, means you have five, six, seven. However many you want.
Now you don't do that with quarterpounders do you.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!