Don't Tell Me Beer is Fattening!

April 21, 8:38 PMBeer ExaminerCharlie Papazian

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 “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.