What’s The Best Alcohol To Drink While Dieting?

Drinking wine, beer, or hard liquor while dieting can be a mixed bag. On one hand, having a drink may take the edge off any anxiety dieting may create, but may also make you lose self-control causing you to overeat. Most everyone knows their own temperament, and if alcohol is likely to cause self-control issues, that evening cocktail should be avoided. But if you can drink in moderation, enjoying a glass of wine or a mixed drink may boost your will power and make dieting less painful. The Huffington Post's Maureen Callahan offers some surprising answers on which drinks might be best suited for dieters: (Click "Next"to see the list) Wine: Consistently Low Calorie Average calories: 25 per ounce; 125 per serving Sipping on a glass of merlot or sauvignon blanc is not going to make or break your diet. Most wines typically range from 25 to 35 calories per ounce. "Dry" wines that have little or no sugar remaining after the fermentation process land on the lower end, while "sweet" varieties like Rieslings, Sauternes, and white zinfandels are on the higher end, for the opposite reason. A typical 5-ounce pour should net you a moderate 125 calories, not much more than one of those 100-calorie snack packs. (source) Beer: A Mixed Case Average calories: 5-28 per ounce; 55-330 per serving From pale ales to stouts, there's no universal formula for brewing beer, and no reliable rule of thumb for judging what will be the best choice for your diet. When it comes to brews, appearances can deceive: Dark, seemingly heavy Guinness Draught actually has fewer calories per 12-ounce bottle (125) than Budweiser (145) or Heineken (150). A bottle of Rolling Rock checks in at just 120 calories, while Sierra Nevada's Big Foot microbrew delivers 330. And a pilsner-style domestic light beer, with as little as 55 calories per bottle, is less of an indulgence than a glass of wine (though connoisseurs may suggest that you're surrendering some taste). Clearly, a conscientious dieter needs some help when choosing a beer. Fortunately, the online resource The Efficient Drinker provides calorie counts, and alcohol by volume measures, for more than 250 labels" and if you're gluten-free, Bon Appetit rates the 10 best choices for you. (source) Distilled Spirits Average calories: 64 per ounce; 97 per 1.5-ounce serving (a jigger) In a straight ounce-to-ounce comparison, liquor has more than twice the calories of wine or beer. But the average serving size for liquors like rum or vodka is a 1.5-ounce jigger, so in the end spirits can be a more moderate choice, diet-wise. There are caloric differences, mostly based on the strength of the alcohol. Generally, the lower the proof, the lower the calories. An ounce of 80-proof distilled spirits carries about 64 calories; a 100-proof option brings 82 calories to the table. But the main concern with distilled spirits is not the alcohol itself but high-calorie mixers like cola, syrup or sweet-and-sour mix, which can double or even quadruple your calorie count. The rum needed for a typical pina colada recipe, for example, has 97 calories, but when you add cream of coconut and pineapple juice, you've got a 245-calorie drink. For skinnier cocktails, use lighter mixers. Calorie-free club soda is the lightest ingredient, but a splash of lime juice (8 calories per ounce) or a dash of tonic water (10 per ounce) are also wise choices. (source) Liqueurs: Sweet Indulgences Average calories: 85-115 per ounce; 150-170 per jigger Liqueurs, or cordials, are distilled spirits mixed with sugary sweeteners and flavorings like herbs, fruits, nuts and flowers. These additives make it probably your least diet-friendly cocktail-hour choice. Calories vary from brand to brand, but you can expect a jigger of coffee liqueur served in coffee or over the rocks to carry about 160 calories. A shot of almond-flavored amaretto is about the same, but when you add a splash or two of sweet-and-sour mix for a classic amaretto sour, the total rises to about 200 calories. In general, schnapps varieties tend to be a little lighter; peppermint schnapps, for example, has 125 calories per jigger. The Bottom Line - It doesn't Matter Your drink choice really doesn't matter, because as Maureen points out, the small differences in calories between most kinds of alcohol aren't worth agonizing over. The key is to have just one drink, whether it's a single glass of wine, bottle of beer or jigger of liquor.