That persistent “middle fat” of the forties is something that many of our patients complain about. It often seems that no matter how much exercise they do or how well they eat, they struggle with weight loss.
While there’s no denying that a 40-year-old body is physiologically different from a 20-year-old one, our experience has been that there’s also some 40-year-old habits at work, too. One of them is daily alcohol.
In the many years that we’ve been reviewing people’s diets, it is not uncommon to see a daily glass of wine with dinner, or a beer at the golf club or a scotch before bed.
Patients feel this is not a big deal. And maybe they’re right—it is only one or two drinks, after all, and isn’t that supposed to be good for your heart anyway?
Yeeeessss. In theory. One drink a day as a woman, or two drinks a days as a man, is considered something that is good for your health. It’s been shown to prevent heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, dementia, arthritis and even some types of cancer. “And hey,” our patients say, “It seems to work in France, right?”
Perhaps. But in our clinical experience, there’s a flip side to the story. One that’s less about health studies, and more about habits.
The Unintended Consequences of Daily Drinking
There are many ways that your daily “health tonic” might be getting in your way with respect to losing weight and maintaining your energy levels. Most are a result of the way in which daily drinking changes our behaviour in subtle ways.
1. Calories
The average glass of wine or bottle of beer is about 150 calories. So one glass a night for a week is over 1000 extra calories a week.
Of course, the quality of calories matters. And to your body, booze is a lot closer to sugar than broccoli. Alcohol is no superfood. (One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories, BTW—not many weeks required to gain a pound if it all ends up stored that way.)
And who is fooling who? One drink a night? Not likely. One and half or two is more like it. Alcohol consumption is habitual, and it can creep. Every week and half you could be downing a pound of fat’s worth of low quality calories. No small amount.
2. Decreased inhibition
Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs in society. A small amount of alcohol has the amazing ability to take the shoulders away from the ears, and ease all the stressors at the end of a long day. With that calming effect, however, also comes a decrease in inhibition, resulting in that “one glass” of wine turning into two without so much as a second thought.
3. Increased eating of the wrong things
Along with the decreased inhibition for having a second glass, also comes a decreased inhibition around snacking and eating. Beer goes great with peanuts or pretzels. You may have had no interest in either before that first sip, but by the end of a bottle you’ll have changed your mind. And wine? It seems to go great with cheese and crackers. Not so much with celery.
4. Decreased sleep
Alcohol use, particularly in the 40+ set, affects sleep quality and quantity. Much research has linked poor sleep, or too little sleep, to obesity and difficulty losing weight
5. Opportunity cost
Drinking involves sitting and being sedentary. And that means that every drink comes with the opportunity cost of not being able to do anything remotely active. When you have a drink after work, you’re not going for a walk after work.
A walk, a yoga class, or a bike ride would have the same effect of decreasing stress at the end of the day without the added calories. It would also decrease your risk of all chronic diseases, increase your sleep quality and yes, help take that pesky 10 lbs off.
So, yes. That drink-a-day might be good for you. But it seems more likely that there’s more to the story than we think. Next time you reach for that daily healthy glass of wine, consider that it might be changing the shape of your life and your body.