February 17, 2021

Why is it said that drinking alcohol makes you fat?

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’ve been drinking a lot lately and I’ve gained weight,” or “I drink more than I used to when I was younger and I’m getting fat?　So, does drinking really make you fat?

 

Alcohol has about 8 kilocalories per gram. Carbohydrates, such as sugar, proteins, such as those found in soybeans and meat, and fats, are necessary for human life and are called the three macronutrients.

To put it simply, alcohol has twice as many calories as regular food containing the three macronutrients!

Alcohol Nutrients

However, while it is true that alcohol is high in calories, on the other hand, alcohol has the property of being burned before the three macronutrients are burned.

Also, alcohol is not converted into fat, so it is not stored in the body as fat. That’s why, as I’m sure you’ve all felt, your body suddenly becomes hot when you drink alcohol. This is because the calories from alcohol are not stored as fat. This is because the calories from the alcohol are being burned and converted into heat on the spot.

The calorie content of alcohol with these characteristics is called “empty calories”. Empty means empty, which means that the calories are empty of nutrients. The word “empty” may give you the impression that no matter how much you drink, you will not gain weight, but the nutrients are empty, and the calories are there.

However, as I mentioned earlier, alcohol does not turn into fat and is burned by the body in preference to the three macronutrients, so alcohol itself is not the cause of obesity.

Why does drinking alcohol make you fat?

If we talk about why we gain weight when we drink alcohol, I think the reason we gain weight is because the amount of snacks we eat together increases, and the amount of food we eat increases. Alcohol itself is fine because its calories are burned off quickly, but the calories from the snacks you eat with it are burned off first because the alcohol interrupts what should have been burned off, so the calories from the snacks are not burned off and tend to accumulate. This is the truth behind the fact that drinking alcohol makes you fat.

To be more specific, snacks eaten while drinking alcohol are delicious. Karaage(fried chicken), French fries, sausages, pizza, and other dishes filled with fat and salt are strangely good with alcohol. You may even end up eating ramen noodles. Alcohol has an appetite stimulating effect, so it’s easy to overeat. However, please keep in mind that these foods are more efficiently converted into fat than when you eat without drinking alcohol.

How to drink alcohol without gaining weight

So how can you drink alcohol without getting fat? The answer is to cut down on the calories in your snacks. For example, vegetable salads, pickles, sashimi konnyaku, and sauteed mushrooms that are low in carbohydrates, protein, and fat are recommended. Just changing some of the snacks you eat to such dishes will be effective. Keep those things in mind, and have a happy and healthy drink!

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