WATCH WHAT YOU EAT

Does alcohol make you fat?

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onventional wisdom tells us that the infamous `beer belly’ is caused by excess alcohol being stored as fat. But did you know that less than five percent of the alcohol calories you drink are turned into fat. In actual fact, what the alcohol does is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy – a characteristic called `fat sparing,’ meaning the alcohol’s presence in your body spares the fat from being utilized for energy. Whereas carbohydrates, fat and protein need to be slowly digested before being used by the body, this happen when alcohol is present. The alcohol molecules diffuse through the stomach wall as they arrive and can reach the brain and liver in minutes (this reaction is slightly slowed when there is food in your system.

The alcohol then arrives at the liver for processing, where most of what you drink is converted to acetate- this is what your body will burn instead of fat, instantly sabotaging your weight loss efforts. The fact that alcohol is also very high in calories adds serious insult to injury. Pure alcohol contains about 7 calories per gram, which makes it nearly twice as calorific as carbohydrates or protein (they contain 3.75 and 4 calories per gram respectively) and only just under the caloric value for fat (9 calories per gram). Another reason to monitor alcohol consumption is that alcohol actually stimulates your appetite. Avoid skipping a meal to counter this – you’ll be even more likely to munch on the snacks, and drinking on an empty stomach enhances the negative effects of alcohol. If you’re worried about a night out, include an extra 30 minutes of exercise to balance your calories. Calorie content of common alcoholic beverages

Beer: a pint of beer contains 148 calories.

Wine: dry wine contains fewer calories than sweeter wine. A glass of dry wine (or champagne) has about 106 calories and a glass of sweet has a whopping 226 calories.

The hard stuff: the calories in gin, rum, vodka or whisky depends o the percentage of alcohol, but generally, a double gives you 100 calories. The calorie content of other types of alcohol varies greatly. Watch the really sweet stuff, though. A serving of schnapps has 108 calories, and crème de menthe will set you back 186 calories.

Mixed drinks: obviously, the larger the drink the higher the calorie content. So choose a smaller cocktail like a cosmopolitan and you’ll only take in about a third of the calories. Calories range from 115 calories in the almost- saintly Blood Mary to 262 for a Pina Colada. A vodka tonic is somewhere in the middle at 171 calories.