Brian (1s):
Hello and welcome to the Get Lean and Eat Clean podcast. My name is Brian Gr. I'm a certified health coach, trainer and author, and this podcast is for middle aged men and women looking to optimize their health and get their bodies back to what it once was 10 to 15 years ago. I will give you simple, actionable items to get long-term sustainable results. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. All right, welcome to the Get Lean E Clean podcast. My name is Brian Gr. Hope you had a great weekend and happy Tuesday if you're listening to this on Tuesday.
Brian (42s):
It's Thanksgiving week, so hopefully getting together with some family and friends and enjoying the week and hopefully listen to my interview with Dr. Andy Galpin over the weekend. We touched all about strength training, recovery, some effective supplements to help build muscle. We touched on his three by five protocol, which is something I'm gonna experiment a little bit with through in my training. So definitely check out episode 2 0 4 with Dr. Andy Galpin. And this week I wanna touch on a topic that comes up during the holiday season a lot, and that is alcohol. Should I drink it? You know, will it take me away from my health goals? And I'll just say this before I get into it, enjoy the holiday.
Brian (1m 25s):
You can splurge a little bit. I think the main key here is, you know, splurge and then get right back on track. And I think that's the most important thing. There's nothing wrong with enjoying some drinks and having some food that maybe something you wouldn't necessarily normally eat during the week on a, you know, on a weekly basis or annual basis, but once a year, twice a year, not a big deal. So enjoy the holiday. But I'm just gonna touch a little bit on the science of how alcohol is actually broken down in the body. And then maybe just some tips if you wanna say, Hey, you know what, I, I will have a drink or two, but I wanna sort of find the one that's maybe best for me or, or least harmful.
Brian (2m 5s):
Let's just say that. So alcohol is actually metabolized through a process called oxidation. And this involves a conversion of alcohol into what's called acidic acid, which is then further broken down into water in carbon dioxide. So the liver, as I'm sure you know, is the main organ responsible for alcohol metabolism. And it does so with the help of enzymes. So these enzymes are produced by liver cells and help to break down these alcohol molecules. It's a complex process and there's some other organs involved, such as a stomach, pancreas, small intestine. They also can play a role. So once alcohol alcohol's been metabolized, then it is excreted from the body through urine.
Brian (2m 48s):
So that's the technical technicalities of how you break down alcohol. Now the question is, is how are, how are you utilizing it? And you know, what are sort of maybe, I don't know, like good tools of trade to follow if you wanna sort of stay on track, but also splurge a little bit. And I'll just give you a few tips right now. One is I would be careful with mix drinks. You know, these mixes, these holiday mixers are full of sugar, tons of calories, and most likely a lot of junk, lot of artificial flavoring, things like that. So I would just think to either a splash, if you wanna do a little bit of juice, you could do a splash of juice, you know, a cranberry or orange juice, nothing heavy or even like seltzer and club soda or good options as well.
Brian (3m 39s):
You can even do, you know, something straight up and squeeze a lime or lemon in there, that's probably your best bet. So I would definitely stay away from these pre-made mixes because this is when you can really get into a ton of sugar and calories and just artificial ingredients. So make it neat or on the rocks, maybe a splash of lime or lemon. Also, be careful, I know hard ciders are popular, but these, these brands, these, they're loaded with sugar and you know, if you're gonna do a hard cider, try the ones that are a little bit drier and they have a little bit less sugar and they actually have a higher alcohol content. So be careful with the ciders.
Brian (4m 22s):
I'd just say that, you know, if you're talking about, you know, wines, you know, I would say you could go with either or red or white. White tends to actually be slightly lower in calories if you're just gonna talk about calories. Like a five ounce Chardonnay is about 127 calories. Same, same as for actually the same as for a Caber cabernet. So they're, they're actually not too far off. They're all about 1 27 to 1 28 for a five ounce of wine. So I would just be careful because sometimes individuals, not including my wife, the, you know, the, the other sweeteners, or I shouldn't say sweeteners, the other traits that are in wine are like tannins, yeast, sulfur.
Brian (5m 10s):
You know, these could cause issues with a lot of wine. So you just gotta be careful. There's a company called Dry Farm Wines where you can get these organic lower sugar and like none of these high sulfates and, you know, tannins are in the wine. If they are, they're at a lower level. So if you've never heard of them, definitely check them out. We've tried a few of 'em. My wife doesn't love 'em. I guess if you're used to really drinking normal wines, it might be a little bit of an adjustment. But Dry Farm Wines does have some, some great options and there's a few other companies as well. You know, when it comes to beer, it's one of those things where if you want, if you wanna, you know, chart calories go with the lighter bears, you know, the Corona Lights, the Miller Lights, the Naty lights, I know those aren't probably at the top of your list.
Brian (6m 2s):
They'll craft bears, you know, the, the ales and things like that. They may be more appealing because they're higher in alcohol, but they also have a lot more, probably three, at least three times as more calories as the lighter bears. Now granted, if this is a one time off thing, go enjoy the bear you wanna enjoy. But if this is something that's happening on a weekly basis, then you know, maybe you wanna aim towards the, the, the lighter bears as opposed to, you know, these craft bears. So that's all I wanna touch on today. I figure we touch a little bit about drinking. Again, enjoy, have fun, drink responsibly.
Brian (6m 43s):
If you wanna stay on track, maybe take some of the tips I mentioned today and put 'em into action. So enjoy the holiday with your friends and family, and I will talk to you on Friday. Thanks for listening to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast, share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again and have a great day.
