Does alcohol affect metabolism and weight loss?
Is alcohol ok to drink when you are trying to lose weight? I understand that in today’s world, alcohol is very common in most of social gatherings. However, your body does not care about your social life. You put poison in it – you slowly die.
So, why is alcohol not good for you and how does it work? In this article, I will not go into details on how the chemical processes work, I will keep it very simple and easy to understand. In simple terms, when you drink any alcohol, it turns into poison and your body starts working on getting rid of it. When this happens, your liver does not break down your food the way it normally does. Due to this reason, you store more of that food rather than burning it. The effects on your liver can last for three to four days.
Two things happen in this period. The first is you put a stop on your weight loss and the second, you damage your liver. Do it enough times and you will have a condition that is called fatty liver. That is a condition when your liver starts accumulating fat tissue inside as a defence mechanism against damage from alcohol.
Once you have a fatty liver, you develop another condition known as insulin resistance. This is where your cells become resistant to the insulin. As a result of this, your body is trying to counteract and your pancreas is starting to secrete more insulin. When this happens, you are in big trouble. Having insulin present in your blood at all times shuts down your body’s ability to burn fat.
At this point, you can train as much as you want and you will not see much results if any.
So, is consumption of alcohol a good idea if you are losing weight?
The answer is NO!
On top of this, abusing alcohol kills your brain cells and overuse of alcohol is related to multiple health problems including nerve damage, memory loss, stroke, mood disorders, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, muscle wasting and sexual problems to name just a few. Not the list you’d like to experience in your life, right?
People who drink only occasionally will have better recovery after alcohol consumption when it comes to health. I would suggest to drink alcohol no more than once per month and do some type of detox for a couple of days after. A simple detox could be for 48 hours limit protein and fats to a minimum. Take carbs and simple sugars out. Eat lots of green leafy vegetables like kale, chard and spinach. Drink lots of pure water. This is the time when juicing is a good idea. The best liver cleansing juice would be a combination of raw beet, apple and lemon. Tastes good too.
