Alcohol
Honestly, drinking alcohol is sometimes beneficial for your health but it also carries a risk to your body in larger amounts. You may already be conscious about your alcohol intake but it is wise to remember that every alcoholic drink contains a different amount of liquor in them.
When you are on a diet, especially, your body is in a state of deprivation and when you ingest alcohol in such state, the concoction is absorbed quicker into the blood stream – especially when you are feeling hungry. This makes you easily intoxicated. Alcohol also blocks the body’s ability to absorb nutrients. This means you will be placing yourself at the risk of malnutrition. We often only ever think about extreme forms of malnutrition and yet it’s easily possible to deprive yourself of important nutrients without realizing.
The Disadvantages of Alcohol
According to experts, a single glass of alcohol a day reduces the risk of high blood pressure. However, this may not be such a healthy solution for you in the long term. Alcohol is a diuretic drug so this means that before the body can absorb water and other nutrients such as potassium, calcium, magnesium and zinc, it will have passed it out as urine, causing our bodies to become dehydrated and starved of minerals that are essential to our bodily functions.
One of the other myths about alcohol is that it helps to fall asleep but this is only a temporary effect as it doesn’t make you sleep through the night. You can be awakened by a burning thirst and even hunger. Alcohol has an acidic quality so when you combine that with a hungry stomach, the acid levels will rise and this can cause you to suffer from ulcers in the stomach wall which can be very painful.
The amount of calories in alcohol can be very high and it has been identified as one of the biggest causes of obesity. Drinking too much can further lead to organ malfunctioning such as liver failure and strokes. Drinking alcohol may be fun, especially when you’re at a party with friends but there is a high risk of you causing irreparable permanent damage to your body, if you maintain a high intake of alcoholic drinks.
Moderating the Alcohol Intake
The most important component is water. Our body is made up of almost 80% water and it helps the body to maintain vital organ functions. It has no negative effects and contains no calories, which is an even more effective way of staying in shape. If you want to spice it up a little more, you can choose to get your daily liquid requirement by making a healthy milkshake or fruit juice.
You should always focus on getting your vitamins and minerals from foods as opposed to ingesting pills and supplements.
Of course, you can’t become healthy just by drinking water and fruit juice. You may hate to hear this but you will also need to burn off the accumulated fat stored in your body by exercising. If running or jogging does not excite or interest you in the very least, you can make it fun by indulging in sports with your friends and family. This not only boosts you on the path towards a healthier lifestyle, it also helps to build your relationship with the people whom you truly care about. This also encourages others to drop the beer can, get off the couch and to get some exercise.
Just because you are trying to get healthy doesn’t mean you need to cut off alcohol completely from your life. The key here is moderation. As long as you keep up with the liquid intake and exercise routine, ingesting a glass of wine once a week won’t kill you. If you are a social bug and you foresee yourself ingesting more alcohol on a weekly basis, then you will need to seek out some medical advice first. Have a chat with your doctor and see how they can lesson your alcohol intake.
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