It’s Wednesday and I’m already looking forward to the weekend.
I have spent almost all of my morning answering e-mail questions that did nothing but reaffirm my belief that obsessive compulsive eating is continuing to dig its claws into the North American “healthy lifestyle” (the opposite of what I suggest in Eat Stop Eat).
I received two different emails about two very famous fitness personalities. One was promoting drinking ice-water to lose weight, and the other was spreading the “if you don’t eat every couple hours you will cause your body to burn lean muscle” misinformation.
Ugh.
As if these emails weren’t depressing enough, I then switched to answering questions like “Will switching from normal tea to green tea help me lose weight for the summer?” [no] and “Can I drink Fruit Smoothies while I am fasting if they are made from organic fruit?” [no again].
Honestly, it’s 9 AM and I feel like I need a drink.
So, it’s time to talk booze.
I like alcohol. (And yes, it actually is the fourth macronutrient- Protein, Carbohydrates, Fats and Alchohol)
I like the fourth macronutrient because unlike it’s three siblings very few people choose their drink based on it’s perceived health value. For the most part, alcohol has not been influenced by obsessive compulsive eating.
People like what they like because of taste, branding, the ‘image’ it portrays, or some combination of the three (except for those people who drink red wine for the antioxidants).
I drink scotch for the taste. It has nothing to do with a media push about how scotch can cure diabetes, or improve my anti-oxidant status. Just pure, simple taste.
Sometimes I feel like drinking a smoky glass of Laphroig, other days it is the Balvenie that catches me. I can assure you, I have never once thought “I should have a glass of scotch today to improve my health”.
It is an occasional treat, and like all treats, I do it for the taste.
When it comes to beer I’m very picky. I like Guinness, Caffreys and Innis and Gunn (I highly recommend you try Innis and Gunn, especially if you like scotch). Again, this has nothing to do with anything other than taste preferences.
As odd as it may be, alcohol and to a lesser extent chocolate and coffee are some of the few remaining “foods” that haven’t slowly been turned into “nutrition”. (although, I fear coffee and chocolate are quickly falling to the dark side).
More of a rant than anything else, but I can assure you of one thing – It will be a cold day in hell before any Scotch Distiller starts putting green tea extract or caffeine into their product!!
That being said, it is interesting to note that small amounts of alcohol (the occasional drink) is associated with reduced levels of markers of chronic inflamamtion liek IL-6, CRP and leptin.
Considering the chronic inflammations is associated with a whole host of long term life threatening diseases (including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer) and maybe more people SHOULD consider alcohol for it’s health benefits.
The fourth macronutrient – health benefits without becoming ‘nutrition’
BP
PS- In case you were wondering, drinking ice-water will not make you lose weight, and eating every three hours has nothing to do with preserving your muscle mass. If you want to learn why, then you should read about the benefits of flexible intermittent fasting.
