A TOAST TO FITNESS !!!

I’ve been writing Fitness On Toast for a year now – it’s been huge fun, the response has surprised me enormously, and has taken me on some fabulous adventures! A big thank you to everyone who has supported the blog, for reading, for browsing aimlessly, for your lovely emails and heartening comments… I’d like to propose a toast to fitness; let’s make 2014 the healthiest year yet! Now I don’t want to sound like a spoil sport, and a bit of a tipple is called for around this time of year, but to help you along, I’m reposting this “Alcohol vs Fitness” article I wrote at the start of 2013, as it’s totally relevant for this evening :D! HAPPY NEW YEAR xx

1) IF YOU MUST: Make it one or two glasses of red a day (shown to decrease the risk of stroke, heart disease and cancer, by elevating good cholesterol, and is rich in polyphenol antioxidants for cell health). Alternatively, a straight spirit (vodka, gin or scotch) is fine, but avoid mixers which are bursting with simple sugars, and are quickly metabolised into fat!

2) CONSIDER THIS: Every 1 gram of fat is 9 calories, 1g of protein is 4 calories, and 1g of alcohol is 7 calories. Alcohol is almost as calorifit as fat, but has only ‘empty’ calories with no nutritional value, and only speeds up fat storage. A double gin & tonic is 175 calories (c.10% of a girl’s RDA calorie intake, alot for something that doesn’t fill you up!)

3) THE SCORES:
– Single G&T: 75 calories
– Glass of champagne: 91 calories
– Can of Stella Artois: 247 calories
– Shot of straight vodka: 55 calories
– Glass of Baileys: 133 calories

4) ALCOHOL’S EFFECT ON MY TRAINING?: It can stop you reaching your goals by dampening performance, recovery and focus. Although it’s absorbed quickly, it metabolises slowly and can still affect the system up to 48 hours after consumption. It decreases strength, dehydrates (damaging to the kidney), exhausts the body (impairs liver function, as it metabolises alcohol at the expense of glycogen), disturbs sleep (crucial for muscle recovery), slows down reaction time, disrupts the body’s balance and coordination, impedes cardio exercise (raises blood pressure so the heart works harder to pump blood through the body) etc…

5) SUMMARISING IT ALL: A typical night out likely involves >3 drinks and some cheesy chips at the end. That could easily amount to 1250-1500 calories in itself, which is >60% of your daily calorie allowance on top of what you’ve already had that day!. No wonder next day you’ll feel bloated and tired, so perhaps try to avoid the hangover fry-up, as you won’t need the calories!!!

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