With tonight being the biggest drinking night of the year I am sure the majority of people will be straying from their fitness goals and indulging in a few and then most likely a few more rounds of drinks. Despite the fact you may think you appear more attractive, imbibing alcohol beverages is not the fastest way to burn fat or build muscle since it slows down your metabolism by nearly a third. Your body has to focus on burning the calories from the alcohol as opposed to all the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Here are five tips to help you ring in the New Year more towards a six pack instead of hung-over with a full blown beer belly. G fo S



1 & 2. Have a multivitamin an hour before and after drinking & a glass of water with every drink. Alcohol is a diuretic so it forces water out of your system causing you to ‘break the seal’. Having a glass of water with each beverage will help re-hydrate any lost liquids and lessen the effects of any possible hangover. Taking a little time between drinks to sip some H20 will help spread out your alcohol intake. Liquor also leaches your vitamins and minerals so having a multivitamin will also make New Years Day that much more pleasant.

3. Drink clearer, classier liquors – Congeners are the substances that give the alcohol its unique flavor, aroma, and color. They are also the impurities from the fermentation process that add to your hangover. By drinking darker, cheaper liquors you are taking in a much higher percentage of these than you would by sticking with the clear, top shelf ones such as gin or vodka. A cheap red wine hangover is supposed to be worse than Dante’s second circle of hell and I’m assuming one from bourbon wouldn’t be much farther up the lush ladder. So by sticking with Grey Goose and the like you will be ready to start your fitness resolutions this Friday as opposed to February.

4. Avoid sugary mixed drinks. An ounce of most types of liquor has sixty-four calories in it which comes in at one hundred calories per shot. Two shots in a tall glass of juice, soda, or tonic would be four-hundred calories per drink. A Long Island Iced Tea or other drink where the taste of alcohol is sheltered by sugar can double that mark. This kind of carb intake combined with a metabolism on moonshine equals some intense potential for paunch.

5. Drink More Guinness. Although I am quite biased since I believe Guinness must have been the Sweet Nectar they were referring to in those Greek Mythology books there are several plausible reasons for why it may be such a beverage. Guinness only has 125 calories per 12 oz. serving which is very respectable in comparison to all of 100 calorie light beers. Just as dark chocolates have greater concentrations of heart healthy antioxidants than lighter chocolates, darker beers such as Guinness are filled with them too. Due to its consistency, Guinness is referred to as ‘a meal in a pint’ which should help to slow you down and drink in moderation. Even the BBC knows of the Greatness of Guinness.

So Please Drink Intelligently and Cheers To A Healthy 2009!