Smart Sipping: How to Keep a Booze Belly at Bay

With summer coming up, a person’s fancy turns to patio season and bikinis. Unfortunately, sipping a bevy in the sunshine is not always conducive to looking your best in a bathing suit. This isn’t to say you can’t imbibe a wobbly-pop or two, but you can choose lower calorie options to help maintain a svelte figure throughout the summer. There are a few simple tips that can help you create healthier cocktails.

Swap Tonic Water for a Splash of Soda

A serving of tonic water has 81 calories and 21.5 grams of sugar, whereas soda water has none. Zip, zilch, notta. Let’s put this in a little more perspective: Most colas have 90 calories and 25 grams of sugar. The numbers come in around the same for juice mixes. In other words, don’t think you’re doing yourself any favours by having a gin and tonic instead of a gin and juice.

Water to the Rescue!

Skip the screwdriver and mix your vodka with some water and a squeeze of lemon. The best of orange juices are freshly squeezed, but even these come in at around 120 calories. Of course, these natural sugars aren’t necessarily bad for you, but when you’re slugging back a few drinks, even the natural sugars can really add up. Also keep in mind that most bars aren’t serving the freshly squeezed, no sugar added juices, so you’re going to be consuming even more sugar. Double duty: Using water as your mix is one way to cut calories, but also aim to have a glass of pure H2O between bevvies.

Soak in the Light

We’re talking light beer. The smaller the amount of alcohol in the drink, the less calories. Here are a few of the lowest calorie beers: Beck’s Light, MGD 64, Aspen Edge, and Miller Light.

Think Dry

Dry wines have less sugar and therefore less calories than sweeter wines. A 4 oz glass of dry red can have as little as 90 calories. Bear in mind many bars (and friends) serve up glasses with as much as 8 oz. While the health benefits of wine include reduced risk for heart disease and cancer, these positives don’t hold up if you drink too much. Just remember that maintaining a healthy relationship with alcohol comes down to knowing your limits - and not only your limits while you’re actually drinking. Having a low threshold for booze usually translates to killer hangovers if you overindulge, so have your drinks, but try to set a limit and stick to it. Tomorrow is a big, beautiful day and you want to be able to get out of bed to enjoy it!

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