The “Healthiest” Alcoholic Beverages

Bottoms Up: Choosing Healthier Drinks

To drink or not to drink? What’s the purpose of living longer if you can’t enjoy yourself? We’re not encouraging drinking. Just limit yourself to two drinks a day if you do drink. And that doesn’t mean not drinking at all six days a week and having fourteen on the seventh. Drink sensibly. Besides social issues, drinking more than one or two a day for the average sized person can wreak havoc on your body and lead to all kinds of long-term physical and mental problems.

If you decide to imbibe, remember, alcohol is a toxin. Drinking too much on a regular basis has been linked to weight gain, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, dementia, osteoporosis, certain cancers and dry wrinkled skin.

If you drink, we suggest eating before or during drinking, and drinking water with your alcoholic beverages. We recommend only beverages made without grains such as the following:

• Red wine. Dry wines have less sugar. In general, most red wines have little or no sugar. Most sweet wines are white. A four ounce glass of dry red wine usually contains about 83 calories, no sugar, .5 grams of carbohydrates and no fat. Many people claim health benefits for moderate red wine consumption.
• Tequila. One shot contains around 97 calories, no fat and no carbs as well as no sugar. There is even a bit of potassium.
• Brandy. Unflavored brandy has about 72 calories per shot, no sugar and zero fat and carbs. The sugar has been removed in the distillation process.
• Rum. The unflavored versions have about 64 calories per shot. They also contain no sugar, fat or carbs.

Bottoms up if you must, but not too often.

If you want to avoid the waistline bulge but you also want to drink what you like, it works like this:

• Once you have more than two drinks, you’re already in “unhealthy” territory. If it’s a simple social gathering and not a wild night out, the healthiest thing will be to cut yourself off after a couple.
• Try switching between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the night. Sparkling water with a squeeze of citrus can be refreshing, and it has the added benefit of not looking like a buzz kill.

 

Editor’s favorite drink is a homemade mojito:

Ingredients:

• 3 shots seltzer
• 1 shot light rum
• 1 tsp. sugar (turbinado or organic sugar, if possible)
• Pinch of stevia
• 1/2 lime, cut into 4 wedges
• 1 handful fresh mint

Directions:

Place mint leaves and 1 lime wedge into a sturdy glass. Use a muddler to crush the mint and lime to release the mint oils and lime juice. Add 2 more lime wedges and the sugar, and muddle again to release the lime juice. Do not strain the mixture. Fill the glass almost to the top with ice. Pour the rum over the ice, and fill the glass with seltzer water. Stir, taste, and add stevia if desired. Garnish with the remaining lime wedge.

Got a go-to “healthy” drink? Share your favorite alcoholic beverage in the comments, complete with ingredients and calorie-count, and we’ll add it the post below.

Looking for some food to serve with your amazing drinks? Check out this superfood shopping list for some party snack ideas! Plus, here are some recipes for your friends with dietary restrictions like diabetes.