Your diet consists of every food and beverage you consume. When someone says he is going on a diet, he means that he plans to adjust his diet to meet a health-related objective or to lose weight. To keep your diet balanced and healthy, understand how consumption of alcohol can affect your diet goals.
Recommended Consumption
MayoClinic.com recommends that healthy women consume no more than three alcoholic beverages per occasion, drinking a maximum of seven drinks per week. Healthy men up to age 65 should not drink more than four drinks per occasion, with a maximum of 14 drinks per week. Healthy men aged 65 and older can drink three drinks per occasion, with a maximum of seven drinks per week.
Serving Sizes
If you drink alcohol, even if you stay within the recommended number of servings, you should consume it in recommended quantities as well. MayoClinic.com states that a healthy serving of beer is 12 ounces. Wine should be consumed in 5-ounce servings, and servings of distilled spirits should be limited to 1.5-ounce servings.
Nutritional Information for Beer
Although specific nutritional values can vary, a regular 12-ounce beer generally contains 150 calories, 11 g of carbohydrates and approximately 1 g of protein. Beer does not contain any fat. Light beers contain fewer calories and associated nutrients.
Nutritional Information for Wine
The nutritional values of red and white wines vary. A 5-ounce serving of red table wine contains approximately 100 calories, 10 g of carbohydrates and 7 g of sugar. The same size serving of white wine contains approximately 100 calories and 5 g of carbohydrates. Sugar content varies among white wines but usually is relatively low.
Nutritional Information for Spirits
An average 1-ounce serving of vodka, rum or tequila contains approximately 70 calories. This amount is reflective of basic varieties and can differ for flavored versions of these spirits.
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