What’s the truth about alcohol? Should you abstain… or are there actually some health benefits?
Contrary to what you may believe, there are.
The first thing that alcohol does is helps to relieve stress. While I don’t especially recommend that you regularly indulge so much you become intoxicated, a glass of wine or a beer at the end of your day can definitely help take the edge off.
Second, certain types of alcohol like red wine, may help to provide heart-health benefits as well. Those who drink wine, again, in moderation, demonstrate lower overall risk factors for suffering from heart health related issues. This is thanks to the fact that the grapes the wine is made with contain certain heart protective polyphenols.
The trick with alcohol is to make sure that you are drinking wisely, in both selection and amount.
Drinking less will help you avoid:
• Excessive weight gain that can come from too much alcohol each week
• Reduced stress on the liver (as is often seen in those with alcoholism)
• Eating due to weakened will power from consuming too much alcohol
By limiting yourself to just one or two drinks a day, you can reap the relaxation and stress reduction benefits that alcohol brings without suffering from the many negative consequences.
Beyond that, try and choose wine or liquors mixed with club soda over mixed cocktails whenever you can. Those mixed drinks are often very high in sugar and calories and will present even further problems.
