BEER - A Sunday afternoon ritual, a drink to beat the heat, an accompaniment with steak, or a drink after a hard day's work! This drink surely occupies a special place in some of our lives, until one fine day someone notices an awkward paunch racing to the finish line and calls it the "beer belly"!
Well, to the obvious question "Does drinking beer give you a beer belly?" It's not necessarily beer, but too many calories from a lot of other food sources can turn your trim waistline into a belly that protrudes over your pants. It becomes easy for us to blame it on the beer because it is so easy for us to go overboard with the drink. One pint of beer (approx 480 ml) provides about 180 kcal, and many of us don't generally stop with a pint.
A lonely bottle of beer is quite rare. We usually enjoy drinking beer with a high calorie snack like fried chicken wings, beef, pork, batter fried corn or mushrooms to name a few. While counting calories that contribute to a belly, it becomes necessary for us to consider these foods too.
When one takes in more calories than what is burnt, it is converted into fat. The region in which fat is stored depends on a lot of factors like age, sex and body type. Men generally store fat viscerally i.e. in the belly, while women store fat subcutaneously i.e. under the skin in areas like the thighs, arms and buttocks. Storing fat in the mid section carries a great deal of risk factors like heart diseases, diabetes and hypertension.
To put an end to the beer belly, here is your take home message. Beer when drunk in moderation even through the week does not lead to an increase in the waist. On the other hand, binging on beer in large doses occasionally has been proven to show a prominent beer belly! This is obviously due to a calorie over burst.
All is well when it is in moderation! For those who want to drink smart, here is something you should know about beer. Did you know beer could give you health benefits when taken in moderation? From the nutritional stand point, beer contains antioxidants, B vitamins, traces of protein and fiber that are contributed by the ingredients that go into its making. Some research shows that moderate consumption of beer reduces the risk of heart diseases by increasing lipoprotein activity. It is also shown to prevent osteoporosis and protects against clotting of blood in the blood vessels.
Although one can get these benefits from beer, it is important to understand that there are better and safer food sources like cereals, fruits, vegetables, milk and meat products that can give you all these nutrients in a more wholesome way. But for those who drink regularly, the definition of light to moderate drinking should be very clear - One drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men is the recommendation by the American Heart Association.
