Intermittent fasting is an excellent method for achieving weight loss and improving health overall, but it is a way of life, not a sprint.
It doesn’t restrict what you can eat or drink, but rather when you do it.
If you like a pint of beer after work every day, you might wonder, can you drink alcohol while intermittent fasting?
Alcohol is not on the list of liquids that should be consumed while fasting.
While some beverages, such as whiskey and vodka, are carb-free, wine and beer have 3 to 4 grams of carbs per serving.
Anything with calories may break your fast, and alcohol is particularly dense in calories.
It is a personal choice whether you wish to consume alcohol during your non-fasting window.
Intermittent fasting can be a powerful tool for improving overall health and fitness.
It consists of alternating eating and not eating periods, which may sound difficult, but it doesn’t require any complicated diet scheme or intensive meal plan.
Intermittent fasting has been shown to increase energy levels, reduce inflammation in the body, aid digestion, help with weight loss, and could even help reduce symptoms of certain health conditions.
It involves scheduling periods of eating and fasting throughout the day, which will help keep you disciplined with your meals and also allow your body to rest and take a break from constantly digesting food.
Starting with a 16-hour fast can be the best way to go.
In this timeframe, you can have one big meal or snack a day and drink lots of water to stay hydrated.
Once you get used to that routine, you can increase the length of your fast and eventually have one full day each week of 24-hour fasting.
During a fast, you are required to abstain from all foods and beverages for a specified period.
Intermittent fasting induces hormonal and chemical changes that may improve your health, including fat-burning and cellular repair.
Because alcohol includes calories, any quantity consumed during a fast will cause your fast to be broken.
However, it is okay to drink in moderation during your eating window.
Alcohol is unlikely to negatively influence your fasting regimen if taken in moderation and exclusively during your eating window.
If you are on an intermittent fast, wines, especially dry whites, and red wines are better options than beer or mixed beverages.
While spirits have fewer calories when blended with soda, juices and other components are rich in sugar and the resulting beverages are calorie bombs.
As a result, if you’re watching your weight, avoid beer, dessert wines, and mixed beverages.
You should also monitor your intake. Moderate alcohol intake is defined as one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for males.
Can I Drink Alcohol On The 16/8 Diet?
The 16/8 fasting technique is the most prevalent kind of intermittent fasting.
During this kind of intermittent fast, you consume food for 8 hours and then fast for 16 hours.
If your eating window is from noon to 8 pm, your fasting window is from 8 pm to noon the next day.
Drinking alcohol during your fast will cause your fast to be broken.
If you’re on a 16/8 intermittent fast for health reasons, you should minimize your alcohol consumption.
This is because excessive alcohol intake has various negative consequences that offset the potential advantages of the diet.
Some types of alcohol have more calories than others, like beer and sugary mixed drinks.
If you consume those while fasting, your body begins to digest them and ceases utilizing stored fat for energy.
Several pathways are engaged as soon as you put alcohol in your mouth. In the stomach, approximately 20% of all consumed alcohol is absorbed.
The kidneys subsequently excrete the alcohol after being eliminated by the liver.
This procedure can take up to eleven hours, depending on various parameters like age, weight, and gender.
If you’re following a 16/8 intermittent fast for health reasons, you should minimize your alcohol consumption.
This is because excessive alcohol intake has various negative consequences that offset the potential advantages of the diet.
Excessive alcohol use has been linked to poor fat-burning and weight reduction, inflammation, impaired autophagy, altered liver function, and disturbed hormone balance.
Many of us enjoy an occasional drink, but it can be hard to know when enough is enough.
After all, nobody wants to wake up with a pounding headache and regrets the next morning.
The key to drinking in moderation is balance.
Have enough for a positive experience without going overboard.
This means knowing when you’ve had enough and making sure that your alcohol consumption does not increase over time.
Another tip is to start by drinking slowly and consuming food at the same time as the body processes alcohol more slowly than if drinking on an empty stomach.
Finally, try to alternate certain drinks like beer with nonalcoholic ones like water or tea to stay sober while still enjoying the time you spend with your friends and family.
What Happens If You Drink Alcohol While Fasting?
If you drink alcohol during your fasting period, you will break your fast, but a drink or two is allowed during your eating window.
However, most alcoholic beverages are heavy in carbohydrates, which produce an increase in insulin levels, leaving you even more hungry than before.
If losing weight is your primary aim, being in an overall calorie deficit is the primary reason you lose weight with intermittent fasting.
Drinking alcohol will significantly add to those calories.
Intermittent fasting may increase fat burning, lowering your body fat percentage.
Alcohol use has been demonstrated to inhibit fat decomposition.
In addition, alcohol can cause binge eating, which can contribute to weight gain over time.
Excessive alcohol use is linked to higher amounts of body fat.
This relation, however, does not exist among light to moderate drinkers.
Many people use intermittent fasting to reduce weight.
Alcohol is high in calories, with 1 gram providing 7 calories.
Only one drink can add 100 or more calories to your daily intake of calories.
Heavy drinking, defined as four drinks or more per day for males and three drinks or more per day for women, has been associated with a higher risk of weight gain and obesity.
Intermittent fasting has been found to decrease inflammation in the body.
However, alcohol consumption may cause inflammation, negating the benefits of this diet.
Chronic inflammation has been linked to a variety of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers.
According to research, heavy drinking can cause leaky gut syndrome, bacterial overgrowth, and a bacterial imbalance in the stomach.
High alcohol consumption can also deplete your liver’s capacity to filter out potentially dangerous substances.
These effects on your stomach and liver may induce inflammation throughout your body, which can lead to organ damage over time.
One of the most desirable effects of intermittent fasting is autophagy.
It is the process through which cells eliminate waste and other defective components.
Autophagy is highly beneficial in the prevention of degenerative illnesses, aging, and even cancer.
During intermittent fasting, excessive alcohol consumption can impair autophagic activity.
Autophagy is hindered by oxidative stress and inflammatory mediators produced by persistent heavy alcohol use.
In other words, heavy drinkers do not have as many cellular components for autophagy.
I’m Chris Watson & the Founder of EatForLonger.com. I’m a food and wellbeing enthusiast researching and sharing foodstuffs and simple food-based concepts, such as fasting and clean eating.
I hope it inspires you to make tiny changes to what you eat and when you eat while optimizing your healthspan and all-around well-being.
Read more About Me here.