When you sit down for a meal it’s pretty easy to know how much you’re eating by the amount on your plate, but do you know the energy content of alcoholic drinks you consume?

Alcohol contains 29 kilojoules per gram, which is only slightly better than fat. This makes it one of the most energy dense sources.

Alcohol is also your body’s preferred immediate source of energy. Your body will preferentially burn the energy from alcohol before other energy sources (carbohydrates, protein or fat). This is because in high amounts are toxic, and therefore your body wants to rids itself of alcohol as quick as possible.

So the cheese platter you eat ends up being stored as “unused energy” (also known as fat) when you drink half a bottle of wine.

Below is a table showing the energy content of alcoholic drinks. Along with the time you need to walk or run drink off:

So you can see half a bottle of wine or a couple of beers quickly adds up to a workout! You can also see how easily this can increase your daily energy intake. And why excessive alcohol is not a great long term health behaviour.

Perhaps this might make you think twice before opening a second bottle of wine. Or staying at the bar for one more round!

Would you like to re-assess your health behaviours and identify what you need to work toward over the coming year?

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Photo by Paolo Bendandi on Unsplash