Alcohol on a Ketogenic diet?

[Jack Bauer FL]

Here is my situation.

I live in south florida where the night life never ends. I want to go out and drink and have a good time. but, im on this ketogenic diet and trying to stay in ketosis.

Are there any beers or alcohols that cater to the low carb or ketogenic lifestyle?

The last time i went drinking it took me three days to get back into ketosis.

[chimponarope]

I presume you're wanting to use keto to loose fat?

[Jack Bauer FL]

I presume you're wanting to use keto to loose fat?

Yes! I did a ketogenic diet 7 years ago in which i reduced my bodyfat from 38% to 12% and maintained this for 5 years by following a heart healthy diet. But, these last two years i ended up gaining a lot of bodyfat due to personal issues (back injury, relationship and work stress etc, which lead to eating lots of pizza and not working out).

So i am in my 2nd week of being in ketosis (mild to moderate) and lost 7lbs of bodyfat while gaining 1lb of lean body mass. But, i would still like to go out one night a week to drink alcohol and meet ladies.

[PopeGregorius]

I suppose you could try low carb beer.

Alcohol has 7 calories/gram, does not affect insulin levels but is empty calories. Alcohol oxidises into acetaldehyde then ketone bodies so it may be excreted as ketones.
--

I'm an expert at gaining body fat too. But keto diets are the best for losing fat out of everything I've tried.

[chimponarope]

If its one night a week, a couple of drinks on the day of your carb up will work.

[_Spiral]

Why even touch low carb beers? The time I did keto and was successful we were taking a load of vodka shots every night we went out. Vodka doesn't have ANY carbs....take it straight or maybe with diet coke or something if diet soda doesn't kick you out of ketosis.

[chimponarope]

Why touch alcohol during the week?

Alcohol and keto don't really mix too well IMO.

[coach Hale]

beware some people report feelings of increased drunkeness. There have also been issues of Alchoholic ketoacidiosis if alcohol consumption is too high

Coach Hale
www.maxcondition.com
where practicality meets science

[Miranda]

Alcohol does not affect insulin levels

isn't alcohol a sugar? and a damn fast-acting one at that ?

[b0ngman]

yeah, liquor is alll sugar

[wantstobeinshap]

beware some people report feelings of increased drunkeness. There have also been issues of Alchoholic ketoacidiosis if alcohol consumption is too high

Coach Hale
www.maxcondition.com
where practicality meets science

I take it if you watch yourself and drink moderately you should be ok right? I'm planning on drinking new years eve...I don't want to die though...lol

[chimponarope]

Just carb up that day, you'll be fine.

[wantstobeinshap]

Just carb up that day, you'll be fine.

yes, it falls on saturday for me and that's my carbup day so its kinda perfect. I think most people carbup on sat no?

regards

[chimponarope]

Usually, easiest for getting in a morning workout I guess.

[Funtick]

Just carb up that day, you'll be fine.

1. As far as I feel alcohol is _almost_ similar to carbs because you first get energy from alcohol, then carbs, then fat
2. "As far as I feel " (c) alcohol is Ok IIF (If And Only If) it doesn't boost insulin levels (and I think it will super-boost if you add sugar to it...)
3. and... I believe "carb loading day" is absolute crap; it's not proven; I feel much much more energized after fatty meat than after carb loading.

Also... check Schwarzenegger's book,.. I believe a lot of crap in his chapter related to this type of diet... I even heard bicyclists don't believe in 100% "carb loading" anymore, and prefer fat to carbs.

[Baraka00]

1. As far as I feel alcohol is _almost_ similar to carbs because you first get energy from alcohol, then carbs, then fat
2. "As far as I feel " (c) alcohol is Ok IIF (If And Only If) it doesn't boost insulin levels (and I think it will super-boost if you add sugar to it...)
3. and... I believe "carb loading day" is absolute crap; it's not proven; I feel much much more energized after fatty meat than after carb loading.

Also... check Schwarzenegger's book,.. I believe a lot of crap in his chapter related to this type of diet... I even heard bicyclists don't believe in 100% "carb loading" anymore, and prefer fat to carbs.

riiiiiiiiight

[Funtick]

I am on 4th week; I don't follow any "carb loading" days. Ketostix show 30-40 mg/dl in average; and after GYM they show very little trace (I suppose because body uses 99% of ketones to recover).

Alcohol: I like red wine, Shiraz; before, I could drink a bottle (750ml) in the evening and feel Ok in the morning; but not now. First of all I feel slightly more drunk after 250ml and I prefer not to drink more than that; second, I started feeling really really bad next morning... very dehydrated and perhaps intoxicated, even vomiting...

Few days ago I drunk vodka, Grey Goose (super quality from France), 300ml, but next day... very very very bad...

I've read somewhere that liver converts alcohol to ketones; and if you already have enough ketones in your blood stream, you can easily get intoxicated.

[iamarcin]

Im Polish so i get pressured by friends a lot to drink.
its hard to stay on a diet with a hangover. next day i want "comfort food"/carbs.
That is why i think 2-3 low carb beers can be stretched out all night and not affect you as much as shots. Buzzed but keep you thinking.
I wasn't even in keto just low carb and alcohol hit me harder... or im just getting old. definitely drank more 10-5 years ago. If doing vodka... tonic + lemons/limes would be similar but i could not take the taste last time i tried it. If you peer-pressure is the issue: prepare this yourself and carry around in bottle... you can lie that there is vodka in there... friends either wont touch it or not taste the difference due to the bitterns of tonic + sourness of lime. just make sure you act a bit drunk or your friends will catch on.

IMO:
some carbs + low alcohol in beer = no carbs + high alcohol in vodka.... as in affect on keto

[KLMARB]

Here's an oldie, but a goodie...
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hlight=alcohol

[DustyChicago]

One of the worst nights of my life was a halloween that came after 4 straight weeks of no carbs. Seriously one of the few things in my entire life that I'm ashamed of.

[YesiEvenLiftBro]

If anything, alcohol tends to deepen, not disrupt ketosis (this would of course assume there weren’t any normal sugars present in the alcohol). In fact, there is a condition called alcoholic ketoacidosis which is potentially dangerous. It typically occurs in individuals who aren’t eating any food (hence, eating no carbohydrates, hence liver glycogen becomes depleted, hence ketosis is established) but drinking heavily. Alcohol affects liver metabolism (it affects redox state and the ratio of NADH/NAD+) such that more ketones are produced when alcohol is consumed. In the case of alcoholic ketoacidosis, this causes problems with acidosis, etc. They are typically treated by feeding the person carb which de-establishes ketosis.

Also, even though alcohol is technically a carbohydrate, it is metabolized differently than other carbs, being converted to triglyceride in the liver. I would expect that alcohol conversion to TG in the liver also has an impact on ketone production.

So to answer your question, alcohol shouldn’t kick you out of ketosis (and that I’m aware of there is no distinction between beer and hard liquor in the literature on alcoholic ketoacidosis), but will make it deeper.

Two final things:
1.Calories as alcohol are burned in preference to all other macronutrients, so alcohol use will tend to detract from fat loss.
2.Anecdotally, several people have reported that they get drunk faster when they are in ketosis, than when they are not. So use caution.

Oh yeah, as to the question which is sitting in my queue (that IM still looking for an answer to), it has to do with whether ketosis can falsely trigger a positive test on a Breathalyzer. When I find an answer, I will post it to Mesomorphosis as well as responding to the asker personally.

-Lyle Mcdonald

in his book he basically goes on to simplify it down to, drink = still keto but good luck losing weight if you're drinking and welcome to worse hangovers and if going way overboard binge drinking while in a state of keto is possible death

[ffGarcia]

When I drank on keto on my carb up days, I say I got drunk quicker than before. The next day? I felt great! There may be a easy reason to this but I can say I was blackout drunk several times I went on keto and got up in the morning thinking I would feel like crap but was 110%

[weiss1967]

alcohol is not sugar. Try it in your coffee and see if it taste any sweet lol. Seriously, alcohol while being chemically all-fuel, isn't digested as food. Totally okay on keto, whiskey on the rocks, rum, vodka etc - all good, enjoy responsibly.

[sambshep]

alcohol is not sugar. Try it in your coffee and see if it taste any sweet lol. Seriously, alcohol while being chemically all-fuel, isn't digested as food. Totally okay [in moderation] on keto, whiskey on the rocks, rum, vodka etc - all good, enjoy responsibly.

Fixed.

[weiss1967]

excellent quote sambshep, good stuff

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to sambshep again.

[alexg5775]

If i drink while in keto, which is VERY rare, ill drink anything on the rocks, usually wiskey. Maybe a glass of wine. If i am carbing up ill drink anything, usually beer. But i drink rarely, maybe once every few months and usually for a speacial occasion.

FIY, 2 weeks ago i drank ALOT while on second day of carb up and i threw up all night and hung over no lie x 2 full days. Hasnt happened to me in years. Be very carefill binge drinking on keto diet, while on keto or carb up.

Alex

[sambshep]

excellent quote sambshep, good stuff

Thanks. I've quoted it like three times these past couple of weeks, not sure exactly why this thread was bumped since I've already answered the question

If i drink while in keto, which is VERY rare, ill drink anything on the rocks, usually wiskey. Maybe a glass of wine. If i am carbing up ill drink anything, usually beer. But i drink rarely, maybe once every few months and usually for a speacial occasion.

FIY, 2 weeks ago i drank ALOT while on second day of carb up and i threw up all night and hung over no lie x 2 full days. Hasnt happened to me in years. Be very carefill binge drinking on keto diet, while on keto or carb up.

Alex

To put it simply, alcohol is more dangerous in a ketogenic state than it is in a non-ketogenic state.