Question about alcohol

#1

It took me about 5 days to finally get my carbs under 20 but now I am doing fine and am in ketosis. I want to occasionally have a whiskey but don’t want to go out of ketosis. Can I have any alcohol and still stay in ketosis.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #2

Ehhhh this is gonna be tough. I mean, each body is different, but alcohol usually tosses me out of ketosis, in a hurry. Are we talkin 1 drink? And not a flavored whisky i.e. honey, apple, maple?

It may take some self-experimentation to see what your threshold is. Technically, vodka, gin, whisky and tequila have no carbs, but all alcohol generates an insulin spike. That is what may kick you out of ketosis.

Part of my challenge is that I can never have just 1 drink. It has to be half a 750ml or more. This ia definitely not keto friendly for me lol.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #3

I disagree @x-Dena-x, alcohol doesn’t cause an insulin spike. It does two other things to impact keto though. Number one is empty calories. Number two your liver detects alcohol as a dangerous toxin and switches all priority to metabolizing that alcohol into a non toxic substance. During this time it’s not turning fat, either dietary or body fat into ketones. It also doesn’t process carbs the same way and anything you eat pretty much gets stored during the alcohol processing, which can last the whole next day if you get fairly drunk. You can have a snort now and then but it’s not really recommended daily and I keep it to very occasionally myself. Cannabis is more keto friendly :grin:. But there are plenty of people who drink daily or often here and I am sure some will disagree with me.

:cowboy_hat_face:

(Full Metal KETO AF) #4

@x-Dena-x This is a little confusing but there’s research that alcohol promotes insulin sensitivity and another source said it creates eleveted insulin and hypoglycemia. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Little Miss Scare-All) #5

It seems youre right @David_Stilley. I guess because I drink so much of it, I get somehow kicked out of ketosis everytime I drink, and I stick with plain vodka and chase with water.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #6

I’m going to switch my advice and say don’t drink the whole bottle :grin:

(Robert C) #8

While some types of alcohol will only stall fat burning and keep you in ketosis - the major reason you might fall out of ketosis is that the alcohol will make you hungry and diminish your capacity to make good food decisions.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #9

SO fact.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #10

Can we please drop the ‘remove the toxin’ nonsense? The liver ignores everything else to go after alcohol simply because chemically it is the simplest/easiest fuel to use. That’s all, no ulterior motive to remove the toxin from the body. Given the opportunity, your liver will happily metabolize alcohol to the exclusion of all else until you die from cirrhosis. Given sufficient amounts over sufficient time ANY fuel is toxic: glucose and ketones included.

After alcohol, the next simplest/easiest fuel is glucose, which is why it gets used before ketones and fatty acids.

(Andrew) #11

Alcohol sounds about as bad as fructose for adding liver IR (Fung). Immediately it lowers BG, as your liver stops making glucose. Easy to see on with your BG meter.

I’ve had some bourbon after 2 days of fasting and it’s pretty easy to keep fasting. You burn up the alcohol and go right back to ketones. If you drink everyday, it’s pretty hard to stop drinking and stop eating, so I have thrown this in to get further into a fast.

Hi everyone, newbie here 😁
(Polly) #12

I do not lose weight when enjoying alcohol because all alcohol inhibits the action of glucagon.
Glucagon is the insulin antagonist which amongst other things enables fat burning to occur. Glucagon is inhibited by insulin and also by alcohol.
To put it simply, alcohol turns off the fat burning switch.

(Scott) #13

I have been drinking scotch, wine and sometimes beer daily for years if not decades. The wife and I are both from family that had cocktail hour daily. Both of us seem to have done well with keto. She is at goal weight and I am about 5 pounds from goal weight but seem to be maintaining at my current weight. I am guessing the only way for me to find out what effect alcohol is having on me is to reduce or abstain for a period. Being someone that likes to experiment n=1 I am thinking I will try this out soon. Next week is a family beach vacation so now is clearly not the right time for me.

(Marius the butter craving dude) #14

Hmmm… Interesting debate here.
I had a recent experience with alchool a week ago in a teem building event. I was with my team at a nice location for 2 nights, all food and drinks paid by the company. I decided I will eat only meat without any consideration of time or quantity.
I also took 2 glasses of votka with sugar free pepsi (boss insisted). It was I think more than a year from my last time I drank some alcohol. The intoxication was instant and I know my limits; yet time I was already in my drunk mode. I eat some more meat and went to sleep before I said something stupid.
But the surprise was that after those 2 nights when I got home I actually lost 1 kg. and I was still in keto.

#15

Thanks everyone for your input. It really helps to get advice from people who are informed. My alcohol consumption usually consists of a double bourbon or scotch on the rocks once or twice a week. I will be giving it a try and monitoring my ketones.

Thanks again.

(Jennibc) #17

Honestly, it works for me! I mean, no more whisky sours, but I like it with soda and a twist. I have to keep it to two or less though.

(Jennibc) #18

Well THIS is good to know!

(Jennibc) #19

I think this is key! I find if I have a drink after dinner outside on the patio I gain nothing the next day - or I actually lose (probably because of dehydration). BUT if I go out to dinner and order wine and start drinking it before the food comes I eat too much. Last week, I ended up having dessert which I never have and I am pretty sure it’s because I’d had too much wine and it relaxed my resolve. I am just NOW back to the pre-dessert weight. Took me six days!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #20

No doubt. All I’m saying is the ethanol molecule unloads a packet of energy and ends up as Acetyl-CoA like everything else. I’m not trivializing the long-term deleterious effects. My objection is to casually imputing intent and purpose to chemical reactions which do not possess them.

(Jennibc) #24

Where are you finding that the beer is low carb? I have looked it up and am not finding that as a claim, just that it’s low on gluten.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #26