Whiskey

#1

Just talked with a friend who said she is making herself a whiskey. We wondered about carb content and I looked it up.
DOES WHISKEY ACTUALLY HAVE ZERO CARBS???

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #2

Yes. Mixed drinks with whiskey, wine, beer, liqueurs have carbs. But straight whiskey not. The ethanol interrupts ketosis, however. Depending on how much consumed anywhere from an hour or two…

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

I’m not sure how much ethanol interrupts the production of ketone bodies in the liver; the liver is capable of running quite a few different processes at once. I seem to remember Dr. Phinney saying at Ketofest last year that a small quantity of alcohol is fine.

Myself, I stopped drinking long before going keto, but many people on these forums advise being careful about drinking while ketogenic. Apparently, it takes a lot less alcohol to get drunk on a ketogenic diet.

The main difficulty with drinking alcohol is the same as with getting too much sugar (i.e., sucrose, which is table sugar). The problem is that both ethanol and fructose (which is one-half of a molecule of sucrose, the other half being glucose) are both metabolised by the same pathway in the liver, and this pathway is easily overloaded. Over-consuming either ethanol or fructose or both is guaranteed to lead eventually to fatty liver disease, steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, and eventually, death.

#4

Whiskey, brandy, vodka, etc. have no carbs. Red wine and champaign are very low in carbs. But yes, they’re also not harmless.

#5

this was for a friend. I am more interested in a glass of red wine from time to time.:+1:

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #6

Replying for a friend. :sunglasses:

(Bob M) #7

I usually have red wine, gin (by itself, with olives), or other “hard” liquors. Sometimes, I’ll have something sweet, like Sambuca. But that’s rare.