Eating Under the Influence

MYFOXNY.COM - Your diet may not be working for six very good reasons. If you're having trouble shedding the pounds, then keep reading. Study after study has proven even just a little bit of alcohol with a meal could be diet sabotage.

Buzz Kill #1: Drinking Will Make You Hungry

Studies have proven that hungry or not, you get the munchies after drinking alcohol.

"You have a couple of drinks and all of a sudden your blood sugar is down. You get hungry," says Dr. Howard Shapiro , a weight-loss expert and the author of "Picture Perfect Weight Loss."

The doctor has a name for the impact alcohol has on your eating habits: he calls it EUI, or Eating Under the Influence. Whether you like bellying up to the bar or just having a glass or two with dinner, this diet news may kill your buzz.

Buzz Kill #2: Drinking Can Make You Crave Carbs

Dr. Shapiro says that studies show that the alcohol-induced hunger can make you crave the worse kind of foods.

"It is usually fast food, high-calorie food," says Dr. Shapiro.

As if your sober cravings for carbohydrates weren't bad enough, who hasn't felt an alcohol-induced craving for handfuls of pretzels, potato chips, and bread?

Buzz Kill #3: Alcohol Calories Add Up!

We all know that calories in drinks can add up, but you may be surprised how quickly.

"Two glasses of (white) wine is about 300 calories," Dr. Shapiro says. "Let's says six nights a week is about 1,800 calories. And if you do that for two weeks, you gain one pound. So that means two pounds in a month, in a year you are up 24 pounds."

Keep in mind Dr. Shapiro's white wine example is actually much lower in calories than sugary mixed drinks with more alcohol, more carbs, more sugars, and even more calories.

Buzz Kill #4: Alcohol Slows Your Metabolism

Drinkers beware because it gets worse. Dr. Shapiro says along with the added calories, alcohol can also make it harder for you to burn them.

"Alcohol can't be stored in the body, it metabolizes right away and as alcohol is being metabolized it compromises your body from metabolizing the fat, and the carbohydrates, so that slows down your metabolism," Dr. Shapiro says.

Buzz Kill #5: Alcohol Can Prevent the Absorption of Vitamins and Nutrients

Dr. Shapiro says that while your body is processing alcohol it can mess up the body's ability to absorb important vitamins and nutrients.

Buzz Kill #6: EUI Impairs Diet Judgment

Dr. Shapiro says that eating under the influence can impure your ability to make smart diet choices, similar to the ways alcohol can impair your ability to drive. When you combine being a little tipsy with alcohol-induced carb cravings and the munchies your smart dieting can come to screeching halt. EUI could very easily have you crashing into a pile of empty calories that you're probably going to regret when you wake up in the morning.

Dr. Shapiro doesn't tell his patients to give up alcohol all together. He says he teaches them to be more aware of their drinking and its impact on the body and weight loss. He says to truly understand the impact of EUI take a week or two break from alcohol and see just how much easier it is to shed pounds.

http://pictureperfectweightloss.com/jml/