Alcohol and refined sugar: tips on reducing intake of these (delicious) substances

I’m an enthusiastic advocate of exercise for the sake of mental health. I think that regular physical training can help to give you clarity of mind. I believe we were built to move - to walk a long way, lift heavy things, and to do manual work. It makes intuitive sense to me that, of course, kids and adults become miserable if you make them sit still all day in front of a screen. It’s important to distinguish whether this is happening through work requirements or because of the addictive power of our modern computing technologies, and whether or not a person chooses this for themselves (to the extent that there is a choice). But on a macro level it is completely unsurprising that unhappiness has gone up as movement has gone down.

I have not been an enthusiastic advocate of weight loss as an end in itself. This is mainly because I think it is so often entangled with vanity and self worship and I find those things to be pretty repulsive. But, repulsed as I may be by Big Vanity, I have come to believe more stongly that maintaining a healthy weight is really important. A couple of disclaimers on this;

1. Some people find it extremely difficult to maintain a healthy weight despite doing ALL THE RIGHT THINGS! This is a perplexing phenomenon which I don’t fully understand but believe to be real. It seems that obesity can beget obesity. Genetics and epigenetics play a big role - as I understand things.

2. Weight status does not equal health status. It doesn’t follow that an overweight person is unhealthy or a non-overweight person is healthy. There’s more to it. People facing the predicament of stubborn obesity who get fit and strong can activate powerful protections against lifestyle-related disease. Likewise, a “skinny” person who is unfit and weak can still develop the sort of lifestyle diseases that typically beset the overweight and obese person.

In the main though, carrying too much body fat is not good for you. It’s serious enough that if you’re overweight or obese (as defined by BMI, waist & hip circumferences and waist to hip ration), its worth your time to think about ways you could lose some fat.

If you think that’s worth your time and effort, read on.

The main point of this article is to offer some practical suggestions for things you may wish to consider if you are trying to lose weight. I’m going to hone in on two things in particular - reducing your intake of alcohol and refined sugar.

Reducing alcohol

Alcohol is extremely energy dense and offers little by way of nutrition, which is sad because - very often - it is delicious and fun (D’oh!). You can derail weight loss efforts very quickly by overdoing it on alcohol. Now, if you have an alcohol addiction, this advice is not for you. Speak to your GP to begin to address this issue. But if you’re not in that boat, and you do consume too much booze, here’s some things to try to reduce your intake;

1. Designate one or two nights a week where you can have alcohol

2. Set a pre-defined limit on how many drinks you can have on that night

3. Proactively identify substitute drinks that you’ll consume when offered a drink or craving a drink

The objective here is to reduce the total amount of alcohol you bring on board across a given time period. Don’t look for ways to game the system (“if I have a celery stick with my beer I’ll increase my metabolic rate”) and don’t be a perfectionist when it comes to drink substitution - it’s better to have one low carb beer than to fight a losing battle against your craving and end up drinking three beers (and eating a kebab chaser). 

Reducing refined sugar

Sugar, like alcohol, tastes AMAZING. I consciously reduced my refined sugar intake over the last third of 2021. Around November, I had some connoisseur cookies and cream ice cream. It was shocking how amazing it tasted. I remember looking over at my wife as I was eating it and saying, “Deb, there is literally a party in my mouth right now. This stuff tastes so good!”.  No wonder we are all hooked on the stuff. Like alcohol, refined sugar is of minimal nutritional value, unless you count unbridled pleasure as a nutritional value. It is also extremely energy dense like alcohol. Additionally, it can dis-regulate your appetite so that your hunger ends up mapping poorly onto your actual energy requirements.

But if you’re still reading, I’m preaching to the choir and won’t bore you further with mechanisms. What follows are some tactics I have found personally useful to reduce refined sugar. Now, some of these are probably not recommended by the credentialed professionals who have mis-informed you in the past ;) I am not giving you nutritional advice - I am sharing an opinion. Please defer to the opinions of the scientists who have so been so reliable in the past when making your nutritional choices. Forget about the food pyramid, margarine etc etc. Whatever they are saying now is definitely right.***

My tactics:

1. Eat fruit when you start to crave sweet treats

2. Eat satiating food (lots of fibre, whole grains, eggs, meat, nuts)

3. Eat healthy fats (e.g. avocado) and avoid high glycemic index carbohydrates

Here’s an example of how I implemented these tactics. I consistently crave sweet food at ~2pm each afternoon (when, in any civilised society, I would be in the middle of my siesta). In the past, as the clock chimes “2”, I would trundle off to the vending machine to buy some milk chocolate. Now, knowing that the craving will hit, I pack a piece of fruit (or two) before work, plus some cheese and crackers and smash those instead. This may not be exactly right for you (I have a pretty high level of energy expenditure given that I do a lot of exercise, and therefore need a relatively large quantity of fuel) but something like it may be in the vicinity. If you curb that 2pm sugar craving, you may carry a lower appetite into the evening and you’ll be less likely to overdo it at dinner.

Here’s a couple of umbrella suggestions that sit over what I have written about tactics to reduce sugar and alcohol;

1. Don’t rely on willpower alone.

You need to come to terms with the fact that you’re in a dysfunctional food ecosystem. If you overindulge your (normal) instincts to maximise intake of energy dense foods (which are now everywhere), it will have negative consequences. Willpower, while being generally important and possibly under-rated in Australian society, will only get you so far in resisting food and drink which is supercharged to manipulate you. In this setting, it now behooves you to proactively arm yourself with the weapons you need to fight the cravings when they inevitably hit. Think of when you crave energy dense junk food. What time of day? Under which circumstances? Then identify what else you could eat or drink when that craving hits. For me, it is the fruit plus cheese & crackers scenario (instead of chocolate). What is it for you?

2. Consider purchasing accountability

With this stuff (diet and exercise) you can, to some extent, buy the results you want. If you can afford it, this would be a valuable use of your money. Bring a nutritionist and trainer/coach on board to provide structure and accountability. See here for what I can offer. I know that I have been very reticent to spend money on this sort of thing in the past. But I have come to terms with the fact that it is one of the most effective things you can do to effect the change you want.

***I am being facetious here. It is troubling to see how the scientific enterprise has not served us that well when it comes to nutrition. But it is probably mainly a media problem to be honest - as in, nutritional research is reported on in a highly sensational fashion which creates fads. You’ll almost certainly achieve pretty great results by following something like the Australian Dietary Guidelines.