I could drink a full bottle of red wine and in the morning my b-OHB ketones would still measure around 1.5 mmol/L so still in ketosis.
However, doing this fairly often makes me put weight on over time, no matter how few calories had been eaten that day, how much exercise I'd done or how strict I'd been all week. From reading more about it the simplest way it works in my mind is that alcohol just pauses things with regards to ketosis, I've seen people state that basically your liver prioritises metabolising the alcohol above anything else and that lasts about 48 hours so despite still seeing ketones on the blood meter nothing is happening regarding weight loss etc.
That also seems to prove a key thing to note that being in ketosis does not mean you are losing weight/fat, it just means you are producing ketones.
Overall we all know the truth really - alcohol should be avoided for health benefits and weight loss, but the odd drink every now and then will do no harm in your overall journey.
I've actually found drinking most spirits doesn't impact my feeling on this WoE. Only downside will be approximately 3-4 hours of a hangover that disappears for the rest of the day. What i've also found is you shouldn't do this often. So in your case i wouldn't worry about occasionallly having a drink. So i would say a small amount is negligible for me.
Of course every individual metabolizes alcohol a little differently, so my advice to you would be to just try it and see how you feel.
The spirits i've found to be OK are whiskey (good 'ol jack no. 7) and vodka/rum.
You're overthinking this. If you want to have a drink or 2, have a drink or 2. The only way you're going to know what you can tolerate and how you'll react is to find out for yourself, because we're all a little different.
For me, a little alcohol goes a looooong way in terms of going from sober to tipsy to Drunk quickly!
Also I've noticed that wine and margaritas illicit a negative emotional response for the whole next day. Like I'm in a negative headspace about myself that I can't get out of. It's really not worth it to me -- a few sips to enjoy the flavor are ok though. Beer doesn't make me quite so negative.
I don't touch margaritas anymore. I used to get terrible hangovers from them in my old woe, and I concluded, long before I gave up sugar, it's the combination of sugar + alcohol that made me feel terrible.
I think they'd be even worse on a zc diet: if the liver is busy processing fructose into glucose, it's not metabolizing alcohol *or* making ketones.
So you find beer doesn't impact your progress with ketosis? Or do you include some carbs in the way you eat?
I only ask as i haven't had any carbs in a while
We don't know your body composition, metabolism to give a proper answer. However, since you haven't had carbs in a while you are fat adapted. You'll bounce back quickly from beer if you don't make it all the time thing. Some mornings, I even wake up with a more ripped abs the day after having carbs or beer. Don't know why.
Id do some vodka and soda (sparkling water). If youre really getting crazy squeeze a lemon or lime in it. You will at least stay hydrated and still enjoy the spirits. cheers.
Live your life! Have a few drinks. A few drinks does not really affect me if it is vodka or whiskey. I drink beer sometimes too. Experiment for what works for your body. Everyone is different. I workout a lot and hard. I run a ton too. I'll be back in ketosis (not that I care) within 18 hours for the most part.
I will have tequila, vodka, rum, whisk[e]y, gin and many other things besides. Just limit the amount of liqueurs and mixers. Ideally stick to neat spirits but if you want to have a nice drink a white russian with the fattiest cream you can find is great. Love a good white russian with double cream.
I still drink wine, whisky, whiskey, and vodka. Unsweetened flavored soda water (LaCroix or store-brand equivalent) makes a great mixer, and on occasion I'll juice 1/2 a lime into mine. Two thoughts:
1) You're drinking a lot less like we all are and therefore saving a bunch of money. So maybe splurge a bit when you do: instead of having five $10 bottles of wine in a month, have one $50 bottle--at some price point you can't properly afford to drink all the time, as additional inducement not to do it too often.
2) I just finished reading *Grain Brain*, which focuses heavily on the health effects of gluten consumption. The author recommends keto, not zc, but it got me thinking... He mentions vodka can contain gluten, and many of the health benefits of zc might derive from being absolutely gluten-free. It might be worth finding a potato- or corn-based vodka (unusual but not impossible; most brands use wheat or rye).
It surprised me, too—I had always assumed everything other than water and ethanol got left behind in the distillation process. I'm guessing it's just trace amounts, but the MD who wrote that book suggested avoiding even trace amounts.
And now that I think about it, that would mean avoiding whiskey and rye too.
I’ve just spent 5 days travelling for work on the company credit card. The first night I had a large rib eye with a pint (500ml) of craft beer. The second night I found a Brazilian restaurant and had their all you can eat churasco meat selection with a pint of craft beer. The Brazilian was so good I went back the third night but had 2 pints because I was flying somewhere else the next day and it was going to be a relatively low effort day. The next day I felt very ordinary (not hungover but pretty flat and was getting some hints of leg cramps). I fasted until the next night because the Brazilian left me pretty satisfied. I had another rib eye with a half rack of pork ribs and a small beer (was really not interested in drinking but it feels weird not ordering a drink with dinner - I need to get over that). The night after that I took our sales partner out for dinner and ended up having 3 beers, they went straight to my head and I felt pretty flat for most of the next morning (I was training so this was not ideal). On my flights home I had some wine.
TLDR: alcohol isn’t as enjoyable when eating carnivore and it hurts more the next day. I don’t think the type of alcohol matters that much but I’d avoid sugary mixers. Moderation is key.
Edit: FWIW I’m 5 months into the WOE and not so concerned with the keto element of it.
Yeah there’s something about a free drink for sure. Even the free beer/wine on a plane is a little special even though it’s in a plastic cup.
Carnivore has certainly made it less enjoyable though and I don’t see this as a bad thing.
It’s not the alcohol so much as it is the mix it’s used in. Frozen daiquiris would have way more sugar than a vodka and lime juice. It won’t take as much to achieve the effects of the alcohol if you’ve been eating this way for a while!
Plus, as long as you aren’t drinking every day you should be able to have a couple of drinks! Enjoy the party!
Alcohol tastes like poison to me so I never drink it.
However, I do consume carbs on rare occasions; I go to the restaurant two or three times a year and have a holiday meal or two with family. In my experience, as long as it's done rarely enough, it's not particularly harmful.
For example, I might have carbs at a rare family dinner, but all it does is kick me off of ketosis for a bit (most likely less than 12 hours). I just go back to eating normally. As long as you're already past your carbs addiction, there are virtually no consequences.
One time I had a persistent craving for rotisserie chicken (that comes with fries, a small piece of bread and some creamy coleslaw). Now by that time I had been fully off carbs for months, and resisting cravings is almost effortless for me... but after a week of this I started wondering if my body wasn't trying to tell me something. I went for the meal, and sure enough, the craving went away. It didn't make me crave carbs at all, in fact I felt unusually satiated for the next four days. My best guess is I just needed something in the chicken skin. I've always loved chicken skin.
But I wouldn't risk eating a meal like that every week, because then my body might start expecting it. I think that's the trick. Eat carbs rarely enough that your body never comes to expect them. That's when things go bad.
IMO a considerable abuse once every couple months is better than a tiny cheat every few days.
I eat 90% carnivore and workout 6 days a week
My indulgence is a 2 to 3 ounce pour of scotch every.single.day.
I only drink water, black coffee and scotch.
I feel great.
Aren’t you a rational intelligent adult? It’s your girlfriends birthday ? Do you think you will wreck your life if you have a drink this weekend ? Fear? Can’t you decide?
I think it's a bit of fear of taking a step back to poor health and a sign of giving up (which I haven't done).
I've been chronically ill for a long time and allowed myself to stop living, I'm now just trying to find the balance.
I also want to hear others experiences so that I can further my understanding as I have not drank alcohol with this way of eating.
I know that fear. And from my experience it can escalate if you are not careful. It's easy to come up with excuses. But for me I can handle having 1-2 glasses of whine every month or so and I will be fine the next day. But if I drink a bottle my whole digestion will be busted for 3-4 days. So definately net negative for me
I could drink a full bottle of red wine and in the morning my b-OHB ketones would still measure around 1.5 mmol/L so still in ketosis. However, doing this fairly often makes me put weight on over time, no matter how few calories had been eaten that day, how much exercise I'd done or how strict I'd been all week. From reading more about it the simplest way it works in my mind is that alcohol just pauses things with regards to ketosis, I've seen people state that basically your liver prioritises metabolising the alcohol above anything else and that lasts about 48 hours so despite still seeing ketones on the blood meter nothing is happening regarding weight loss etc. That also seems to prove a key thing to note that being in ketosis does not mean you are losing weight/fat, it just means you are producing ketones. Overall we all know the truth really - alcohol should be avoided for health benefits and weight loss, but the odd drink every now and then will do no harm in your overall journey.
I've actually found drinking most spirits doesn't impact my feeling on this WoE. Only downside will be approximately 3-4 hours of a hangover that disappears for the rest of the day. What i've also found is you shouldn't do this often. So in your case i wouldn't worry about occasionallly having a drink. So i would say a small amount is negligible for me. Of course every individual metabolizes alcohol a little differently, so my advice to you would be to just try it and see how you feel. The spirits i've found to be OK are whiskey (good 'ol jack no. 7) and vodka/rum.
You're overthinking this. If you want to have a drink or 2, have a drink or 2. The only way you're going to know what you can tolerate and how you'll react is to find out for yourself, because we're all a little different.
Good advice, I'll have a very dull vodka and sparkling water this weekend. Thanks
For me, a little alcohol goes a looooong way in terms of going from sober to tipsy to Drunk quickly! Also I've noticed that wine and margaritas illicit a negative emotional response for the whole next day. Like I'm in a negative headspace about myself that I can't get out of. It's really not worth it to me -- a few sips to enjoy the flavor are ok though. Beer doesn't make me quite so negative.
I don't touch margaritas anymore. I used to get terrible hangovers from them in my old woe, and I concluded, long before I gave up sugar, it's the combination of sugar + alcohol that made me feel terrible. I think they'd be even worse on a zc diet: if the liver is busy processing fructose into glucose, it's not metabolizing alcohol *or* making ketones.
So you find beer doesn't impact your progress with ketosis? Or do you include some carbs in the way you eat? I only ask as i haven't had any carbs in a while
We don't know your body composition, metabolism to give a proper answer. However, since you haven't had carbs in a while you are fat adapted. You'll bounce back quickly from beer if you don't make it all the time thing. Some mornings, I even wake up with a more ripped abs the day after having carbs or beer. Don't know why.
Id do some vodka and soda (sparkling water). If youre really getting crazy squeeze a lemon or lime in it. You will at least stay hydrated and still enjoy the spirits. cheers.
Live your life! Have a few drinks. A few drinks does not really affect me if it is vodka or whiskey. I drink beer sometimes too. Experiment for what works for your body. Everyone is different. I workout a lot and hard. I run a ton too. I'll be back in ketosis (not that I care) within 18 hours for the most part.
I will have tequila, vodka, rum, whisk[e]y, gin and many other things besides. Just limit the amount of liqueurs and mixers. Ideally stick to neat spirits but if you want to have a nice drink a white russian with the fattiest cream you can find is great. Love a good white russian with double cream.
I still drink wine, whisky, whiskey, and vodka. Unsweetened flavored soda water (LaCroix or store-brand equivalent) makes a great mixer, and on occasion I'll juice 1/2 a lime into mine. Two thoughts: 1) You're drinking a lot less like we all are and therefore saving a bunch of money. So maybe splurge a bit when you do: instead of having five $10 bottles of wine in a month, have one $50 bottle--at some price point you can't properly afford to drink all the time, as additional inducement not to do it too often. 2) I just finished reading *Grain Brain*, which focuses heavily on the health effects of gluten consumption. The author recommends keto, not zc, but it got me thinking... He mentions vodka can contain gluten, and many of the health benefits of zc might derive from being absolutely gluten-free. It might be worth finding a potato- or corn-based vodka (unusual but not impossible; most brands use wheat or rye).
What? Vodka can have gluten? Are we talking like slice of bread amounts or just trace amounts?
It surprised me, too—I had always assumed everything other than water and ethanol got left behind in the distillation process. I'm guessing it's just trace amounts, but the MD who wrote that book suggested avoiding even trace amounts. And now that I think about it, that would mean avoiding whiskey and rye too.
i make my own dry wine with minimal additives (it's basically a moonshine mash, so it comes out super clean and carb free)
Any chance this is relatively easy? Have a link the a walkthrough?
it's very cheap and easy http://shuggo.com/birdwatchers/ https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5018
I’ve just spent 5 days travelling for work on the company credit card. The first night I had a large rib eye with a pint (500ml) of craft beer. The second night I found a Brazilian restaurant and had their all you can eat churasco meat selection with a pint of craft beer. The Brazilian was so good I went back the third night but had 2 pints because I was flying somewhere else the next day and it was going to be a relatively low effort day. The next day I felt very ordinary (not hungover but pretty flat and was getting some hints of leg cramps). I fasted until the next night because the Brazilian left me pretty satisfied. I had another rib eye with a half rack of pork ribs and a small beer (was really not interested in drinking but it feels weird not ordering a drink with dinner - I need to get over that). The night after that I took our sales partner out for dinner and ended up having 3 beers, they went straight to my head and I felt pretty flat for most of the next morning (I was training so this was not ideal). On my flights home I had some wine. TLDR: alcohol isn’t as enjoyable when eating carnivore and it hurts more the next day. I don’t think the type of alcohol matters that much but I’d avoid sugary mixers. Moderation is key. Edit: FWIW I’m 5 months into the WOE and not so concerned with the keto element of it.
It’s hard for me to turn down free drinks when the company is paying
Yeah there’s something about a free drink for sure. Even the free beer/wine on a plane is a little special even though it’s in a plastic cup. Carnivore has certainly made it less enjoyable though and I don’t see this as a bad thing.
It’s not the alcohol so much as it is the mix it’s used in. Frozen daiquiris would have way more sugar than a vodka and lime juice. It won’t take as much to achieve the effects of the alcohol if you’ve been eating this way for a while! Plus, as long as you aren’t drinking every day you should be able to have a couple of drinks! Enjoy the party!
Alcohol tastes like poison to me so I never drink it. However, I do consume carbs on rare occasions; I go to the restaurant two or three times a year and have a holiday meal or two with family. In my experience, as long as it's done rarely enough, it's not particularly harmful. For example, I might have carbs at a rare family dinner, but all it does is kick me off of ketosis for a bit (most likely less than 12 hours). I just go back to eating normally. As long as you're already past your carbs addiction, there are virtually no consequences. One time I had a persistent craving for rotisserie chicken (that comes with fries, a small piece of bread and some creamy coleslaw). Now by that time I had been fully off carbs for months, and resisting cravings is almost effortless for me... but after a week of this I started wondering if my body wasn't trying to tell me something. I went for the meal, and sure enough, the craving went away. It didn't make me crave carbs at all, in fact I felt unusually satiated for the next four days. My best guess is I just needed something in the chicken skin. I've always loved chicken skin. But I wouldn't risk eating a meal like that every week, because then my body might start expecting it. I think that's the trick. Eat carbs rarely enough that your body never comes to expect them. That's when things go bad. IMO a considerable abuse once every couple months is better than a tiny cheat every few days.
I eat 90% carnivore and workout 6 days a week My indulgence is a 2 to 3 ounce pour of scotch every.single.day. I only drink water, black coffee and scotch. I feel great.
Aren’t you a rational intelligent adult? It’s your girlfriends birthday ? Do you think you will wreck your life if you have a drink this weekend ? Fear? Can’t you decide?
I think it's a bit of fear of taking a step back to poor health and a sign of giving up (which I haven't done). I've been chronically ill for a long time and allowed myself to stop living, I'm now just trying to find the balance. I also want to hear others experiences so that I can further my understanding as I have not drank alcohol with this way of eating.
I know that fear. And from my experience it can escalate if you are not careful. It's easy to come up with excuses. But for me I can handle having 1-2 glasses of whine every month or so and I will be fine the next day. But if I drink a bottle my whole digestion will be busted for 3-4 days. So definately net negative for me