Beer is High in Carbs, Right???

There is a lot of talk out there about beer being high in carbs. Please refer to my previous post about my feeling on carbs (they are not the cause of weight gain… but you should focus on eating all natural carbs- fruit, veg, whole grains, and not too many). But that being said, the majority of calories in beer do not come from the carbs, they come from the alcohol! Alcohol contains 7 calories/gram. To compare:

• Carb= 4 cal/g
• Protein= 4 cal/g
• Ethanol (alcohol)= 7 cal/g
• Fat= 9 cal/g

 So, alcohol is closer to fat in terms of calorie density than carbs or protein. That is why one shot (1.5 oz) of 80 proof Vodka will run you almost 100 calories. Pretty comparable to drinking a shot of vegetable oil!

The carbs in beer are derived from whatever cereal the beer is made of (malted barley, wheat, corn, or sometimes, rice). In general, most beers have fewer carbs per 12 oz. than a glass of milk. The lower the carbs in a beer, the less flavor the beer will have (hence the reason why a lot of people compare drinking light beer to drinking water). But there is a certain point where they cannot decrease the calories in a beer anymore, without eliminating all the alcohol. 

Here is a brief list of the calorie, carb, and alcohol content of a select few beers:

BEER CONTENTS BASED ON 12 FL OZ.:

Beer name	Calories	Carb (g)	Alcohol (%)
Budweiser	145	10.6	5
Bud Light	110	6.5	4.1
Michelob Ultra	95	2.6	4.1
Sam Adams Boston Lager	160	18	4.75
Yuengling Lager	135	12	4.4

Source: USDA Nutrient Database, http://www.livestrong.com/

If you want to know how to calculate calories in your beer, you have to be pretty math-savvy, and need to know the following:

• mL of alcohol (mL of beer x % alcohol)
• # mL of alcohol x 1 g alcohol/1 mL alcohol
• # g alcohol x 7 calories/gram= ________ calories

Example: 12 oz beer= ~355 mL x 0.045 (4.5%) alcohol= ~16 g alcohol, 16 g x 7 kcal/g= 112 calories just from alcohol…….. and then you need to add additional calories for carbs (on average, say 10 g carb/beer= 40 extra calories)= 152 kcals in this example beer (+ any additional calories from added sugars for your fruity beers).

Picture Source: http://s3-media3.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/cn8tvD_K_sTzVf5opOtvFw/ls.jpg (Teresa's Next Door, Wayne, PA= great beer on tap!)

Carbs have a bad "wrap"

Over my past month working at CLM, I have noticed that most conversations revolve about carbohdyrates. More specifically, it sounds like most people think of carbs as being on the same playing field as alcohol (ie: “use in moderation”). I  understand why people might believe this, and I attribute a lot of this misinformation to ”low carb diet” marketing, and also, since we are in a fitness center, protein is obviously king (or weight lifters believe anyway…. but protein is a topic for another day). One day I actually had someone ask me if eating plain oatmeal for breakfast is bad…. let me tell you, that is usually the ultimate goal when working with clients- to have someone eat plain oatmeal for breakfast! That would be huge!

So, let me try to unravel the truth about carbs for you. If carbs were really bad and the cause of weight gain, then why is the staple food of 90+ percent of all ethnic diets a carbohydrate and the diets that are most carb based did not see an obesity epidemic until newer processed foods were introduced? (Asian= rice, noodles; Indigenous America= corn, wheat; Africa= wheat, root crops; Mexican= rice, beans; Eastern Europe= Potatoes; Meditteranean= pasta (wheat)). Populations have survived for thousands of years with the large majority of their diet based heavily on carbohydrate, and it isn’t until recently that we’ve seen obesity. Interesting, eh?

But while our ancestors may have followed a “high carb” diet, they weren’t exactly eating the same “carbs” that we see today. I’m not even sure if I would call many of the products out on the market real food…. but they do contain carbs. I’m talking about potato chips, “cheese puffs”, high fructose corn syrup and acid (ie: soda), puffed rice/corn loaded with sugar and called “cereal”, grains stripped of their natural nutrition and called “white bread”, etc. If only we ate natural and unprocessed foods, we would be eating some of the healthiest foods on earth (ie: sweet potatoes, beans, quinoa, fruit, etc.). Yes, carbs are found in fruit, vegetables, and dairy… and that doesn’t make them bad! There is a reason why the majority of most diets are carbohydrate based- high quality carbs contain high quality nutrition (iron, folate, B6, riboflavin, B6, zinc, etc.) that you just can’t find in protein and fat.

So, stop counting carbs and instead go load your shopping cart with whole grains, legumes, fruits, veggies, and dairy. Enjoy!