It’s girls’ night, and you and your friends are sitting at a restaurant surveying your drink options.
Before you call the waitress over to put in your order, arm yourself with some healthier drink choices so you won’t spend the next day with buyer’s remorse.
Wine
Portion control with alcohol is probably the biggest issue, said Lindsey House, a weight management dietitian with St. Elizabeth Physicians and a personal trainer.
Five ounces is a single serving of wine, with each serving containing 120 to 150 calories. “Women need to be aware of what a serving size is and not trick themselves into thinking they’re having one glass of wine when it’s in a big glass,” House said. “You could easily get to 300 calories with one giant glass of wine or two glasses.”
Mixed drinks
With liquor drinks, it all comes down to what you’re using as a mixer.
“A lot of people think tonic water’s fine, but there are actually just as many calories in tonic water as there are in soda,” House said.
Instead, use diet tonic water, club soda or diet soda as your mixer, which are all calorie-free.
House also issues a huge warning label on margaritas, strawberry daiquiris and any other frozen fruit drink, which can range from 250 calories to upwards of 500 to 600 calories per drink.
“If you want to have a fun drink, go ahead, but just take a look at the calories beforehand so you’re not shocked the next day when you find out,” she said.
Beer
There’s an easy fix for cutting calories when it comes to beer, House said. Just drink light beer.
A 12-oz. regular beer has around 150 calories, while a 12-oz. light beer has only 100.
Sometimes, though, we need to ask ourselves if it’s really the drink we want, or the nice stemware or funky margarita glass.
“A lot of times, it’s the glass we like almost more than the beverage inside it,” House said. “Putting something like sparkling water or Fresca or Crystal Light inside a fun glass might give you the same satisfaction as an alcoholic beverage.”
