Enjoy your evening cocktail without exceeding the calorie budget

Jan 26, 2009 20:21 GMT  ·  By
Women should avoid having more than one alcoholic drink a day, writer Alexa Fishback says
   Women should avoid having more than one alcoholic drink a day, writer Alexa Fishback says

It has been shown that few of us hardly need any excuse for ordering an alcoholic drink at the end of a long working day. If moderation is exercised, one drink per day is actually hailed as having health benefits we don’t get to enjoy otherwise but, sometimes, the one drink threshold is often ignored. Thanks to Alexa Fishback, author of The Daily Fix, we now have the perfect way of making sure that we don’t overindulge in alcohol and calories.

A girls’ night out can mean a lot of things, Fishback underlines – as it happens, one of those is also drinking one cocktail after another. This is highly not recommended for health reasons, but also for what several cocktails on consecutive nights can do to our body and, consequently, self-image. There are, Fishback tells us, several ways to trick ourselves into enjoying our nightly drink without crossing neither of these two limits.

First things first, if we’re into wine, the author explains, then the best way to enjoy a glass of it, while also eliminating the temptation of ordering another one, is to ask for a spritzer. This way, we increase the portion of the drink, while decreasing the alcohol and calorie content, and the “price” we pay for it is a slight loss in terms of taste. The same goes for a shot of vodka – Fishback tells us that we should avoid combinations of vodka with juices, replacing the latter with plain club soda. This makes for a drink that is extra light on calories and alcohol, while still retaining its original “oomph.”

The author also has a solution for the inevitable temptation of ordering a second drink on a night out. For instance, if we’re already through our first drink and must order another, but are still adamant not to exceed our “calorie budget,” we should try a sparkling seltzer with lemon and lime, and no alcohol whatsoever. This will allow us to remain within limits in terms of calorie intake, while also not being a party-pooper for the other girls who might not be as strict as we are in terms of what they’re having. No one will know, Fishback says, that there is no alcohol in our glass.

Last but not least on Fishaback’s to-do list is choosing a high-end version of our favorite alcoholic drink. So, instead of asking the bartender for shots (which we’re bound to lose count of either way by the end of the night), we should choose a cocktail made with it, on the rocks and with a twist of lemon, which we can sip for as long as we stay with the girls. And, if the soiree is too fun to leave, then there’s the seltzer with lemon option that we should always remember.