The best option is to drink spirits such as whisky neat, but always remember to drink water on the side as these spirits obviously have a much higher ABV than wine, for example. However, in party season the rules change and it pays to compromise a little on taste to maintain a reasonable calorie intake level – so switch to the Slimlines, or, better still, spirits with sodas. My general rule is that if I am going to have just one or two, then go for the best and don’t worry too much about the calories.

Gin and Schweppes Diet Tonic 52 kcal (fewer calories, less taste) Gin and Fever Tree Naturally light tonic 72 kcal (fewer calories and still good taste) Gin and Fever Tree tonic 97 kcal (more calories but better taste)

Below are the differences between some tonics to give you the idea (25ml Gin and half a bottle of tonic): If you do go down the Slimline route, then choose ones like Fever Tree, where they are not looking for zero calories (just reduced levels) and thus it isn’t entirely artificial and will blend more easily with the spirit. The sweeteners contained in them are artificial and will corrupt the purity of the spirit. You can choose from different tonics and Slimline tonics but the taste of the G&T will differ. Tonic has plenty of sugar and other added sweeteners, which makes it high on calories.

Tonic is not soda! Soda obviously has zero calories so it’s a real winner if you can find the drink to go with it. Alcohol is never going to be a calorie-neutral experience – but it’s not just the quantity you drink that matters it’s what you drink and how you drink it…. I like to encourage people to drink sensibly and avoid excessive drinking – but I’m sure you can make your own calculation of what a real bender costs you in terms of calories. Slog your way through five premix Rum & Cokes and you are talking about the equivalent calorie intake of three hamburgers, one cheeseburger, and a large side of French fries to round it all off!! Think of what you are doing to your body. After that, it starts to get ugly….Drinking two premixed alcopops is equivalent to two cheese burgers a bottle of wine is equivalent to both a cheeseburger and a cheese & bacon burger. Stick to a sensible G&T (see Tonics below) and you are consuming around a burger and a half. Maybe it’s better to give you a perspective on that – think burgers. A regular burger with cheese has 300 kcal, and with bacon, 380 kcal. A good Christmas night out can easily see you consume four or five drinks (let’s stay on the side of sensible drinking), which, from the table above, you can see could be as little as 300 calories or as much as 1,300 if you hit the premix G&Ts!! The above listings may not seem too bad, but when you mix spirits with soft drinks the amount doubles! Whilst vodka alone has 72 calories, a Vodka and Cranberry has 188 kcal, G&T around 100 kcal, and Rum and Coke 134 kcal. So what are the facts….average calories per drink: THE GOOD I don’t want to advocate that you start avidly counting calories (who’s got time for that!?), but it is a good idea to learn to drink smart.Īll you need to do to stay on the right track is to make smart choices on what and how much you drink! The recommended daily calorie intake for women is somewhere between 2,000 and 2,400 calories, depending on various factors like age and how active you are, meaning around 250 calories a day for an ‘average drinker’, or 1,800 calories a week from alcohol alone. If you spend so much time trying to ‘eat right’ why not try to learn to drink properly too? On average, alcohol makes up to 10% of the calorie intake of adults who are regular drinkers. Often we will avoid certain foods because of the calories involved, yet we drink almost anything. We tend to forget there are calories in alcohol.

Calories dry red wine