Have you ever noticed that alcohol doesn’t fill you up the way food does? Here’s why: it doesn’t register as “food” in your GI tract or your brain.
The bad news: it doesn’t fill you up but it does have calories — 7 calories a gram – more than carbs and protein which have 4 calories a gram and fat which has 9. So, even though it might not seem as though you’re putting calories into your body, you could be taking in a lot of calories and not feel stuffed (perhaps drunk, but not stuffed).
How Much Alcohol is in Beer?
A standard drink in the United States is equal to 14.0 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol. Generally, that’s the amount of pure alcohol found in:
- 12 ounces of beer
- 8 ounces of malt liquor
- 5 ounces of wine
- 1.5 ounces or a “shot” of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor (e.g., gin, rum, vodka, or whiskey)
Is Beer or Wine Safer to Drink than Liquor?
No. Don’t be fooled. One 12-ounce beer has about the same amount of alcohol as one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5-ounce shot of liquor. It’s the amount of alcohol consumed that affects a person most, not the type of alcoholic drink.
How Many Calories Are in Your (12 ounce) Beer Bottle?
- Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale: 330 calories
- Samuel Adams Boston Lager: 180 calories
- Guinness Extra Stout: 176 calories
- Pete’s Wicked Ale: 174 calories
- Harpoon IPA: 170 calories
- Heineken: 166 calories
- Killian’s Irish Red: 163 calories
- Long Trail: 163 calories
- Molson Ice: 160 calories
- Samuel Adams Brown Ale: 160 calories
- Budweiser: 144 calories
- Corona Light: 105 calories
- Coors Light: 102 calories
- Heineken Light: 99 calories
- Budweiser Select: 99 calories
- Miller Light: 96 calories
- Amstel Light: 95 calories
- Anheuser Busch Natural Light: 95 calories
- Michelob Ultra: 95 calories
- Miller MGD 64: 64 calories
- Beck’s Premier Light: 64 calories
Calorie Saver:
Analyze your beer choice. Since there’s a very wide variation in the calories in beer, can you be satisfied with one of the lower calorie brews?
Road trip: is there one in your future?
The Summer issue of Eat Out Eat Well Magazine is ready to help you eat well when you’re in the car or grabbing some food at rest stops or roadside diners.
Get it now from iTunes or the Google Play Store for $1.99 an issue or $4.99 for a yearly subscription (four seasonal issues).
