If you are following a ketogenic diet, you might be wondering how to enjoy a wine night with your girls while still staying in ketosis. In this blog post I am going to walk you through how our body metabolizes alcohol and how to support ketone production while enjoying a glass or two on occasion.
Let’s first discuss how our body metabolizes alcohol. Alcohol is mainly metabolized in the body by the liver. However, the brain, pancreas and stomach also play roles in alcohol’s metabolism.
Two enzymes, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) help with this process of elimination. When alcohol (or ethanol) is first ingested, our body recognizes this as a toxin, thus, prioritizing its elimination from the body. When this occurs, the body stops making ketones and stops breaking down glucose. While on a ketogenic diet, this can cause you to fall out of ketosis while your body works to eliminate the alcohol. While this is happening, our body stops burning fat and instead encourages our liver to produce new fatty acids. The amount of fat burning that is impacted is dependent on how much alcohol our body has to metabolize. You can estimate that for every one alcoholic drink, fat burning is slowed for at least one hour.
The good news is there are some strategies to combat this process so that you can enjoy a glass of wine with your girls while on a ketogenic diet.
Strategy 1: Pick dry wines
Strategy 2: Consume food and water while drinking
Strategy 3: Slow down your consumption
Strategy 4: Consume beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) prior to or after ingesting alcohol
Being on a ketogenic diet doesn’t mean that you have to give up wine night with your girlfriends! By using the strategies mentioned above, you can enjoy your wine while supporting your ketogenic diet goals!