What is alcohol?
Alcohol is a part of many social occasions, from family dinners to parties, to sporting events and nightcaps. The problems associated with alcoholism are well known, but what about the impact of social drinking or a moderate intake of alcohol? Does alcohol belong in our diet, or does the risk that it presents outweigh any benefits that may be derived from consuming it?Good nutrition can help to improve your health and prevent diseases. The essential nutrients that your body needs are carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. The term "essential" means that if you remove one of these nutrients from your diet there will be a deficiency that causes health problems.
Alcohol would not fall under the category of essential nutrients because there is no problem or disease state if you do not consume it. However, some argue that there are added health benefits from consuming alcohol and argue that it should be added to our diets for that reason.
The key to determining whether you need alcohol is to understand what alcohol is and how it is processed in your body. Calories provide energy for our bodies to function. We get calories from carbohydrates, protein, fat, and alcohol. For each gram, you get a set number of calories.
| 1 gram | Calories |
| Carbohydrates | 4 |
| Protein | 4 |
| Fat | 9 |
| Alcohol | 7 |
The vitamin, mineral, and water content add to the nutritional value for each of these nutrients but do not provide any calories. The key to a healthy diet is to spend your calories on foods that provide a variety of vitamins and minerals without a lot of calories. Alcohol can do the exact opposite of this. It doesn't provide a lot of vitamins and minerals and you can easily get an entire meal's worth of calories from a few cocktails! Alcohol interferes with how your body processes and stores nutrients so the healthy foods that you do eat don't get to do their job.
Many people do not realize that alcohol can be classified as a drug. Under this category, it is the most widely used drug in the world. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in the United States, 17.6 million people -- about one in every 12 adults -- abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent. The majority of the population consumes alcohol moderately or occasionally, but that does not mean that it's not a problem. You do not need to be an alcoholic for alcohol to interfere with your health and life. The potential to become addicted to alcohol is a serious problem that can affect anyone. Alcohol is not an essential nutrient in your diet and limits need to be followed on how much and how often it is consumed.
Stress and Alcohol
There are many people that believe that an alcoholic beverage is the key to reducing stress. In some ways alcohol does help to loosen a person a bit when they are tightly wound or upset. However, there is a point where alcohol soon becomes a deterrent to the alleviation of stress. In fact, in many cases alcohol can increase stress levels when consumed in large portions. There are many people that may use alcohol as a stress reliever and be doing more harm than good.
However, what they do not realize is that alcohol could be adding to the amount of stress that they experience. This is particularly true for those individuals that are heavy drinkers. For some people, alcohol can change the personality greatly, and for some not in a good manner. This can cause a person to act in ways that can result in more stress for themselves and those dealing with their behavior while under the influence of alcohol. Thus, it is very important to understand how alcohol can affect levels of stress.
Many people often believe that alcohol is a stress reliever, and there is good reason for this. Alcohol is a sedative that relaxes the central nervous system. Most people are aware that after a few glasses of wine or some other alcoholic beverage they are increasingly mellow. This is the effect of the alcohol on a person’s central nervous system. It is very important to note that people respond to alcohol in different ways. While some people may fall asleep under the influence of alcohol, there are others that may become belligerent or hostile. This type of behavior only increases the levels of stress in a person and causes stress for those that have to deal with this type of behaviour.
Alcohol is a suppressant; however, what many people fail to realize is that alcohol also impairs judgment. The amount of alcohol that will impair judgment varies upon individuals as all people have different tolerance levels for alcohol consumption. Thus, the very alcohol that is consumed to encourage relaxation is also the culprit for increasing stress levels when the alcohol has an adverse effect on a person’s cognitive abilities. It can be very stressful for an individual to try to perform regular activities when he or she is under the influence of alcohol.
People become frustrated with themselves when they think that they can do simple activities such as walk and find that the alcohol will not allow them to do so in a regular manner.
It is also very important to note that alcohol has a stressful effect on the body as well. People that consume large amounts of alcohol on a consistent basis may find that their bodies will begin to show signs of serious stress. This may take the form of liver disease such as cirrhosis which is a hardening of the liver because of excess alcohol consumption. This is a sign from the body that alcohol consumption is playing a very negative effect on body overall. Ceasing the consumption of alcohol is usually required in order to alleviate these symptoms.
Overall, there are a number of ways in which alcohol and stress are interrelated.
