For many Guyanese, there is just something satisfying about opening a cold Banks Beer after a hard day. It’s a big part of their lives and while enjoyable, it does contribute to getting a ‘beer belly’.
One of the biggest problems with alcohol consumption is it shuts down fat burning. The alcohol has to get metabolised first (i.e zero blood alcohol) before your metabolism will burn fat and calories like it normally does. Then when you combine that with the fact that most people make terrible food choices when drinking, you can see where the beer belly comes from. You’re never going to see anyone go out and drink a few bottles with their friends and then say: “Hey, lets go eat a garden salad afterwards…” It’s usually with fish and chips, burgers, fries or whatever ‘cutters’ are on hand. So, you get the synergistic effect from drinking alcohol: suppressed fat burning + poor food choices = fat gain.
Now the simple answer is to just stop drinking but that can be hard to do, especially if drinking is part of your lifestyle and you really enjoy it. However, one simple trick that I’ve found helpful is to have non-alcoholic or low-calorie beer instead of regular beer. Even if you just swap out some of your regular beer for non-alcoholic (NA) or low-calorie beers, it would be a step in the right direction.
For example, instead of drinking a six-pack of regular beer, why not have three NA beers or three low-calorie beers and three regular beers. If you pour them up in a nice frosty mug, you probably won’t even be able to tell the difference. This is just one small step in the right direction that you can take to improve your eating habits and tip the scale in favour of fat burning.
The key here is to focus on making progress, not getting hung up on trying to be perfect.
While stopping drinking cold turkey may work for some, it’s probably not sustainable for most guys. Being overly restrictive will usually make cravings build up and cause you to relapse into your old habits.
But if you can change your habits subtly while still enjoying the process, you’re more likely to make a lasting change that will lead to better long-term results.
This is just one of many tricks that you can use to live a leaner, healthier lifestyle.
