How many calories are in your glass?

Calorie intake is something that is always on the minds of nutrition-conscious people. It's always important to be aware of eating habits - both in terms of the quantity of what we eat as well as the quality. We eat approximately 100 meals in a month, and we can make incremental but lasting changes over those 100 meals, like food quality and portion size.

An area related to portion size that is often not given much attention by health professionals (at least when quoted in the media) are calories from alcohol. Alcohol packs a calorie-rich punch at 7 calories per gram. Compare this to 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates and protein, and 9 calories per gram for fat. What does this mean for popular alcoholic drinks in terms of calories directly from alcohol?

- 341ml of Beer at 5% = 100 calories from alcohol (160 total)
- 500ml of Beer at 8% = 221 calories from alcohol (320 total)
- 150ml of Wine at 13% = 108 calories from alcohol (150 total)
- 750ml of Wine at 13% = 540 calories from alcohol (750 total)
- 44ml of Spirit at 40% = 100 calories from alcohol (110 total)

Now compare these calorie counts to some other well-known high calorie foods:

- Big Mac = 540 calories
- Coca-Cola (355ml) = 140 calories
- Starbucks Nonfat Green Tea Latte (Tall) = 150 calories
- Dunkin' Donuts' Apple Fritter Donut = 290 calories

It can be quite a shock when people realize that a pint of beer can have more calories than a donut and a small glass of wine can pack more calories than a can of Coke.

There is no one diet that is right for everyone but many of us could use a few less calories in what we consume on a daily basis and reducing our alcohol consumption can be an easy way for some people to reach this goal. The good news is that there are now many lower calorie and tasty alternatives, like Partake Brewing's Craft Non-Alcoholic beer with as few as 10 calories a can.