Today's feature: beer and calories. I've had this one rattling around my head for a little while since I've been pretty successfully losing weight. I'm well into the last 20 pounds (after having lost over 50 thus far), and the whole "plateau" effect makes things a little bit harder. To get a better handle on things, and help estimate things like my calorie deficit, I bought a Fitbit. ...Ok, full disclosure, I accidentally bought a Fitbit on eBay while kind of sort of drunk.
Shut up! I never claimed to be a role model!
So that I can spend exactly zero more time on the specifics of my weight loss plan, I'll make two statements. One: diets don't work. Lifestyle changes do. I went into this knowing that if I was too restrictive, I would fall off the wagon pretty quickly. I wanted to do this without really giving anything up... but more like exercising more moderation (in addition to, you know... plenty of literal exercising) and eating strategically. Like only indulging in treats when one has the ability to work them off. Carbs and sugars earlier in the day or on weekends, for example. Statement two? Beer makes calorie counting dang near impossible.
I'm not saying I need to know the exactitude of everything that goes in to my body. I am far from a temple. But I would at least like some idea, and I'm not going to drink no Miller 64 so that I can know for sure. I've always though there was a bit of sexist dynamic going on here. Counting calories is a thing women do, right? And drinking with reckless abandon? Well, that's man town. I tell ya... I got plenty of hair on my back and beer in my fridge... but believe it or not, I would at least like some idea of the numbers on what I'm drinking.
It's ridiculous to me that there's even resistance to knowing the calorie count of a good craft. Who hasn't looked at the nutrition info on the side of a box of cereal, and if you don't care... does it REALLY bother you that much that the info is available? Or maybe you're just living in denial that a beverage... a liquid (and one that you love) could be so deceptively high in caloric content. You might think twice about eating a couple of Klondike Bars, but what's 3 pints on a Friday with friends? Let's just throw out some numbers, then: 488 and 600. 488 calories being what you would do, nutritionally, for one Klondike Bar, and just under 600 representing three 12oz bottles of a 6.5% ABV beer. But I said pints, didn't? Ok, make that number more like 810 calories. And keep in mind that's an estimate depending on several other factors.
The devil is, as he always seems to be, in the details. Sure, alcohol basically equals calories, with every gram of the wonderful stuff making for about 7 calories. Then there are the carbs (ugh, that word... I know) due to sugars left over from fermentation that add even more. Trust me, it gets pretty complicated.
Using the equation from the article linked above, you would need to know not just the alcohol content of a beer, but also the OG (original gravity, or how much sugar was present in the unfermented beer) and the FG (final gravity, or how much sugar is left after fermentation) to get a truly accurate handle on what you're downing to the ol' waistline. You can ballpark based on the ABV, but really... should you have to? If you're a person that actually wants the info, why is it hidden behind this veil of science and taboo?
Anyway, the reason I'm writing about this now is some hot-off-the-presses development kind of stuff. The Treasury Department (which, for some weird reason, regulates alcohol... I would have guessed ATF, since the "A" stands for alcohol, but the Treasury Department also runs the Secret Service, so who knows and why is this parenthetical going on for so long?) is "is moving to allow companies to place labels on packages that include serving size, servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein, and fat per serving" on beer, wine and spirits. Now the second question I have here, after why is the Treasury Department regulating alcohol is... wait, it was NOT allowed before??
Now, if you're on the other side of the caring fence from me, please keep in mind that the operative word in this ruling is "allow". Nutritional labels on alcoholic beverages will be optional. It may well prove to move on and become a requirement, but let's deal with the hand we've been given first.
If you read the article, there's a number of points, from interesting to just plain stupid ("including fat and carbohydrates on a label could imply that an alcoholic beverage is positively healthful" said one man happily eating a Big Mac that also had a known fat and carb level), but it's clear that things are complicated. Still, I just can't understand why this is such a hot button issue. I don't think anyone that loves craft beer is going to run screaming if they knew the info, and I don't think anyone drinking light lagers because they're actively trying not to imbibe too many calories is going to be going to a proper bottle shop any time soon, anyway. And there's frankly a lot of misconception out there that some transparency could clear up. The first thing that comes to mind is the myth of dark beer being "heavier". Beer geeks know that Guinness has fewer calories than a Budweiser, but I don't think stuff like that is exactly common knowledge.
My point remains: the info should be there if you want it, and is easily ignorable if you don't. Craft beer companies could go the route of having the info on a website or by request only, even. Whatever people are most comfortable with. But what I'm not comfortable with is a wall of fat silence.
Why? Because I care.
BTW, I reserve the right to rescind my argument with pure, white hot rage if the labels come out and suggest that a 12oz bottle of beer has 5 servings in it.
Oh, and if you care too, here's a handy chart to roughly estimate (without knowing the OG and FG of a beer) the calories in your brew (from the article that started me thinking about all of this).
...And no sooner did I finish this blog did I reach for a beer, only to find no ABV on the label to estimate with. On further inspection, I realized that as a shandy, I might have to count it as half beer, half lemonade... maybe? It was at that point I threw up my hands.
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