Skip the wine & cocktails! When you have an alcoholic drink, you burn less fat, and more slowly than usual, because the alcohol is used as fuel instead. Knocking back the equivalent of about two martinis can reduce your body’s fat-burning ability by up to 73%.

Alcohol & the IP Protocol

Alcoholic beverages are strictly forbidden during the weight loss phases of the IP diet.  Having an occasional glass of wine or cocktail will interfere with the success of your diet.  Alcohol can inhibit the mechanisms of gluconeogenesis significantly.  Alcohol contains significant calories, which cannot be converted into energy, so instead they are formed into triglycerides and eventually end up as fat in your liver, or fat in other areas of your body.  As difficult as it may be to give up, it is absolutely necessary for you to be successful.  Embrace it as a temporary change.

So what to drink instead?  Here are some ideas!

• water or club soda with fresh mint leaves or lime
• cucumber water (slice cucumbers into your water and let it chill overnight)
• iced green or black tea or flavored tea
• any Ideal Protein drink blended with ice
• Ideal Protein Mangosteen water enhancer with San Pellegrino Mineral Water

Make your drinks festive!  Put them in a fancy glass, garnish with lemon or mint, add a straw and enjoy!  Remember to bring your own drinks to parties so you will be prepared!

Why No Alcohol???

The “empty calories” in alcohol have no nutritional value. When you drink alcohol your liver has to process it so that it can be tolerated by your body. Remember that at this stage your liver is already working hard. If it has to interrupt the fat burning process to deal with your alcohol intake, your weight loss program will be seriously compromised. During Phases 1 and 2, your body needs to be functioning as efficiently as possible, and alcohol in these stages poses a significant threat.

Alcohol contains 7 kcal/gram so even one small glass of wine will add up to unwanted pounds over a period of time. Beer in particular has a very high sugar content and is manufactured to keep you drinking more and more. Your thirst is never quenched, and your sugar intake just keeps going higher and higher. As you start to develop a more healthy attitude towards nutrition, you will understand the many ways in which alcohol interferes with your metabolic processes, thereby causing you to gain weight.

There is a Scientific Reason …

DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL IF YOU ARE KETOTIC (in fat-burning mode)!
Alcohol is a powerful inhibitor of gluconeogenesis. In fact, it forces part of the gluconeogenic metabolic process into reverse. This means that if all the glucose in the blood is being derived from gluconeogenesis then the consumption of alcohol will inevitably cause the blood glucose level to fall. Additionally, the alcohol also stops ketone body production, thus leaving the brain entirely without fuel.

A person who is ketotic is 100% reliant on gluconeogenesis to maintain adequate levels of glucose in the blood. If, under these circumstances alcohol is taken, the person will become disorientated and might lose consciousness, not just from the alcohol, but from low blood sugar. Needless to say, this could be very dangerous, and even fatal.

In short, the message here is: do not drink if you are on a low carb diet. You are deriving your glucose from fat burning and your glucose levels are adequate for your body to function, but you have no reserves. Hypoglycemia will result. If your blood sugar falls rapidly, you could pass out, or worse!