Intermittent fasting and alcohol: The impact of alcohol on your body and intermittent fasting benefits

In a nutshell

Intermittent fasting is a dietary approach that implies switching between fixed windows of fasting and eating for weight loss, metabolic, insulin, and other benefits. Although this type of diet is less restricted in terms of what you eat, there are many important considerations to keep in mind in order to get the most out of it. Namely, the interaction between intermittent fasting and alcohol is a common concern. Due to its caloric content, alcohol in any amount breaks a fast, which is why it can’t be consumed during your fasting window.

Nevertheless, it’s possible to enjoy it in moderation during your eating window, especially if you choose the right options. The best alcohol for intermittent fasting includes dry wine and spirits like vodka, tequila, and so on.

Intermittent fasting is a popular dietary approach known to promote healthy weight loss and provide a wealth of additional benefits. If you are just getting started with it, it’s natural to have different questions and concerns. In this guide, we will explore the interaction between intermittent fasting and alcohol to define whether it’s okay to drink while fasting.

{{button}}

Intermittent Fasting: Definition and Effects on Your Body

Intermittent fasting is a form of a fast that involves switching between eating and fasting periods every day, for example, fasting for 16 hours and then eating for 8 hours. This dietary approach has many schedules that you can use, for example, 12:12, 16:8, or 18:6. Also, it’s possible to practice periodical, short-term fasting, when you abstain from food, let’s say for 24 hours once a week.

Intermittent fasting can be beneficial for all body types when it’s aligned with your composition and goals. It’s main effects on your body include:

• Metabolic reset
• Autophagy (cell restoration)
• Insulin regulation

Additionally, prolonged fasting windows create calorie restrictions that stimulate the weight-loss process.

What Are the Central Principles of IF?

Unlike other popular restricting diets, intermittent fasting is much more mild. It tends to allow the consumption of very diverse foods with minimal limitations. Yet, this doesn’t mean that it absolutely doesn’t matter what you eat during your intermittent fasting.

If you want to facilitate fat burn, it’s important to keep a close eye on what you consume during your fasting and eating windows. Wrong choices can break your fast and alleviate the metabolic and insulin benefits that you get.

The Effects of Alcohol on Your Body and Metabolic Function

If you are wondering “Does alcohol break a fast,” it’s important to understand the overall impact of alcohol on your body.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), alcohol is metabolized in your body by several processes or pathways. The most common one involves two enzymes–alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). These enzymes break apart the ethanol molecule into compounds that are more easily processed by the body.

If we delve into science, the process looks like this:

• ADH transforms the alcohol molecule into acetaldehyde.
• Acetaldehyde is then metabolized down to acetate.
• Acetate is further broken down into water and carbon dioxide and eliminated from the body.

In order to understand the effect of this process on your body, it’s important to understand that the two primary compounds created from alcohol metabolism (acetaldehyde and acetate) are highly toxic. They cause liver damage and facilitate the esterification of the accumulated fatty acids to triglycerides, phospholipids, and cholesterol esters.

Simply put, alcohol consumption can lead to the development of fatty liver diseases, creating more inflammation and possibly hindering fat burning and making it harder to lose weight.

Impact of Alcohol on Intermittent-Fasting-Related Benefits

Apart from the overall damaging properties, it’s important to consider the impact of alcohol on the key fasting benefits:

• Insulin sensitivity - Despite its potential risks, moderate alcohol consumption in women has been shown to reduce fasting insulin and improve insulin sensitivity.
• Autophagy - Alcohol has been shown to both induce and suppress autophagy via different pathways. Thus, if cell restoration is the primary purpose of your fasting, it’s important to consider the possible negative impacts of alcohol on this process.
• Blood sugar - When you drink, your liver focuses on breaking down alcohol and stops producing glucose. That is, alcohol can reduce your blood sugar levels. However, this may mean a risk of extremely low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).
• Metabolism - Alcohol intake is known to hinder metabolic function by creating dehydration and reducing the digestive absorption of multiple nutrients. Nevertheless, when consumed regularly (in low to moderate amounts) it can also increase your metabolic rate.

Can You Drink Alcohol While Intermittent Fasting?

Now that you know more about alcohol metabolism and its impact on your body and fasting-related benefits, the big question is whether you generally can drink during intermittent fasting or not. To answer this question, we need to look at the interaction between intermittent fasting and alcohol at different windows of your IF:

Fasting Window

Breaking a fast basically means consuming calories during your fasting window. As you may already know, all types of alcohol contain some calories–on average, 7 calories per gram, which is almost as many calories as you get when consuming a gram of fat.

So does alcohol break a fast? The answer is “yes.” Due to its high caloric content, drinking alcohol during your fasting window will break your fast and hinder all your efforts. Thus, it’s not allowed to drink during your fasting period.

Eating Window

Since you are free to consume as many calories as you need during your eating windows, drinking alcohol at this time is not strictly prohibited. A glass of wine or another alcoholic beverage can serve as a treat and even provide additional benefits. However, it’s important to keep it moderate.

Tips for Drinking While Maintaining the IF Benefits

As you already know, technically, you can drink alcohol during intermittent fasting. Yet, if you want to maintain all the weight loss and other IF benefits, it’s crucial to follow certain tips:

• Completely restrict alcohol intake during your fasting windows. When you’re fasting, you should be fasting from alcohol as well because all types of alcohol contain some calories. In fact, alcoholic beverages contain quite many calories and can break your fast and alleviate efforts.
• Drink in moderation. While alcohol may even have positive effects on your metabolism, insulin resistance, and other bodily functions, consuming it in excessive amounts always does more harm than good. Hence, it’s important to avoid binge drinking and generally limit the amount of alcohol you consume.‍
• Pair alcohol with good, nutrient-dense foods. Alcohol is known to hinder the absorption of key nutrients. Thus, in order to ensure that you receive sufficient nutrients on the days when you drink, it’s important to combine alcohol with nutrient-dense foods. Besides, such foods help slow the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream and thus, reduce the likelihood of intoxication.‍
• Focus on hydration. Alcohol can stimulate water loss and eventually lead to significant dehydration. At the same time, intermittent fasting also leads to a faster loss of essential electrolytes and thus, faster dehydration. Due to these reasons, if you are consuming even small amounts of alcohol during intermittent fasting, you have to hydrate your body well before and after it.‍
• Pick low-sugar alcohol types. Finally, if you don’t want to hinder fat loss and blood sugar regulation, you will likely want to choose lower-calorie, lower-sugar beverages. If we had to outline the best and worst alcohol types for intermittent fasting, the best one would probably be dry red wine, while high-calorie, sugary cocktails would probably be the worst.

FAQ

Does alcohol break a fast?

Yes. Although it may not hinder the majority of fasting-related processes, such as metabolic rate or insulin regulation, alcohol contains quite many calories. Thus, drinking it will definitely break your fast, regardless of the amount or type of alcohol.

Does vodka break a fast?

Yes. Despite a common misconception, non-sugary alcoholic beverages still contain quite many calories. Vodka, in particular, hides 231 calories per 100 grams, which is the amount of calories you can get from a small, calorie-low meal. That is, drinking it (in any amount) during your fasting window will break your fast.

Can you drink while intermittent fasting?

Although all types of alcohol break a fast, it doesn’t mean that you’re absolutely prohibited from having your favorite drink while on intermittent fasting. You can’t drink alcohol during your fasting windows to prevent breaking a fast. However, you can still enjoy alcohol in moderation during your eating windows.

What is the best alcohol for intermittent fasting?

Generally, if you decide to have a drink during your eating window, it’s recommended to opt for low-calorie and sugar-free beverages. For example, spirits like vodka, tequila, rum, and gin can make good options. However, it’s important to combine them with low-calorie mixers instead of sugary drinks. Dry wine is also a good choice as it doesn’t contain sugars and is generally low in calories.

Conclusion

Although alcohol can be intoxicating and damaging to your body, its small amounts have been shown to improve insulin resistance, lower blood sugar, and improve metabolic rate. Due to these benefits, enjoying your favorite spirit or a glass of dry wine is not prohibited during intermittent fasting, though you need to know how to do it right.

After reading this article, you have practical tips on how to consume alcohol safely and without hindering the effect of your intermittent fasting. Follow them to attain your goals.

{{pink-banner}}