Would you be willing to take on extra pounds in order to keep drinking? A drug treatment organization asked people across the nation how much weight they would be willing to gain in order to continue drinking alcohol.
Fourteen pounds was the average answer from Louisiana residents. Louisianans says that's how much weight they would be willing to add to whatever they weight now in order to keep drinking,
Ochsner registered dietitian Molly Kimball says she wonders if people really understand what that would do to them physically. She said an extra 14 pounds will out stress on our joints, our heart health, and our blood pressure.
"Then we look at the effects of alcohol even separate from weight gain," said Kimball. "Alcohol has a specific inflammatory effect on our body."
And she points out when we drink enough alcohol to lower our inhibitions, combined with dining, that can lead to issues.
"We tend to reach for foods that maybe we're trying to avoid because they're not so good for us," she explained.
And despite 53 percent of people surveyed saying they believe calories from alcohol are somehow different than calories from other sources, our bodies just don't see it that way.
"Our body is still going to see it as excess calories, and it's not going to be a neutral impact on our bodies," she said. "It's still something that we need to absolutely factor in the calories from that alcohol."
