Dear Lifehacker,

I like to drink socially. I also like being healthy. Yes, I know these two things are not 100% aligned, but that's between me and my god. What I want to know is: When I'm ordering my next drink, which drinks are the "healthiest" options, from a caloric perspective?


Signed,

Healthier Highball

Hey there Highball,

I get where you're coming from, and hey, as you've no doubt heard before, moderate drinking has some possible health benefits (though even that line of thinking may be a sham). One thing we know for sure is that regularly drinking in excess is very unhealthy—whether for your liver or your waistline. So like you said, rather than delve into hand-wringing over the health aspects of the alcohol itself, let's simply focus on the question: What drinks are healthiest from a caloric perspective?


I'll try to make this quick.

Wine Is Better than Beer, Beer Is Better than Mixed Drinks: Sometimes True Except When It Isn't

There are no hard-and-fast rules across alcohol categories; the total calorie count can vary considerably depending on what goes into your drink-of-choice. Let's say you're just having one drink. Generally speaking, a serving of wine has fewer calories than a serving of beer, which in turn has fewer calories than a serving of many mixed drinks. Naturally, that's far too easy, and as such, is not always true.

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Let's break it down by type:

Note: For brevity, I'm focusing on calories and skipping talk about carbs and other dietary aspects of drinks. As everyone knows, for example, beer has a lot of carbs. Most wines and liquors are low-carb affairs.


The Easiest Choices: Wine or Liquor

If you want to make the choice as simple as possible, go with wine or liquor. Note that I said liquor, not mixed drinks. As WebMD points out:

"It's the mixers, syrups, and sodas that really get people into calorie trouble, because most drinks start with 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits that only have around 96 calories, but mixologists can easily turn that into a drink with hundreds of calories," says Carolyn O'Neil, MS, RD, co-author of The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous.


If calories are a concern and you're a lover of the liquor on its own, consider ordering it neat or on the rocks and skipping the mixer altogether. According to this web site's measures, a 1.5-ounce serving of vodka, gin, whiskey, rum, tequila, etc. packs a roughly 100-calorie punch. Not bad.

A 5-ounce serving of wine (red, white, cab, grigio) will likewise pack in about 100 calories.


Beer: It Can Cost You

So then there's beer. Again, these numbers will vary depending on the beer your order (and the size of the glass). Web site Beer100's fairly comprehensive calorie chart lists "light" beers ranging 90-100 calories per 12-ounce serving, while topping out at around 300 calories.


Generally speaking, "light" beer has fewer calories than a traditional lager, which has fewer calories than an ale. For most beer lovers, that basically means flavor is directly proportional to calories. Want more flavor? Prepare for a higher calorie drink.

Mixed Drinks: Know Your Ingredients

Mixed drinks have the highest potential for going calorically astronomical. As discussed above, you're normally starting with a base of about 100 calories for your liquor. Once you start adding mixers, you've got to add your mixer to the count—and most mixers add up fast. According to WebMD, a 6-ounce pina colada is about 380 calories (more than pretty much any serving of beer, wine, or straight liquor). An 8-ounce mojito is 214 calories (more calories than a serving of wine, more than some beers, less than a 1.5-ounce serving of your favorite liquor).


Drink Like This

You don't want pull out your calorie calculator next time you saddle up to the bar, so with all that out of the way, you'd probably still like some more specific directions. So let's talk brass tacks:

Drink wine. It's low in calories.

Drink liquor. By itself. It's low in calories.

If you can't do without your mixed drinks, consider diet tonic, sodas, juices, etc. WebMD offers this list of low-calorie mixers

If diet mixers aren't an option, most martinis are low on calories (apart from the obvious, like chocolate martinis)

Gin and tonic is not bad (around 200 calories), but the tonic can add up fast.

Light beer is healthier than your favorite pale ale. Shocker!

If you want to faceoff your favorite drinks, head over to web site Get Drunk Not Fat


As a casual drinker myself, I get that there's a tradeoff for many of you. For a lot of these options, you're trading fewer calories for less flavor. (The big exception: Liquor. You get more flavor than most can handle for a low caloric pricetag.) Sure, I like the tingly, inhibition-lowering aspects of drinking, but I actually really like the taste of my alcohols of choice. If you want to avoid the waistline bulge but you also want to drink what you like, it works like this:

Once you have more than two drinks, you're already in "unhealthy" territory. If it's a simple social gathering and not a wild night out, the healthiest thing will be to cut yourself off after a couple.

Try switching between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the night. Sparkling water with a squeeze of citrus can be refreshing, and it has the added benefit of not looking like a buzz kill.


Obviously this isn't a silver bullet situation. As many readers have pointed out, there's also a lot more to "health" than calories. Find what works for you and go with it. If self-control is a problem, and you have a hard time cutting yourself off, then you want to aim in the vicinity of the low-calorie but often less-flavorful drinks. If you're good at cutting yourself off, I recommend the indulgence... at least short of the 400-calorie flaming mixed drinks.

Love,

Lifehacker

P.S. Got a favorite, go-to "healthy" drink? Share it in the comments, complete with ingredients and calorie-count, and we'll add it the post below.


Your Favorite "Healthy" Drinks

Vodka mixed with True Lemon Raspberry Lemonade mix (5 calories and All Natural!) 105 Calories...not bad and tastes really good! — deedub113

Lost 60lbs and lowered by cholesterol to an acceptable level from switching form beer to vodka and water.

Thank you vodka, thank you. — Strohsx

Thank you vodka, thank you. — Flavored vodka in club soda. No cals from the mixer, lots of flavor from the booze, which come in so many flavors, the orange or citron ones are the most refreshing I find, but vodka comes in such a wide variety of flavors, its basically like adding a boozy flavor syrup to club soda. — Geo-Therapy Care Fest

My go-to drink is a vodka and seltzer with a twist of lime. The lime adds enough flavor to keep it from tasting like watered-down vodka, and I'm not adding any calories with the seltzer. — Philbo

A friend of mine introduced me to the "low carb" margarita. Tequila, lime seltzer water, and Rose's lime magpieshoard

My favorite low-cal/low sugar beverages are the diet Cuba Libre (Rum, diet Coke, lime) and the California Margarita (muddled lime wedges, tequila and soda water). Citrus helps your body regulate sugar, so don't forget the lime. — Casey Sears

Skinny Bitch is by far the healthiest you can drink in my opinion. Vodka and sparkling water with a twist of fresh lemon. — j.c.noergaard

Scotch. With water (or melting ice cubes in summer).

Heresy to some, but quite sublime. — BK Phil

I LOVE my Gin and Tonics. You can use diet Tonic water and a spash of lime to save on calories over regular tonic.

When I'm not drinking gin and tonic, I drink red wines.

Another popular drink if you don't like gin is bacardi and diet coke, or bacardi and diet sprite.

If you like Vodka, go with a screwdriver or a vodka and sprite or something. Fruit juices have a lot of sugar, but are usually healthy. Cranberry and vodka is also a good option. Just stay away from syrups and pre-packaged mixers like the article suggests. — Shawn Wayne

Another suggestion for low-calorie booze-free delicious beverages: soda water with bitters. You can get bitters in all kinds of flavours (my favourite are rhubarb grapefruit classic Angostura

I usually just do a sugar-free Old Fashioned. Bourbon, citrus, orange or grapefruit, and bitters. If I'm feeling wild, some maple syrup. — ryanrutley

Everyone drinking vodka & soda ... try switching to (good) gin and soda. You'll be happier for it. — cc

Gimlets. Gin, ice and a small splash of Rose's Lime Everyday I'm Shuffle

A 12-ounce bottle of Guinness Draught will provide 126 delicious calories. — Orion126

No bloody mary love? Tomato ~40/8oz V8 (spicy) ~50/8oz

Plus veggie goodness for the blitzed vegans out there. — Bronx or Bust

Plus veggie goodness for the blitzed vegans out there. — Beer is going to be the healthiest in many cases since real beer contains the same amount of antioxidants as red wine and has actual nutrients, including B vitamins. Of course you have to drink unfiltered beer (so homebrew or some commercially available belgians or hefeweizens). But drinking 150 empty calories of vodka isn't going to be better than drinking 300 calories of beer with actual vitamins and yeast that hasn't been killed. And beer is delicious. — redpensplease

Hot Toddy: honey, lemon, hot water or tea, and then the whiskey.