The Nutrition Rant #2 - Alcohol

Hi Folks!

In the fitness community there are tons of arguments about the effects of different drugs and how they influence sports performance of any kind.

In this article I wanna talk to you about my opinion and approach to alcohol consumption and it's relation to sports performance which as you might know in my case is mainly CrossFit, basketball and swimming.

Fuck studies. Just as I do, probably every single one of you have some sort of experience with alcohol either good or bad. Let's get started with this. You've probably predicted that the negative effects can't be derived from the chicks you get while partying neither the brawls you may get into. Ain't no problem with that.

Here's the deal. You know that when you get drunk you get thirsty. And it may sound surprising but it's the sign of dehydration. As you may or may not know

the human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on age, gender and amount of body fat, and water is essential to human life.

Water forms the basis for all fluids in the body, such as blood and digestive juices, and it's the catalyst in all metabolic functions throughout the body. Water removes toxins and waste products from the body, and it carries nutrients to the cells of the body.

Your body is dynamic and always changing, and this is especially true with regard to water in your body. You lose water routinely when your body performs normal functions such as breathing, sweating and eliminating waste. In a typical day, you need to consume a substantial amount of water to replace this routine loss. Dehydration occurs when the amount of water leaving your body is greater than the amount being taken in.

Severe dehydration can cause symptoms such as extreme thirst, lack of sweating, rapid heartbeat and delirium, and it can be life threatening. But most people who experience dehydration experience mild to moderate dehydration.

Here are the effects of dehydration at a mild to moderate level:

• Fatigue
• Muscle weakness
• Poor concentration
• Headaches
• Dizziness or light headedness
• Decreased metabolism
• Decreased protein synthesis

Besides the tons of other effects of alcohol I think this is the one you can not argue with. With that kept in mind my advices would be:

1. Do not drink more than once in 2 weeks!
2. Chose one type of alcohol(eg.:Vodka) for one occasion and don't mix 'em!
3. When it comes to the amount you can drink it's very different for every individual so my advice would be: Only drink until you start feeling thirsty!
4. Consume lots of water during and after drinking alcohol! I really mean a lot like 2-3liters per occasion!
5. Take multivitamins directly before or after you've been consuming alcohol! That helps reducing the losses in the vitamins and minerals in your body caused by alcohol consumption.

 I think everyone should have their very own thoughts and opinions about consuming these substances but there are some people who tend to go overly religious about it and they get to a point where they can not accept any other perspectives. Don't be that guy.

Thanks everyone for reading!!

I hope it was useful and gave you some perspective.

Feel free to ask and comment!!

follow me on Twitter @theRobKiss