Did you ask why alcoholic beverages do not have a glycemic index? Aren’t alcoholic beverages created from carbohydrate-rich ingredients? Actually, most alcoholic beverages, such as hard liquor, wine, and beer, contain few or no carbohydrates. It is not interesting? I will point out that the glycemic index has chosen an arbitrary number of 100 with a number of 70 and above called high glycemic and those between 56 and 70 are called medium and below 55 the rating is low. Some foods and drinks are too low to include.

Although some hard liquors, such as scotch, gin, and vodka, are made with carbohydrate-rich ingredients, they do not appear on the index. These liqueurs contain things like sugar, potatoes, and grains, which are all high in carbs, but the end product is carb-free—isn’t that confusing? But I know this to be true because of the fermentation and distillation process of these spirits.
Now when you talk about wine, most of the sugar found in its grapes is converted to alcohol during the winemaking process.

As far as wine is concerned, there will still be a small amount of sugar left in the final product. And now about the beer; As your beer is fermented during the brewing process, the maltose (which is sugar) that is in the beer is consumed by the yeast and converted to alcohol. But there remains a small amount of carbohydrates of about three grams per hundred millimeters; this is a fraction of the amount of carbohydrates contained in equal servings of your soft drinks.

Keep this in mind that although alcoholic beverages are virtually carbohydrate free, they are all very high in calories. Alcohol by itself has seven calories per gram. This is higher than the amount found in protein and carbohydrates and nearly as much as found in fat. And for heaven’s sake, diabetics shouldn’t be fooled by its low carb content, because they risk low blood sugar every time they drink alcohol.

What does this all mean? Well, it is very likely that excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages will make you gain weight. And we’ve all heard and probably seen what it will do to someone’s liver, maybe even yours? As always, you have to live well to be well.