I want to start with saying that no alcohol is good for you.  Contrary to popular belief, wine does not help prevent heart disease.  It’s a classic example of healthy user bias.  People that drink wine generally eat healthier diets than those that drink other types of alcohol.  People drink wine with salmon while others drink beer with pizza. 

But not all alcoholic beverages are created equal.  Some are far worse than others.

The worst types are mixed drinks with hard alcohol and a sugary mixer.  Something like a jack and coke or a screwdriver.  Our liver has to detoxify all that alcohol first before it can start converting that fructose into glucose.  Both of these substances can lead to fatty liver on their own, but when combined together they form a nasty 1-2 punch destined for chronic illness.

But wait, there’s more…

Besides destroying your liver, you only have one by the way so you should take care of it, mixed drinks are fattening.  Since our bodies cannot store alcohol, we metabolize it first.  Yes that’s right we can use alcohol for fuel.  So while our bodies are using alcohol for fuel, we are storing any fat we consumed recently and converting some of that extra sugar into fat as well.  After the alcohol is metabolized, the body will start using the excess blood glucose for fuel.  This means that fat storage is increased and fat metabolism is decreased, a very inflating combination.

So now that we’ve discussed the worst, let’s discuss the options that are not as bad.  

Hard liquor by itself is the best option.  The more distilled the better.  There’s a reason the good stuff is more expensive.

The next best option would be wine.  Red wine has more antioxidants and less sugar than white wine.  Buying organic wine is recommended because many grapes are sprayed with glyphosate, a cancer causing pesticide.

Beer is an ok option but it depends on how your body responds to it.  Many people have GI issues from the gluten in beer.  Beer also has more sugar in than wine or hard alcohol.

So just remember that no alcohol is good for you.  But mixed drinks are the worst!