Lament of a Brewmistress

[Kristine]

Two worlds collide.

I am a carb addict, but I have a passion for beer. I lovingly brew it myself. I have a buckwheat honey ale in the fridge (it's fantastic) and I have a cream ale waiting to be bottled.

I love trying new beers. There are still many local microbrews I haven't tried. When I travel, a priority is to sample the local brew.

Oh, the collective gasp of horror that would erupt on alt.homebrewing at the suggestion of a low-carb, *beerless* diet...

So, I think I've come up with a compromise. On nights when I feel like having a beer or two, I will do so only with a light dinner that's otherwise minimal in carbs - an omelette or salad. There's about 10-13g of carb in a 12-oz bottle of brewski. I don't think I want to do an "induction" type of diet, so this should be fine for me. I'm in no hurry; I'm not desperate to lose x amount of pounds by x amount of time, and I'm healthy, AFAIK.

My philosophy is that while you can be restrictive while losing weight, you have to find a happy medium thereafter that you can realistically maintain. Thus, there are certain things that bring me a lot of pleasure that I will not give up: beer and coffee are among them. :) A doctor on the Oprah show said, with respect to restricting what you eat, "am I really going to live longer, or is it just going to seem like it, never eating good food?" ;)

[angelfish]

Hi Kristine :wave:

I can relate to your love of the brew. I too love homemade beers. A friend of mine makes great beers. I did stay away from it on induction, but now have it occassionally for my carbs. Some people put fruit back in, me, I like beer or wine.

I am still losing. I'm down to about 1/2 lb a week. I'm very close to my goal now. Yeah !!!!

Angelfish

[Kristine]

Yeah, you're practically there already! :cheer: Good for you!

[nill4me]

Oh I'm SO glad I found this one!!! I'm on PP/PPLP, and also brew for myself. I don't do beer however, but do Wine instead...I am a wine fanatic! I was so glad to read the contents in PPLP and find that my favorite wines (the reds) are for the most part lower in carbs than beer and the like... I have no cravings for breads, or sweets but rarely. So my carb intake is minimal, usually through my veggies. this allows me to enjoy my wines, without the worry of carbing out.

[DarkLotus]

I, too love microbrews. But I don't dare have a beer until I lose a ton of weight! Anyways, it would be nice if beer had labels on it like any other food/beverage with content information like carbs, calories, etc. Since there isn't such a thing, anybody know of a list of carbs in the different beers (stout and barleywines as opposed to lager or ale)? :wave:

[Kristine]

The closest thing to a comparative list of carb content:

http://homepages.msn.com/BoxSeatBlvd/mrmiller023/diet.htm

...but most of them are blank, only containing the calorie content.

There's also this:

http://www.worrellbros.com/beer.html

...but you'd have to do the math by subtracting the calories from alcohol from the total calories, and assume that there's negligible protein.

[joel]

Beer and ale quaffing has been difficult to resist. Perhaps if ALL other high carbs were eliminated I could justify regular ale imbibing. At this point I don't justify it, but I don't resist it very often either!

[Maryde4]

Is there anything beer wine alcohol that is low in carbs?

[Kristine]

Yes: vodka, gin, tequila, rum, whiskey and other plain distilled spirits are carb free. You can mix them with sugar free mixer.

They're not a freebie, though... alcohol can be burned by the body and and long as you're running on alcohol, you're not burning fat. It will slow your weight loss down. It can also cause low blood sugar and cravings.

There's a low carb beer available in some areas, as well as vodka coolers. Wine can be fairly low in carbs, if it's dry.

HTH. :sunny: