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̌The Ultimate Guide to Keto Dry January: If your new year’s resolutions include consuming less alcohol and sugar, this article is for you!
Start rocking the year with the Dry January but focus only on sugar-free beverages.
What is Dry January?
Each year, millions of people decide to make January an alcohol-free month. After the winter festivities and too many celebration drinks, January is the perfect month to start off again, cutting off bad habits, eating healthier, and starting to exercise again.
Dry January started in 2013, as an initiative from the UK organization called Alcohol Change UK. This organization is anti-alcohol but instead focused on alcohol change. The organization wants to promote a future in which people drink as a conscious choice, not a default.
They have many resources, for example, the following quiz:
Check how healthy your drinking is quiz
Benefits of Dry January
We all know alcohol is expensive, and caloric, and not healthy if consumed in big portions. A full alcohol-free month is linked to the following benefits:
Dry January can boost the immune system
Yes, alcohol affects our immune system. Huge consumption of alcohol may contribute to a reduced ability to fight off infections and illnesses.
Dry January can increase energy
We all know the morning after an evening with too many drinks. Alcohol impacts our energy levels by compromising sleep and depressing our nervous system.
Dry January can help losing weight
Alcohol contains seven calories per gram, so a few drinks per week have a big impact on our waistline.
Moreover, alcohol is linked to gaining weight mostly because it enables a chain of bad behavior that impacts our consumption of food. Have you noticed that when you drink you are more in the urge to snack? And very often, alcohol makes us crave trash and unhealthy food.
How alcohol is a bad companion for the keto diet
If you are following the keto diet, most probably you are very motivated by the benefits, mostly the increased energy and the weight loss. Alcohol is annulling all these benefits, making it harder for us to follow the keto diet and stick to our lifestyle goals.
Alcohol impacts energy levels and influence negatively our lifestyle
The result of low energy and poor sleep are bad choices in our lifestyle, for example not having the energy to go to the gym or to prepare a healthy meal.
Alcohol contains many calories
If you are following keto to lose weight, don’t feel too safe sticking with the drinks that have fewer carbs and are keto-approved. It’s true, spirits and wine are generally keto-friendly, but this doesn’t mean we can drink a lot of them. And, don’t forget the calories. They easily add up to a holy calorie calculator.
On average a generous glass(150 ml) of wine has 125 calories and about 4-5 grams of carbohydrates.
Calculate your average intake, to discover that alcohol can be an enemy in your progress.
Alcohol cancels our focus, motivation, and goals. And make us lazy. And then we eat unhealthy foods.
In my opinion, the most catastrophic impact of alcohol on the keto diet is the bad habits chain.
Alcohol cancels our focus, motivation, and goals. And make us lazy. And then we make the unhealthy food choices.
At the same time, alcohol makes us crave food, usually crispy, and fatty (the unhealthy way).
The combination of forgetting our goals + laziness + craving less beneficial foods very often leads to a massive cheat day. Followed by a sentiment of guilt the next day.
The cheating was not calculated, and probably, not even worthy.
Why you should combine Dry January with the keto diet
We could all use a new restart, especially in January. After all the missed days at the gym, too many drinks, and festive meals, we need to reset our good habits again.
So, if you feel you lost your discipline and you are not sure you can go back to a healthy life again,
I believe a challenge with yourself can be very beneficial.
Tips to successfully survive Dry January while on a keto diet
The key to succeeding in a Dry January while on a keto diet is very simple: stick to alcohol-free and sugar-free beverages. It’s only a month where we have to skip wine with soft drinks, it’s not that bad.
We, keto dieters, can live without fries, pizza, and Dunkin Donuts all year long, what can be a short month without alcohol?
My tips:
- Avoid triggers, meaning situations related to the consumption of alcohol.
- If you cannot avoid certain events, be strong and order your sot sugar-free drinks with confidence.
Prepare in advance your answer when they will offer you a drink.
If you are ashamed of saying you are doing Dry January, invent any excuse to avoid wine and spirits. - Involve your friends or family in the Dry January: in this way you can motivate each other.
- Switch the glass: sometimes is not the alcohol, is the fancy glass. Try to have your water on a fancy cocktail glass or champagne flute.
- Have always been home or with you a sugar-free soft drink that you like.
- Have a diary, and write how you feeling or simply the things you have been doing this month. Are you having more energy for that tennis match you were postponing for months?
- January is a cold month: take the opportunity to discover again teas (or coffees) if you like. There are many flavors of tea out there. And so the coffee, have fun enjoying the many ways coffee can be customized.
- Take the opportunity to replenish your electrolytes and collagen, replacing the drinks with useful liquids, such as supplements to dissolve in the water or bone broth.
Best beverages for Keto Dry January
Just a recap and for reference, I am writing here the best beverages that are compatible with the Keto Dry January.
- Water
- Flavored water (no sugar)
- Warm tea and sugar-free iceTea
- Coffee
- Bone broth
- Sugar Cola, Fanta,…
- Sugar-free drinks like Nocco, Aspire, Royal Club,…
- Kombucha Zero Sugar
- Sugar-free syrups
- Sugar-free energy drinks
- Sugar-free beers – the best and easier to find is Javier Fun
- Keto Mocktails, such as Royal Club Mocktails
Read in details the best sugar-free nonalcohol beverages in the Netherland.
Related articles:
Keto options at Starbucks NL
Best sugar-free nonalcohol beverages in the Netherland
Bone broth in the Netherlands
I hope The Ultimate Guide to Keto Dry January was useful. Hit me in the comments if you have remarks or more tips to share.
Hi, I’m Simona! After experiencing the restrictions of keto, I’m now enjoying a balanced diet that brings freedom and happiness to my eating habits.
You find me on Instagram, Pinterest, and sometimes on Facebook.
I also write a lot of keto recipes on my Italian blog keto-with-simona.
Check also:
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