Guinness is good for you!

Despite my recent "obsession" with health, fitness, wellness and nutrition, I am very much still a drinker at heart. I do drink rather occasionally (about 2 times a week at least), which does explain why I don't have abs of steel (yet :P), and I have to work out extra hard to get more defined.

Generally, drinking is rather bad for your liver and health on the whole, if drinking is too frequent or excessive. I don't think it's a coincidence that most professional athletes abstain from alcohol as well. I've read that drinking the occasional wine or beer does have it's health benefits such as reduced risk of heart diseases, but I won't really go into that too much. I'm sure everyone knows the ill-effects of alcohol as well, so not much need to elaborate.

Since I've started living more healthily, I've been trying to cut down on drinking. Also, I've been trying to drink less beer and find a better more nutritional alcoholic beverage. I don't like wines much - white ones are mostly too acidic and sour, whereas reds stain your teeth. Beer is also too gassy and I'm sure there's a reason a big paunch is called a beer belly, so I've started drinking stout :)

To most people, myself included - Stout = Guinness. I honestly can't think of any other stout (Kilkenny and ABC comes to mind, but I think they're dark beer). But what's the difference between stout and dark beer then? Haha... So anyway, I didn't know this but, Guinness contains only 198kcal per pint, which is much less than most other beers, and less than skimmed milk or orange juice (so says wikipedia).

Guinness also contains many antioxidants, which I mentioned in my previous post on skin food. These slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the arteries, which is beneficial on the heart.

Also, I particularly like how the pint of Guinness looks when it's fresh from the tap. The froth at the top and the darkness of it as it bubbles is quite a sight. Also, I used to find the taste bitter, but now I find it quite smooth. Also, my friend introduced me to "Black and Ten", which is Guinness mixed 50-50 with Kilkenny. Very nice too! Here's to more Guinness - it's good for you! :)

Live well,
Tim