Is Non Alcoholic Beer Still Bad For You?

As anyone that knows me or has read my other blog articles will know, the only thing that I do that is ‘unhealthy’ is have a few drinks (usually beer) at the weekend. For me it’s something I have always enjoyed doing and I justify it by the fact the rest of my diet is very healthy and consistent, and life is basically too short to cut out everything! And non alcoholic beer never really appealed.

But lately I have been revising my opinion slightly. Not because of the ‘unhealthiness’ of the beer or the calories/sugars. I only drink 2 nights a week anyway and it’s a total of about 8-10 units so not exactly a lot. It’s more the way the alcohol affects me that I am questioning. I don’t sleep as well first and foremost. Even after only a couple of drinks I typically am not as tired and tend to go to bed later. And my sleep is definitely more broken and I will tend to wake earlier. And I definitely feel more fatigued the next day. Whether this is because of the lack of sleep, or because my body is trying to process the toxins, I’m not sure. Probably a combination of the 2.

Either way I’m beginning to feel the benefits of sleeping better/feeling more energised the next day are more important than the enjoyment of the alcohol. (Getting old maybe…) But sitting down with a cold can of beer on a Friday night or in the garden when the sun is out is something I really don’t want to eliminate totally from my life. So have been looking into and trying more and more non-alcoholic beers. But the question is how good for actually are these non-alcoholic beers? And do they taste good?

Totally Alcohol Free?

The first thing to say is that to call itself alcohol free the beer has to be below 0.5% alcohol. So not totally alcohol free. So if you want no alcohol at all, you will have to look for 0.0% stuff. Which there is plenty of out there. But keep in mind alcohol is actually found in small quantities in quite a few foods so you will be unlikely to eliminate it entirely even with the 0.0% stuff. Plus in my opinion the 0.5% definitely helps to get you closer to the taste of an actual alcoholic beer. Which is obviously the important point. If you don’t like it, you are not going to stick with it.

Are They Any Good?

I remember 15 years ago trying a non-alcoholic beer and really not liking it. But the amount of people wanting to reduce their alcohol intake has changed vastly in that time. And as a result the amount of money beer manufacturers are willing to spend on researching and manufacturing non-alcoholic beers has increased a lot. And the end result of that is that there is more choice and definitely a better end product.

Most brands do a non-alcohol version now. So the best place to start is probably with the non-alcoholic version of what you already like. But just try a few different ones. There is a lot of variety out there and just like with regular beer people prefer different brands, so it’s not so much a case of which ones are ‘better’ it’s more a case of which ones hit the spot for you. And you will only work that out by trying a few.

How Healthy Are They?

Well obviously you are cutting out the alcohol which makes them far healthier. And as a result you are cutting down your calories as well. Typically no-alcohol beers are about a third of the calories of regular beer (although this varies between brands so check the can). So let’s say your usual 330ml beer can is 150 calories. The no alcohol version will probably be around 50. So a lot less. But at the same time if you are trying to lose weight and control calories you need to be aware the calories can still mount up if you have a few. And the carbs/sugars are often fairly similar so you are still getting them. So yes no-alcohol beers are better but don’t assume they have no calories or carbs in them, that would be a mistake.

Conclusion – Is Non Alcoholic Beer Still Bad For You?

Non-alcoholic beer is FAR better for you than regular beer. So whether you are using them to give up alcohol totally or just cut down that would definitely be a positive thing. But they still contain calories and carbs so just be aware of that and still drink them sparingly. And don’t judge them before have tried them. They taste a lot better these days than they did in the past.