I guess it’s human nature to immediately implement or listen to a doctor’s recommendation rather than the constant feedback from your wife or life partner. Much like a heart attack would spur into action an immediate lifestyle change, which was part of the conversation the doctor was having with me yesterday.

That being said I’m one of those special people whose body can’t process sugar properly resulting in significantly more bad cholesterol finding a home in all the wrong places in me. If I was producing enough good cholesterol this would not be a problem, but given my current trajectory I’ll probably be a diabetic and suffer heart disease along with a heart attack at some stage. All grim news just before the holiday season really kicks off. While emphasising balance the doctor also slipped in a move away from all things alcohol in the short term.

Being an avid beer, whisky and tequila consumer this was not good news not even red wine escaped the clutches of this serious conversation. Given the nature of things going cold turkey isn’t an option especially over the very vibrant festive season. So, in my infinite wisdom I’ve researched what the calorie count is for my favourite alcoholic beverages and slotted in a slice of bread as a reference. As an FYI, coffee has no calories. For comparison purposes 100 grams = 3.38 shots, calorie data sourced from USDA

At my treadmill running pace, I can smash 232 calories in 20 mins, so the odds are stacked against me for now. It’s not all doom and gloom though, best is to determine how many calories you need to remain healthy and what percentage of those can be good or bad cholesterol. Fortunately we are all built and process carbs differently.