Alcoholic drinks without high fructose corn syrup

You already know that ordering vodka Red Bulls or Long Island iced teas all night is asking for it—"it" being a surplus of calories, more alcohol than your body knows what to do with, and, of course, a hangover that will make you question your entire life. Same goes for creamy cocktails like piña coladas—you know they're just booze-spiked desserts and that the nutrition stats are gonna be less than stellar.

But sadly, there are drinks out there that seem like innocuous picks—There's no chocolate sauce dripping down the glass! There's muddled fruit in there! It's a whiskey drink, it's not sweet!—but are actually crammed with more calories, sugar, and dirty ingredients than anyone needs at happy hour—or really, at any hour. These five drink orders are perfect examples:

Anything "Sour"

Not all sours are created equal. While none are exactly nutritional superstars, a classic whiskey sour made with real ingredients like lemon juice, sugar, and egg whites clocks in at around 175 calories, which isn't so bad. But when your drink's made with a sour mix (they're usually loaded with high fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes, and artificial preservatives), that's another story. Combine that crap with a sweet liquor like amaretto, and you could be downing nearly 400 calories and more than 15 teaspoons of sugar. Should've just ordered dessert!  

High-ABV Craft Beer

A watered-down Miller Lite won't even set you back 100 calories. But craft beers tend to have higher alcohol contents than their mass-produced counterparts, which over time, can add up to a bigger beer belly. Case in point: At a whopping 10% ABV, both Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout and Samuel Adams' Imperial White pack around 320 calories per 12-ounce bottle. Get them on tap in a 16-ounce pint glass, and you're up to around 420 calories. (Thankfully, not all craft beers are calorie bombs. If you want something lighter, stick with session ales, which tend to be lower in alcohol—and calories—than many other brews.)  

MORE: The Seven Cleanest Beers for Your Summer Cookout

Margaritas

Giant goblets, endless tortilla chips, burritos the size of your head—margaritas and excess pretty much go hand in hand. So think about this now, not when it's 2 a.m. and you're karaoke-ing Ace of Base: The jumbo frozen Tex-Mex drinks will run you around 543 calories each, plus nearly as much sugar as a Snickers bar. But that's not all: Even if you're cool with the crazy calorie count, most margaritas are made with mixes laden with high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. No bueno, muchacho.

Mai Tai

The retro tiki favorite gets its addictive flavor from orgeat syrup, a creamy, saccharine concoction made from toasted almonds and sugar. (At least, that's what real orgeat syrup is made from. Plenty of cheaper versions use artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, and preservatives.) Throw in two kinds of rum and syrupy orange Cointreau, and you're staring at a 260-calorie monstrosity topped with a cocktail umbrella. Save it for vacation.  

MORE: The Moscow Mule You Need to Make This Weekend

Strawberry Daiquiri

It's made with strawberries, so how bad can it be? Actually, pretty frickin' bad. And most of the time, there are no real berries in there at all. The slushmonsters beloved by sorority girls everywhere are typically made with cloyingly sweet mixes brimming with high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, preservatives, and red 40. Then there's the fact that they're usually ginormous: A 32-ouncer boasts nearly 2,000 calories, 53 g sugar, and more carbs than a serving of pasta.  

Marygrace Taylor is a health and wellness writer for Prevention, Parade, Women’s Health, Redbook, and others. She’s also the co-author of Prevention’s Eat Clean, Stay Lean: The Diet and Prevention’s Mediterranean Kitchen. Visit her at marygracetaylor.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Sugar, Sucrose and Fructose

Sugar in all forms is Sucrose – 50% Glucose and 50% Fructose. We need Glucose all the time. It is our fuel. Fructose is our summer ‘necessity’ to convert to fat for Winter hibernation. It makes us hungry and effectively goes to fat and along the way is involved in some harmful pathways. In combination with polyunsaturated fats (predominantly seed oils), they combine to be major contributors to modern disease.

Artificial Sweeteners

There are two phases to coming off sugar. The first is substituting something for the sweetness and during that phase you might use other sweeteners. Ideally glucose (from chemists) or dextrose (Brewers shops). These are really just glucose and not as sweet as sugar. It is probably okay to have some artificial sweeteners in this transition – diet soft drinks, cordials, lollies but I am NOT going to recommend a large amount. Second phase is just cooking and eating without sweeteners. Try just smelling the desserts.

Can I drink alcohol?

Beer has no Fructose and the sugar in it is Maltose, which is still carbohydrate and has calories.

Wine is actually low in Fructose but like beer has a lot of calories and the alcohol has an effect on the liver. Red wine is about 0.3% and white wine 0.6 – 1.2% depending on its sweetness. About 1 teaspoon of sugar or 2 grams of Fructose per bottle of red wine.

Is NoFructose a diet?

Interesting how most people refer to diets. Cutting down on Fructose and moving back to healthy saturated fats is a concept, and a lifestyle – it is sustainable. Over time it tends to becomes lower in carbohydrates and particularly lower in the refined carbohydrates such as flours and sugar. The crash diets of high protein and low carbohydrates are not sustainable . Low Carb Healthy Fat (LCHF) living is sustainable. If people are after rapid weight loss then some diets may work but just like the Atkins diets and similar – just hard to continue.

I have cut down my sugar but still not losing weight

Everyone’s metabolisms vary.  Fructose is an appetite stimulant. Once you lose the hunger after cutting back on Fructose, then the portion sizes need to come down. Eat ONLY when you are hungry. You may be eating out of habit – beware. Exercise is a bonus in getting things started and makes you feel better about yourself. It has added cardio benefits and a bit of tone makes those clothes looser.

What about dairy products

I love milk products (without flavourings) as they are mostly galactose which converts pretty quickly in to the glucose pathway and therefore are appetite supressants. Not keen on anything ‘low fat’ on the label because virtually all have added sugar and therefore added fructose. Check out that milk label and most ‘low fat / lite milks’ have more sugar. The milk tends to have a higher concentration of saturated fats which are less likely to do damage.

Why do skinny people still get heart attacks, dementia and cancer?

We all have different varying degrees of metabolism, some individuals may be able to ingest large amounts of sugar but not put on weight. Healthy and trim people still metabolise Fructose and Polyunsaturated Oils in the same way and create the same inflammation in the blood vessel walls of every organ in the body. The weight may not be put on but the susceptibility to disease remains.

Modern commercial fruit is not natural

Have you ever noticed that the fruit that falls off your trees in your backyard is rotten within 24-48 hours whereas the product you buy from the big supermarkets is still fresh a week to 10 days afterwards?  It is all related to the increased sugar and less fibre which improves the transportability and shelf life which increases profits.  It is not profitable having stuff that rots within a couple of days.  .  My issue is not with eating fruit as much as it is with the quantity and frequency that we currently take in, in particularly as that modern fruit has a much higher sugar and lower fibre content than traditional fruit.

How much fruit?

Limit yourself to a maximum of 1 serving of fresh, local and seasonal fruit per day. It still has fibre content and slows the uptake of fructose.

You can get all the nutrients in fruit from vegetables with a lot lower fructose content. Find out more in the Fruit section.

Ask your questions or Contribute to NoFructose.com.

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