Among beer, ciders, wines, and other alcoholic beverages, the calorie profile of Vodka is very low. A 1.5 oz serving of plain 80-proof vodka contains around 96 calories. Other than calories, if you are also watchful of Vodka’s carb content, it’s a good choice. Since distilled spirits like vodka, gin, rum, and whisky only contain alcohol, they are completely carbohydrate-free.
Now, if you strictly want to stick with your diet, you don’t have to minus all the fun only because you have to take care of the calories part. Vodka here is a very amazing low calorie alcoholic beverage you can make a part of your fun outings. Obviously anything in excess is bad, but sometimes that’s totally fine.
Adding to the happiness, it’s a zero-carb drink option too. It won’t be wrong to say that it can be your liquor of choice for the days you are trying to shed some kilos off your body. The only piece of advice here would be to watch for sugar, snacks, and other items you might have along with that.
Here, let’s go one step deeper into the nutritional profile of vodka and unpour what it holds within. But before that, let’s understand how the body responds to alcohol.
What Happens When Alcohol Enters The Body?
Alcohol is metabolized by the liver first, after lipids & carbohydrates when it enters the body. The fundamental building blocks of fats, fatty acids, accumulate as a result. Most of the time, the body saves them for later. Owing to its earliest metabolism, alcohol causes the body to expend calories before fat does. The term fat sparring refers to this technique. In addition, as a fallback energy source, the liver stores glucose as glycogen.
As a result, blood sugar levels are frequently low because the liver breaks down alcohol before the body can use it as glucose. For those who have diabetes, this makes alcohol consumption extremely risky.
Nutritional Profile of Vodka at a Glance
This profile is for one shot of 80 proof vodka (1.5 fluid ounces, or 42g):
- Calories: You’ll find around 97 calories in one serving of vodka, mostly coming from the alcohol content.
- Fat: There’s virtually no fat in vodka, making it a light choice for those watching their fat intake.
- Sodium: Vodka contains no sodium, which is good news if you’re keeping an eye on your salt levels.
- Carbohydrates: There are no carbs in vodka, making it a suitable option for those on low-carb diets.
- Fiber: Vodka doesn’t contain any fiber since it’s distilled from grains or potatoes, which removes the fiber during the process.
- Sugars: You won’t find any sugar in vodka since the fermentation and distillation process converts sugars into alcohol.
- Protein: Vodka has very little protein, mainly consisting of water and ethanol, with minimal other nutrients.
Calories in Vodka
When you make the vodka shot or drink using the regular vodka, you get so many options of brands and styles to choose from. Some can be made from potatoes, other grains, rye, corn, barley, and the list has more. You can also get options of vodka made in grapes and more. Doesn’t matter what variety you choose, they all offer zero calories profile that’s a thumbs up for the diet.
The game changer of the calorie profile is the alcohol it has. If you choose to have a vodka brand that has high content of alcohol, the calorie count will go up and vice versa. Even if the flavor is neat and clean, the rule of counting calories depends on the alcohol part that you should be watchful of. Vodka with 100 percent proof is believed to contain 124 calories per shot.
Calories in Flavored Vodka
There are so many brands who have come up with flavored vodkas. This flavored one gives just the right amount of extra kick and zest that you would want in your liquor shots. Now comes the play. Many drinkers think that adding that extra flavor means adding more calories to it. Here’s the twist. These flavored vodkas can also mean lesser calories that’s making it even better for you.
Ciroc Coconut Vodka has 94 calories per shot, which is comparable to the amount in the unflavored version. CalorieKing reports that a shot of Smirnoff Citrus Vodka contains 87 calories, which is somewhat fewer than that of the unflavored version. Also, a lot of flavored vodkas have lower alcohol content.
Or vodka with a taste of bacon? This drink appears to contain a higher calorie and maybe fat content. A single ounce of vodka flavored with bacon, however, is said to contain roughly 70 calories, per many sources. Not much more than most other flavored vodkas, a 1.5-ounce shot would have roughly 105 calories.
There are brands of vodka with flavors that have fewer calories. An approximate serving size of 43 grams (1.5 ounces) of Smirnoff Light Lemon Sorbet Vodka is 78 calories. 81 calories are included in each serving of Voli Vanilla Espresso. Its naturally flavored vodkas are all 75.8 calories per serving, according to the SkinnyGirl website. The lower proof (lower alcohol by weight) of these vodkas may mean that they have less calories.
How To Make Vodka A Low Calorie Drink?
When you choose the flavored vodka, you are already making it a less calorie drink because the flavor helps you skip the part of the mixer that can add more calories to it. When you are not doing that, you cut a lot of calories because it’s already a low calorie option and ditching the mixer part too.
The best tip to bring down the calorie part of the vodka is to have it less. Obviously there’s nothing better than that. Have in a limited quantity and reap more benefits. Meanwhile, also have a look at the mixer’s calories content that you might or you usually opt. Decide what’s the best you can opt for in terms of calories.
Orange Juice: 111 calories that can make your drink calories loaded.
Regular Soda: 100 calories that’s not what you want to add.
Regular Tonic Water, Ginger Ale, or Quinine Water: 80 calories that’s moderate and can be chosen in place of others.
2.25-Ounce Martini: 124 calories and not what we would suggest.
2.75-ounce Cosmopolitan: 146 calories that’s also a little higher.
12-ounce Smirnoff Ice: 241 calories that’s a lot to add when you are dieting.
There are a couple of tips that you can follow more to make sure you are taking less calories than you usually would. Some of them you must be aware of while some can be new to you.
- Make it a habit of having water between the drinks you take.
- Skip taking shots because that’s not good for the calorie count as you might end up consuming extra.
- Never mix drinks and shots of mixers having higher content of calories.
- Avoid having your drinks in the nighttime because then you get less time to digest what you had.
Take note that even if you choose Vodka with less calories, the aftermath can bring you parallel to consuming more calories and here’s how. When you drink alcohol, here Vodka, your cravings to have fatty foods can go up. In the hangover, you might not realize that or be able to control it. On the other hand, consuming alcohol also leads to an increased appetite, which means more snacking or eating.
Are There Any Health Benefits of Vodka?
Among so many liquor options choices like wine, whiskey, beer, many drinkers love to go for vodka for its taste and clear drink feel. It can be a topic of argument that Vodka is Healthy. Are there any health benefits? Well, let’s see.
There’s one category of drinkers who are up for drinks and prefer the ones with less sugar and low carbs. Others prefer it because it keeps them less high than other drinks. There can be other categories with their own good reasons.
The matter of fact is there’s nothing called “good” alcohol. Likewise, vodka offers no health benefits. You can choose it for less calories but benefits? No. It’s always advised to have your drinks in moderation because no hangover will give you benefits no matter what people say or might argue.
One drink per day for women and two drinks per day for males is considered moderate in drinking. One shot (1.5 oz) of distilled spirits, such as vodka; one 5-ounce glass of wine; or one 12-ounce portion of beer is considered a standard drink.
In conclusion, despite being regarded as a low-calorie booze, vodka has more calories per gramme than either protein or carbs. There are around 4 calories per gram of protein and carbs, 7 calories per gram of ethanol, and 9 calories per gram of fat. Alcohol also affects the liver’s capacity to eliminate and break down lipids. So, you must be informed well and right to make the right choice!