(low cal) CHEERS!

I'm sitting here listening to 50s music with my husband. He's reading and I'm hunched over the computer reading fitness blogs and, let's be truthful, stalking people on Facebook. The thing we share right now is that we're both having a cocktail. Okay, so he's having a PBR (which, even though we've begrudgingly decided that we ARE in fact hipsters, that's rarely what we drink...) and I'm having some sort of vodka and leftover juice concoction. So not really cocktails, but it's fun to call them cocktails.

Anyway, I thought, "WAIT! I love cocktails and I really like them when they're tasty and low-cal!"

So I came up with a few suggestions for those of you who are dieting and still want to catch a buzz or two. Or three. Or more.

VODKA. Mix it with some Diet 7-Up (yours), some water, and some other kind of juice (I prefer the mango puree Looza or cran-raspberry juice.) Actually, mix it with anything because if it's a decent vodka, it's tasteless.

Rum and diet. More like YUM and diet. I was told once that a single serving was only 40 calories. I'm not sure this is true... So I Googled it. This website says it's actually 65 calories for one serving. Now. Granted, this is the Livestrong website and there is some serious controversy with Lance Armstrong right now and his ALLEGED "juicing." But I trust this website. Maybe not him... But I trust this website implicitly. No sarcasm.

Wine. Just drink it from time to time. We're supposed to. It's literally heavenly and Biblical. Right? I know I'm stretching it here, but it's good stuff and a glass or two of red wine every now and then is even good for the heart. Why NOT!? This article from the MAYO CLINIC says that it's actually helps your heart! And these quacks* actually believe that it helps your tummy, too! It's never helped mine, but hey, I'm not a doctor!

Beer. Okay. I have no idea what beer does to make you healthier. I do not like and will not drink the "light" beers... We brew our own beer and we buy primarily beers from microbreweries. This further proves my previous statement that we are probably considered by most "hipsters"... Except that I feel we're too old for that title, so we're just cool old hippies? Eh? Maybe? Anyway, back to my point. Because we like delicious beers, we very VERY VERY infrequently indulge in beers like Bud Light or Miller Lite or anything like that. We'd rather drink a PBR or High Life or Old Mil... Yeah. Hipsters. Gag me with my own hypocritical spoon. Anyway, my point is that beers, especially the ones my husband and I enjoy are NOT HEALTHY. Right!? Okay, so there's studies that prove me wrong...

So drinking can be healthy?! Well. Um. I wish I could just scream, "YEAH! DRINK DRINK DRINK AND HAVE FUN AND EVERYTHING WILL BE GREAT!" but I think we all know that's not true. But I think I can safely say YES. IN MODERATION, a drink or two can be not only fabulous and stress-relieving... But good for your health. So, friends, HAPPY SATURDAY AND CHEERS!

*These people totally are not quacks as far as I know. They really seem like pros, actually. I call them quacks because wine has never made my tummy feel good. NEVER. It's made my cluttered mind feel good momentarily, but wine has done nothing but wreak havoc on my tum-tum.