Healthy Mixed Drinks to Enjoy Your Night Out Guilt-Free

Looking for healthy mixed drinks so you can enjoy your night out with friends - without any of the guilt the next day? Or maybe with even fewer headache symptoms - like alcohol nausea, hangover anxiety, and champagne headaches.? You're in luck - because we're going to share a few of our favorite low calorie alcoholic drinks with low sugar content today.

Whether you suffer from alcohol flush reaction or not, alcohol can certainly upset your body. But a lot of the time, it's not even the alcohol causing your problem - it's other additives, like sugar.

While drinking alcohol is never going to be overtly healthy, there are a few tricks to make it a bit less negative. Here are some top healthy alcoholic drinks and tips to keep your night out comfortable, fun, and as healthy as possible, without giving up alcohol.

In addition to drinking healthier alcohol, you can also reduce flush by taking Asian glow pills. We'll talk more about that later. First - do healthy mixed drinks really exist?

Do Healthy Alcoholic Drinks Exist?

At the end of the day, drinking a lot of alcohol isn’t going to be healthy. We all know that. There are many other types of drinks that can provide nutritional value while avoiding the negative effects of alcohol.

However, not all of us are interested in cutting alcohol out of our diets completely. Alcohol is a huge part of our culture and society, from a glass of wine on a first day, to a cocktail at a business function. Alcohol can be really hard to avoid and you shouldn't have to.

By following a few simple tricks and picking better drinks, you can still enjoy alcohol. And just maybe, reduce your hangover symptoms as well. Here are some things you can look for when searching for low calorie alcoholic drinks.

What to Look for in Healthy Mixed Drinks

As mentioned earlier, one of the main culprits of the 2-day hangover isn't even alcohol - it's the insane sugar content in your drink! While part of the fun with drinking alcohol is trying fun new drinks, sticking with the basics is usually your best bet. The more that goes into making a drink, chances are, the less healthy it is. Here's what you should keep in mind if you're interested in healthy mixed drinks:

Low Sugar Content

Alcoholic drinks (and even non-alcoholic drinks) with high amounts of sugar are not healthy. That’s pretty obvious. But you may not realise which drinks are the main culprits, especially after you’ve already had a few pints at the bar.

Drinks with added sugar like fructose corn syrup are best to be avoided. Mixed drinks tend to have pretty high sugar content as well, especially if they’re mixed with pop. Anything mixed with Red Bull is a disaster waiting to happen.

Sugar and calories like to go hand-in-hand, so it’s important to be aware of how much you’re drinking.

Tip: Try mixing your drink with soda water, club soda or sugar free pop. This simple change can make a huge difference: not only to your sugar-intake, but also helping your body out as well. It already has a lot of work to do breaking down the alcohol you are consuming - don’t make it work even harder trying to deal with a spike of sugar.

Did you know: A basic tonic water has over 80 calories and nearly 22 grams of sugar. That’s almost as many calories and sugar in a regular can of pop! On the flip side, soda water contains zero calories and zero sugar.

Watch Out For Simple Syrup

As mentioned before, sugar doesn’t help your body and certainly doesn't help when drinking alcohol. Many drinks have added sugar to improve the flavour, but it’s important to keep an eye on simple syrup. This is simply sugar dissolved in water, but if there’s a lot of simple syrup in your drink, you can expect the sugar-content to be high as well.

Tip: When making drinks at home, you can use different substitutes for simple syrup, such as honey. It has fewer calories than refined sugar with the added bonus of a few extra vitamins.

Did you know: Famous drinks like a Whisky Sour, Lemon Drop, Strawberry Daiquiri and Mojitos all use simple syrup.

Stay Happy And Hydrated

Alcohol is a natural diuretic and causes dehydration. This can be a real problem for those of us who deal with alcohol headaches, often caused by this dehydration effect. The simplest way to avoid this is to stay hydrated while you drink alcohol.

You can do this by having water or a non-alcoholic drink in-between every alcoholic drink. By drinking water in-between, this gives you body some time to process the alcohol already in your system before you start adding more. This particular trick can be very helpful for those with Asian Flush who struggle to metabolise alcohol in the first place.

Tip: For every alcoholic drink you have, have one non-alcoholic drink.

Did you know: Drinking a pint of water before going to bed after a night out can greatly reduce the severity of your hangover. Make sure to drink your water!

Choose Your Drinks Wisely

Most people recommend sticking to one type of alcohol for the entire evening. This can help your body slightly, and can reduce the severity of your hangover. Of course, drinking way too much of one type of alcohol won’t help, either.

However, you can also chose drinks that have less alcohol content than normal. Drinks like shandies, which are half beer and half lemonade, are great options. These allow you to still have some alcohol, while the amount of alcohol in the drink is much lower overall.

If you want to go even further, you can try out some alcohol-free drinks, or alcohol-reduced drinks. While these aren’t as common as regular alcoholic beverages, they’re becoming more and more popular. For more information, you can read about our favourite low-alcohol drinks.

Want something a little different that still could be seen as “healthy”? Try a Bloody Mary. These drinks typically include vodka, horseradish, tomato juice, Worcheshire sauce, Tabasco, celery, lemon juice, salt and pepper. As you can imagine, this drink isn’t for everyone. However, some of the ingredients, like tomatoes, celery and horseradish all come with their own health benefits.

It's not the same as drinking vitamin water, but it's at least a start.

Other drinks like a vodka cranberry may be a good option for you. Vodka is low in calories, while cranberry juice has its own health benefits, such as working as an anti-inflammatory and can help improve skin appearance. An added splash of lime juice can really make this drink come together.

Tip: Drinks like shandies or spritz still have alcohol, but much lower than a typical drink. This means your body has less alcohol to metabolise, you’ll consume less alcohol and minimize your hangover the next day. A win-win!

Did you know: MillerCoors sells their non-alcoholic beer Sharp’s, which has only 58 calories per bottle. Other light beers may have calories from 55 - 120 per bottle. While they're not always available at bars, many shops and supermarkets are getting more low-alcohol content drinks.

Typical Calories In Common Alcoholic Drinks

Of course this all depends on the type of drink, the brand, the amount of alcohol content and the size of the serving, but typically:

A standard glass of wine (175ml, white wine or red wine) could have around 160 calories. A bottle of wine could get you close to 700 calories.

A shot of dark spirit (5ml) like whisky with a mixer typically contains about 105 calories. Light-coloured spirits (such as vodka) tend to have slightly less calories.

A pint of lager would equal around 180 calories.

Did you know: A vodka soda is a decent, low-calorie option. Vodka typically has about 95 calories per 1.5 ounces while soda water has no calories. This is a far better option than pounding vodka shots, as well. Because the alcohol is mixed with a cold, calorie-free mixer, it makes you drink it much slower. This gives your body some time to metabolize the alcohol before getting flooded with more and more. At the same time, you’re working towards staying hydrated by including the soda water.

While a simple glass of red wine may not seem like a huge issue, most people don’t stop at just one. After a handful of various drinks and mixers, your calorie-intake for the night can skyrocket. A lot of people don't realise that a few beers could end up being the same as a cheeseburger and fries meal from McDonalds.

Of course, drinking alcohol isn’t part of most weight loss programs, nor will a handful of pints at the pub help you lose weight. However, it’s helpful to keep in mind how much you’re drinking and the potential calories associated with those drinks.

So - What are Healthy Mixed Drinks You Can Try?

Looking for some of the low calorie alcoholic drinks we've been teasing since the start of this article? Featuring lime juice, lemon juice, club soda, and other healthy mixers - these are a great choice for your next night out":

• Vodka tonic: vodka is a low calorie, low carbohydrate spirit that is often drunk neat or with water or soda. Tonic water contains quinine, which has health benefits such as malaria prevention.

• Gin and diet tonic: like vodka, gin is a low calorie, low carbohydrate spirit that can be drunk neat or with mixer drinks like diet tonic which has no sugar and fewer calories than regular tonic water.

• Mojito: made with light rum, lime juice, sparkling water, muddled mint and sugar (or honey), mojitos are refreshing and healthy - especially if you make them yourself using fresh ingredients rather than bottled mixes.

• Margarita: tequila is another healthy option for spirits - it's a high in antioxidants drink that also helps to boost your metabolism. Mix it with orange juice (or other fruit juices) and agave nectar (a natural sweetener) for a healthier margarita alternative.

Final Thoughts on Healthy Alcoholic Mixed Drinks

There you have it - a few of the lowest calorie mixed drinks you can try on your next night out to avoid empty calories which lead to weight gain. And, by following our advice, you can say goodbye to some of the more brutal hangover symptoms, too!

Want to learn more about staying healthy while drinking? Learn about alcohol sulfites, nasal congestion after drinking alcohol, or shortness of breath after drinking alcohol in our blog. We are your trusted resource for all things Asian flush, too. Learn about how to get rid of Asian glow in our full guide, or check out our article breaking down sudden alcohol intolerance.