Cheat Code: Non-Alcoholic Beer
Is NA beer really a cheat code? Probably not, but it is something that I have found very helpful as I’ve worked to clean up my nutrition and feel better.
Last year, when I made an effort to drink less alcohol and eat more whole foods, I decided to try non-alcoholic beers to see if that would help with my habit of drinking beer while watching football. It’s something I just love - I’m a big football fan (go Bengals!), and love to spend my Sundays having some beers with snacks while watching the Bengals win. Oddly enough, I did not try out NA beers while doing the 75 Hard challenge, which included no alcohol at all. But once football season rolled back around in the fall, I decided to give them a try in an effort to avoid drinking on Sundays. To start, I think I just mixed some NA beers in with regular in order to cut back on the number of beers I was having, which definitely helped.
Now, I try not to drink on Sundays since Monday is a “school day”, and I want to start my week feeling my best. I love to get in a workout on Monday mornings to start my week off right, and not being hungover definitely helps me get out of bed and get moving early on Mondays. Even if I just had one or two beers on Sundays and didn’t have a hangover, I still didn’t feel my best. I honestly didn’t realize this until I went without and paid close attention to how I felt when I did and didn’t drink the day before. I sleep better and just overall feel better when I avoid alcohol. I’ve found that I can have 1 or 2 NA beers while I watch football and feel completely satisfied and scratch that itch to drink without submitting my body to the effects of alcohol.
The switch to NA beers also helped me to eat better; it’s easier to have healthy snacks while I watch the game and avoid cravings for greasy football food (even though my mouth just started watering thinking about chicken wings and french fries). I try to make some kind of healthy dip most weeks, like a black bean dip or spinach artichoke dip (which I make just using butter beans, spinach, non-marinated artichoke hearts, and a bit of yogurt) with some seed crackers, or just some fresh popped popcorn. Side note, if you haven’t made popcorn on the stove topped with nutritional yeast, you’re missing out! If you don’t want to make any at home, Bjorn Qorn is the only packaged popcorn I’ll eat and it is so delicious, particularly the spicy variety.
Athletic Brewing makes some amazing NA beers, with something for everyone. They taste great and you can find them in so many places these days; there are even a lot of restaurants I’ve seen that carry their beers. There are a ton of other choices as well! A lot of small craft breweries have started making NA beers that taste great, and I personally love a lot of the German beer brands that make NA beers as someone who loves “beer flavored beer”. If you’re like me and love to have a beer while watching football, try out an NA beer and see how you like it!
