Alcohol - How much are you drinking?

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Non-alcoholic drinks, 250ml glass

	Cals	kJ	Carbs (g)
Dry ginger ale	75	310	19
Coke	154	645	38
Diet Coke	1	5	0
Orange Juice	95	400	23
Lemonade	105	440	26
Lemon Lime & Bitters	108	450	27
Schweppes Lemon	53	220	13
Lemon Squash	115	480	29
Bitter Lemon	132	550	33
Red Bull, 250 ml can	120	500	30

Note: Don't forget that non-alcoholic drinks such as soft drinks, fruit juices and energy drinks do have calories, so if you are watching your weight then choose water, unflavoured sparkling mineral water or low joule drinks.

What is a standard drink?

A simple way to keep control of your alcohol intake is to track the number of standard drinks you consume. In Australia, the labels of packaged alcoholic drinks must state the number of standard drinks per container. 1 standard drink is 10g alcohol content.

Standard Drink Guide
	Number of standard drinks
Full strength beer (4.9%) - 285 ml glass	1.1
Mid strength beer (3.5%) - 375 ml can	1
Light beer (2.7%) - 375 ml can	0.8
Wine (12.5%) - 150 ml glass	1.5
Port/Sherry (20%) - 60 ml glass	1
Spirits (40%) - 30 ml shot	1
Pre-mixed Spirits (5%) - 300 ml bottle	1.2

How much alcohol is too much?

Low-risk drinking is currently defined by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing as:

Men - Up to 4 standard drinks (40g alcohol) per day on average, and no more than 6 standard drinks on any one day
Women - Up to 2 standard drinks (20g alcohol) per day on average, and no more than 4 standard drinks on any one day
Everyone should have 1 or 2 alcohol-free days per week

You cannot "save" daily drinks for one occasion. Binge drinking is particularly harmful. Males should not exceed 6 drinks in one session, or 4 drinks in one session for females.