Training & Nutrition - non-alchohalic beer as a quality carb. food ???

For various reasons I have been drinking non-alchohalic beer instead of regular beer... for one thing, drinking the German brands, you can not tell the difference in taste, and the part that works best for me, is that I can drink it the night before a long ride, and not have any side effects the next morning... it's just better for me all around.
The other day while riding, I was wondering... does beer without alchohal work as a complex carb food, and will it build up the gut like "real beer", if you are putting in the miles every week?:beer: :beer:

I love the taste of beer, but I guess I'm getting old, because I hate the side effects. :roflmao:

I dunno. Sounds reasonable to me.

I think the only reason beer is associated with a gut is because nobody sits down in front of the tube and drinks a six pack of Coke while watching a game (do they?).

Alchohol is high in calories. That's one of the reasons that it makes you fat. But beer is not a lot more fattening that soft drinks such as coke. Wine is higher in calories I believe, but you drink less of it.

So non-alchoholic beer has less calories than normal beer. Drink it if you enjoy it, but don't drink it for energy. Avoid especially if it is carbonated.

I think I should clarify what I was thinking regarding "enegy food"...

I would not condider N/A beer a food for a ride or the morning of a ride (part of my breakfast),but as a food consumed the days or night before a long ride, to store carbs. for the ride. (If carb storing actually works... I think it does.) If I were to drink a six pack of N/A beer the night before a century (which I have done), do the carbs be a benifit the next day, or just make me fat?

Understanding the consiquences of carbonation, my main question is about the quality of the energy in N/A beer..:confused:



It would seem to me, to be the same as any other grain product, plus water... :beer:

Well first of all I have to say that german beer does NOT taste all the same. I'm half german and even though I don't drink a lot (for german standards) I know quite a few brands. :beer:

About the nutritional facts im not too sure but I believe that there is a general mistake being made when talking about fattening carbs. Since you ride, you need/use them. A couch potato does not need/use them. That's why he'll get soft around the mid section.