Today’s guest post is brought to you by Chelsea that runs the health and fitness blog over at How Chelsea Sees It.  In addition to being a scientist she strives at keeping fit by regularly running, spinning, dancing, and kickboxing.  Here are Chelsea’s tips for a healthier happy hour, mixed with less calories and a splash of humor…

Hello all you Guys, Gals, Gardeners n’ ummm Guzzlers? (I strive to be an alliteration activist in life)…

When my fellow foodie, Nicky, asked me to be a guest writer for her blog, not only was I beyond flattered but I was OVERJOYED! There’s nothing I love talking about more than food, booze and fitness. That whole “Eat, Pray, Love” craze is cute and all but I’m all about the “Eatin’, Drinkin’ and Runnin’” (not in that particular order of course–not trying to cause cramps n’ such)! Today I thought I’d swing by and share some of my favorite alcoholic beverages for those of you that enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling within, minus the bloating and burping– Lord knows that’s never attractive (or is it?)

I should mention right off the bat that I’m not an avid beer drinker. I can occasionally take a Tangerine Wheat or a Great White down the ol’ jugular but I’m one of those people that burps like a gosh darn sailor and I also like garlic and onions a whole bunch so it’s usually never the greatest combination to have. That being said, I do love me some liquor– vodka, rum, tequila and red wine in particular– so that’s what I’m going to focus on in this blog. We’ll start with vodka.

1. Vodka Beverages (lightened up).

When at the bar, my go-to vodka drink of choice is the “vodka soda with lime” which is basically vodka with a club soda and a lime wedge on the side. This is probably one of the healthiest vodka drinks you could order. Personally, I like to taste the vodka in my drinks, but it took a while for me to get to that point (lots of practice, ladies and gentlemen, lotttssss of practice). If you are not ready to taste your vodka so intensely, I suggest a vodka with sprite or sierra mist (if they have it in diet, that’s lower in calories if that’s what you’re after) with lime. There is just something about a lime mixed with vodka (and tequila) that makes everything feel right.

Another drink you could try is a vodka mojito! I just started getting into this kind of drink after I went to the store and bought too much mint and needed to use it up somehow. If you’re making this drink at home, simply pour your shot (or two) of vodka in a a glass, throw in some mint leaves and grind the booze and mint up with some sort of pestle ( or you could cut up the mint prior to putting it into the glass, just to get the flavors out). Once they’re adequately mixed, throw in a pinch of sugar, followed by ice and fill the rest of the glass up with sprite, sierra mist or some sort of diet version. Top it off with a lime wedge and bam! You’ve got yourself a damn good vodka mojito! Of course light rum can be (and should be, in this case) substituted for vodka.

Next on the list of delicious vodka beverages is The Greyhound! This is a wee bit pricey but super tasty: Grey Goose vodka and Grapefruit juice! Nom nom nom! I’m not a huge fan of grapefruit juice by itself but when mixed with vodka it makes for a very refreshing and buzzy-licious beverage.

2. Rum Beverages (lightened up).

Oh Rum, how I love thee! Sailor Jerry is one of my favorites because it’s 90 proof so you don’t need a lot of it but it tastes cinnamon-y and spicy! One of my favorite chasers with rum is rootbeer. I call it an R&R (rum & rootbeer… OR rest & relaxation, teeheehee)! You can use diet root beer and it will taste just as good– in my opinion. Root beer is one of those drinks that does a wonderful job of coating the hard liquor flavor so if you don’t like the taste of liquor, coat it on up with some diet root beer and it’ll taste fabulous.

Rum and diet coke also works pretty well– most bars don’t have much of a selection of diet sodas, usually just diet coke or pepsi so that works well with rum also. 

The reason I prefer diet soda as a chaser is not even because it lacks calories but more so because it lacks the sugar that causes hangovers in the morning. 

While we’re on the topic of rum, I should mention my new found favorite rum cocktail that I made via Vitamix (any blender will do the trick). Pour in a shot or two of rum followed by fresh pineapples (maybe half a cup? I usually eyeball it), followed by a pinch or two of coconut flakes and finished up with 3-4 ice cubes. Blend that sucker up and you’ve got yourself a tasty and healthy pina colada!

3. Tequila (already lightened up).

Tequila is one of those drinks (in my opinion) that should really only be taken one way– via shot! Sure, you can make margaritas but they always end up tasting so salty or too sweet, and you lose that tequila flavor in the process. Some people like to mix it with orange juice, and I have no problem with that, but again– the tequila flavor is lost! When I do tequila, I do it one way and one way only: with some salt on my right hand and a lime wedge in my left hand. Boom baby! Once it hits your lips, it feels so right I do have to limit my shot intakes, however, because my impatient little self just thinks I can keep on taking shot after shot since the buzz doesn’t kick in immediately, and that’s when we start to have fuzzy nights

4. Red Wine.

Prince was right; red red wine makes me feel so fine. It makes me feel even better knowing that that awesome little resveratrol molecule floating around inside is fighting off those free radicals we all love to hate. Resveratrol is a highly conjugated molecule found in red wine that, when attacked by free radicals, is able to transfer double bonds down to the source of impact and fight off the bad guys just like the vitamin C and alpha tocopherol (vitamin E) molecules do (there’s a little chemistry lesson for you).

Red wine is also great because you don’t need a chaser with it, and it pairs so beautifully with a juicy steak or some dark decadent chocolate–all in moderation, of course. Plus, the buzz is a different kind of buzz; it’s more of a relaxing, happy-go-lucky buzz which feels very calming and is great to bring to parties especially when a girlfriend of yours just went through a nasty break-up

And there you have it, folks! Those are a few of my favorite alcoholic beverages! Not too sweet, not too salty, not too complicated, not too shabby! I know nothing I listed was very fancy, but sometimes simplicity is the best medicine.

And that’s how Chelsea sees it!

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I’m just a 24 year old gal with a major crush on food, and I’ll do everything I can to keep it that way! This means I make it a priority to stay active whether I’m running, spinning, dancing, kickboxing, or keeping up with Tony Horton in P90X. I strive at keeping “healthy” and “scrumptious” in the same sentence when it comes to cooking and baking–but sometimes you just gotta eat dat butta! You might find me interesting, you might not, but either way this blog is here to stay!

And that’s how Chelsea sees it