Nightcap

I've been trying IF for about a month (skipping breakfast for 14:10 or 18:6, depending on whether I feel like having lunch) and so far it's feeling really good, I'm making more consistent progress than I ever have with strict low-carb diets, calorie defecit, working out 3x a week, etc. In fact it's been really easy, I'm making great progress and don't feel like I'm sacrificing anything - I'm still going out to the bar for dinner a few nights a week, eating street tacos, and usually end my night with a whiskey around 10pm. I know alcohol is just empty calories and drinking before bed is probably messing with my sleep patterns, but beyond that is there any real metabolic reason I should avoid drinking right before bed/starting a fast (having eaten about 2 hours before)? I would love to see or read an explainer about how the liver processes alcohol in fed/fasted state and what it means for fat burning and insulin/glucose levels, just out of curiosity. For my own health I'll be working with my nutritionist and GP to monitor bloodwork and see if they recommend any changes there. But meanwhile I'm seeing great progress without messing with my routine too much, which finally feels like a sustainable plan since old habits are so hard to break.

Answer

I think anywhere you look will lead you to the conclusion that drinking alcohol right before bed isnt anything but a net negative.. don’t think you’ll have much luck searching for evidence affirming your habit is not detrimental for at least a couple reasons.

With that being said, there could be worse habits

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Alcohol is instant energy for the body, so besides the empty calories, you body is not burning fat or food eaten.

I found this article, which explains the difference in drinking in a fed or fasted state. Alcohol and fasting

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I lost over a hundred pounds and greatly improved my metabolic stats over a number of years with a combination of keto and fasting, and never interrupted my longstanding practice of a double whiskey in the early evening.

EDIT: I don’t consider them “empty calories” - they’re very useful and satisfying calories.

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I’d recommend Dr. Lustig’s classic talk. It gets quite interesting around the 45-minute mark onward, where liver metabolism of glucose is discussed and contrasted to that of ethanol and fructose, and the striking similarity between the latter two is highlighted.

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I don’t think he covers its impact on fasting, but Dr Huberman covered alcohol and a lot of the risks associated with even ‘moderate’ drinking on a podcast awhile ago. Here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkS1pkKpILY

And if you want a decent deep dive into intermittent fasting he did an episode here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tRohh0gErM

You can find these eps on a podcast app if you prefer that over YT.