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For many of us, the Victoria Day long weekend marks the start of summer entertaining, which often includes sipping on vodka coolers or icy cold beers at the cottage, in the backyard, on patios or at the golf clubhouse. If you're trying to stay trim this summer, a few too many summer cocktails could undermine your efforts.

Consider that most spirit coolers -- sugary beverages made mainly with vodka or rum -- deliver at least 250 calories per 355-millilitre serving, more calories than two bottles of light beer. Some coolers contain as many as 310 calories and eight teaspoons of sugar. That's fine if you're having only one but if you drink a few, you could be gulping down more calories than your steak dinner.

The calories in alcoholic beverages come from alcohol, which contributes seven calories per gram, compared to four calories per gram for protein and carbohydrate. Every five-ounce glass of wine, 1.5 ounces of hard liquor or 12-ounce bottle of light beer has roughly 100 calories. (Regular beer delivers 150 calories per 12-ounce serving.)

Add a sugary mixer and you'll consume more calories -- 180 for a rum and Coke, 250 for a Pina Colada and 340 for a Margarita. Ready-to-serve blender drinks add fat calories from cream. A three-ounce serving of T.G.I. Friday's Blenders Mudslide packs 242 calories and six grams of fat -- sounds more like liquid dessert to me.

Research suggests that how you drink alcohol -- how much and how often -- does influence your weight. Researchers from Britain recently examined the link between alcohol intake and weight gain among 7,608 healthy men, aged 40 to 59. After five years, men who consumed at least 30 grams of alcohol per day (e.g. two five-ounce glasses of wine or three ounces of spirits or two 12-ounce bottles of regular beer) showed the greatest weight gain and were more likely to have a body mass index of 28 or higher, regardless of the type of alcohol consumed. (Body mass index is calculated as your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in meters. For adults, a body mass index of 25 or more points to overweight; 30 or more indicates obesity.)

Most studies show we don't compensate for extra alcohol calories by eating less. In fact, if there are nibbles, people tend to eat more when they drink. Alcohol revs your appetite and can reduce awareness of how much you're eating.

It's thought alcohol calories are more likely to be stored around your belly -- especially if you binge drink. A study from the University of Buffalo conducted among 2,343 healthy men and women found that those who drank sporadically, but intensely (more than three to four drinks per occasion) had the highest measures of visceral abdominal fat, while people who drank one-half to one drink daily had the least. Wine drinkers had the least visceral fat, while hard-liquor drinkers had the most. (Visceral fat lies deeper than the fat under your skin, and it's linked to heart disease.)

While too many drinks may contribute to weight problems and heart disease, moderate drinking -- two drinks a day for men and one for women -- is thought to have health benefits, including protection from heart disease and stroke, and possibly Type 2 diabetes. When it comes to heart health, alcohol tends to boost HDL (good) cholesterol and may help prevent blood clots. And it's not just wine that seems to protect the heart. No one type of alcoholic beverage seems to be more protective than another. Despite alcohol's potential health benefits, medical experts don't advise non-drinkers to start imbibing. There are plenty of other ways to keep your heart healthy, including regular exercise, improving your diet and quitting smoking.

Don't count on a daily glass of red wine to add years to your life. While red wine does contain phytochemicals (natural compounds that have been associated with reducing the risk of heart disease and cancers), you can get those phytochemicals elsewhere, including purple grape juice. In countries such as France, where people dine on cheese, butter and croissants -- and drink wine with meals --heart disease risk is lower than in North America. But the difference isn't just the wine, it's the whole lifestyle. In France and other Mediterranean countries, people walk more, eat smaller portions and less processed food. If a little is good, more is not better. Consuming more than two drinks per day can lead to numerous health problems, including dependence, certain cancers, high blood pressure, and elevated fats in the blood. (One recent study has even questioned the health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption, suggesting light drinkers also tend to do other things that reduce their risk of heart disease, such as exercising regularly or eating a low-fat diet.)

According to the Toronto-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, a safe alcohol intake for adults is one to two drinks per day -- up to 14 drinks per week for men and nine for women. The following tips will help you choose beverages wisely for lower-calorie -- and safe -- summer weekends.

Eat before you drink. On an empty stomach, alcohol enters your bloodstream and makes its way to your brain more quickly.

Limit yourself to one drink per hour. Drinking more often will result in a higher blood-alcohol concentration. To slow your pace (and prevent dehydration), drink two glasses of water between drinks.

Avoid mixing liquor with caffeine-laced energy drinks (e.g. Red Bull, Sobe Adrenaline Rush, Hype). The stimulant effects of energy drinks can mask how intoxicated you are. Since both caffeine and alcohol are diuretics, dehydration can hinder the body's ability to metabolize alcohol, increasing your blood alcohol level.

Dilute calories. Order cocktails made with a calorie-free mixer, like vodka and soda, rum and diet Coke, or a white-wine spritzer.

Serve cocktails in tall, skinny glasses rather than wide tumblers. A study of 48 bartenders from Philadelphia found they poured 27 per cent more liquor into a wide tumbler than the same size highball glass. It seems we perceive tall, skinny glasses as holding more liquid than short, stubby ones.

Set your limit. Resolve ahead of time you'll have only two drinks. Then switch to water.

Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based dietitian at the Medcan Clinic, is on CTV's Canada AM every Wednesday. Visit her website at lesliebeck.com.

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Cocktail calories

Calories in ready-to-serve cocktails vary by brand and size of bottle.

RICHARD JOHNSON