Is it possible to be a carb-obsessed dieter and a weekend boozer? According to a New York City doctor who served as the medical director for The Atkins Center, the answer is yes.

Dr. Fred Pescatore said that carb-conscious consumers do not necessarily have to give up their happy-hour cocktails, provided they make a few smart choices first.

For the sake of health and safety, drinking in moderation is rule number one. Secondly, stay away from wine, champagne and syrupy liqueurs. They’re all sugar-based and extremely high in carbs – even when watered down. His third piece of advice, which may come as a surprise to some puritans, is that many hard liquors contain as little as zero carbs and less than 70 calories per drink, depending on what you mix them with.

Dr. Pescatore, who now heads two medical centers, in New York and Dallas, and appears regularly on the Dallas radio show, “Health by Nature”, admitted that his drink of choice is Absolute Vodka served straight up. He also gave the green light to various cocktails made with plain and flavored Bacardi rums.

In the case of Bacardi Superior white rum, for instance, a single one-ounce serving mixed with six ounces of diet cola contains zero grams of guilt because the drink contains no carbs or sugar – and only 66 calories. Of the trademarked flavored brands, such as Bacardi Limon, O (orange) or Coco, the carb content ranges between two and three grams per ounce when mixed with diet sodas or club soda.

“Many people make the assumption that a light beer or glass of wine would be smart choices. Wine in particular is not low in carbs by any stretch of the imagination. Yet with something like Superior white rum, the sugar and carbs completely disappear during the distillation process, but the alcohol remains.”

The same can be said for liquors such as whiskey and scotch – or Stoli Orange Vodka with club soda, which Dr. Pescatore said is a favorite “smart cocktail” choice among some of his patients. Light beer, on the other hand, will typically cost you five grams of carbs per glass.

Another big misconception among body-conscious drinkers is that tonic water is an acceptable mixer. “Regular tonic water is one of the highest sugar mixers you can drink,” he warned. “Margarita mixes and fruit juices are also high in carbs and sugar.”

Gin drinkers, he recommended, should rely on diet tonic or club soda. And wine lovers will need to dilute each glass with two parts water in order to keep their waistlines intact. As for rum, which appears to be coming back into vogue at nightclubs and parties, the options for concocting dietary cocktails are immense. Below are several easy recipes given to us by Bacardi.

1 ounce Bacardi Limon

4 ounces diet ginger ale

(2 carbs, 66 calories per drink)

1 ounce Bacardi Coco

(2 carbs, 67 calories per serving)

1 ounce Bacardi O (orange)

2 ounces Club Soda

(3 carbs, 68 calories per serving)

1 ounce Bacardi Razz (raspberry)

4 ounces diet energy drink

(5 carbs, 82 calories per serving, based on diet energy drinks containing 2 carbs and 10 calories per serving)