Day One Hundred and Fifty Three!!!!!

Yummy Wine!
​
Wine is good for you! Wine can have some supportive positives in regards to weight loss and weight manageability. 


First, it is important to know that wine has a sugar rating system and it is really good to know the sugar rating system in order to be able to know what you are drinking. When the Atkins diet first came out, Dr. Atkins did not include carbohydrates for wine intake or hard liquor such as vodka, rum, and gin. All of these hard liquors have no sugar content. Later, Dr. Atkins actually did add in carbohydrates for alcohol consumption into his diet. Identifying carbohydrates of course, is different from calories, and so if you are a calorie counter, drinking alcohol will skew your calories for the day whereas wine and hard liquor carbohydrate numbers is different. 


Beer, is a totally different animal, because beer is made from hops, barley, wheat, and contains yeast. As such, beer is just like drinking sugar. 


There was actually a study done that showed that middle and older aged woman who drank wine moderately everyday gained less weight overtime and were less likely to become obese! The thought is, with this research results, that moderate drinkers actually take in fewer calories than from other sources. 


There is a huge difference between drinking dry red or white wine and drinking cocktails. Most cocktails are made with simple sugar (sugar dissolved in water), not to mention, can be made with fruit drinks which are high in sugar and liqueurs, which are extremely high in sugar. So, not all alcohols are created equal. Just like eating high fat foods, drinks loaded with carbohydrates increases blood sugar, which is then quickly followed by a crash that leaves you starving.


Just a simple rum and coke is packed with sugar! If you do decide to have a mixed drink, make sure the mix is a diet pop, so; diet ginger ale, diet coke, diet pepsi, diet sprite, and lime (no carbs), for an added flavour to your rum and coke, don’t forget. It is also important to use a spritzer like carbonated water or carbonated flavoured water, as opposed to tonic water (tastes divine but is high in carbs). There is also a low carbohydrate beer as a good alternative, such as Corona Premier. 


When the Atkins diet first listed wine, it advised to choose dry white or dry red as they are the lowest/have zero carbs to them. However, researching the driest wines today, Pinot Grigio comes in at 2.5g and Cabernet Sauvignon comes in at 3.8g per 5oz glass. But get this!


According to a study done at Oregon University in the US, red wine can help burn fat when consumed in moderation. When red wine was consumed, new fat cells in the liver were prevented from forming. A study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in January 2003, compared energy expenditure induced by four different meals rich in either carbohydrates, fats, proteins or alcohol. Researchers found that the alcohol-rich meal increased diet-induced thermogenesis; the calories burned by digesting and metabolizing food; by 27 percent; the runner-up was protein, generating a 17 percent increase in thermogenesis.


An article in the Science of Weight Loss by Sunny Sea Gold quotes the author of The Hunger Fix, Pamela Peeke, in which she adds dark beer and wine together as the same. She writes that how you metabolize alcohol has no differential, that both dark beer and wine should be your go to drink. She says that beer makes you feel fuller longer. I think that’s crazy. She must be basing all of this on calories not on carbohydrates. 


Basically the goal is to choose alcoholic beverages low in carbohydrates and luckily red wine is an antioxidant and helps with thermogenesis and aids in your weight loss diet plan. 


References


https://www.livestrong.com/article/459176-does-drinking-alcohol-slow-your-metabolism/


https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/red-wine-could-boost-the-metabolism-study/ar-AA9a4sN