Wine for Weight Loss: Wine, Dine, and Shed Pounds

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Wine, and especially red wine, has been studied extensively. Evidence suggests that moderate consumption may help people live longer; protect against certain cancers, improve mental health, and enhance heart health. So, we can definitely use wine for weight loss!

So far you may have been told that if you want to lose weight; you must ditch booze, avoid high-calorie intake and hit the gym. Well, the latter pieces of advice may work for all of us; but ditching booze to lose weight is not a good idea, say experts. According to researchers, drinking red wine in moderation can actually help you in your weight loss journey.

How does it aid weight loss? (Watch this video)

As per researchers, drinking two glasses of red wine can help you in losing weight. The studies were conducted at Washington State University and Harvard Medical School that claimed a polyphenol called ‘resveratrol’; which is present in red wine helps in losing weight. This polyphenol converts white fat, which are larger cells that store energy and expand as we gain weight; into obesity-fighting beige fat and this fat is much easier to lose.
This study was done on mice. Researchers enhanced their diet with just a little bit of resveratrol. They found out that resveratrol developed a little beiger fat in mice.

Another study was done at Harvard study on 20,000 women. It revealed that women who were drinking wine had a 70 per cent reduced risk of developing obesity. They also found that drinking wine initially slowed weight gain in women. However, these women self-reported their weight over time.

How Red Wine Might Help You Lose Weight?

For starters, drinking moderate amounts of alcohol improves blood flow, which means not only are more nutrients being transported into cells but so is more oxygen-a necessary component of fat burning, Lockwood says.

A glass of red also increases your levels of two hormones-adiponectin and free testosterone, which help you burn fat and build muscle, respectively-while decreasing estrogen, which makes you retain fat, and serum hormone binding globulin (SHBG), a hormone that prevents free T from acting on receptors. Together, this formula creates a more anabolic environment, releasing stored fat and increasing your metabolism, explains Lockwood.

Sounds great, right? The catch is there’s a threshold of when alcohol goes from harmless (even helpful), into troublesome territory. All the positives already mentioned are limited to light to moderate drinking-that’s just one glass of wine, occasionally. So, what happens when you pour yourself a second or third glass?

The Effects of Red Wine on Your Body

“Generally speaking, acute inflammatory stress actually produces hormones critical to burning fat,” says Lockwood. Things that fall in this category: Exercise and the occasional glass or two of wine. “But left unchecked and chronically elevated-as is the case with, among other things, high alcohol use-the body eventually responds by trying to store extra calories because your cells are having to work overtime to accommodate the added stress it’s gotten used to expecting,” he adds.

What’s more, drinking above moderate amounts of alcohol regularly not only negates all those positive hormone changes but actually disrupts communication between your systems, putting your hormones out of balance and straining all your systems, according to research out of Rutgers University.

Even more bad news: If you already eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, even a single, healthy glass of wine probably won’t boost your fat burn-you’re already getting those healthy antioxidants, so your hormones are already optimized, Lockwood points out. Meaning, that benefit only applies to people with potentially unhealthy diets.

And alcohol can tank one of the most helpful tools for weight loss: sleep. Even though alcohol helps you fall asleep faster; it causes you to wake up more often throughout the night, he says.

Working of Red Wine in Weight Loss

Here’s how it works: Red wine’s red color comes from antioxidants called polyphenols. Polyphenols can help improve your health in a variety of ways, but one problem with certain polyphenols; especially the ones in red wine is that your body doesn’t absorb them very well. Almost half of the polyphenols that we consume do not get absorption during the normal initial phases of digestion. While this sounds like a bad thing, the unabsorbed polyphenols become food for the good bacteria in your digestive tract. This is exactly what Spanish researchers found when they examined the digestive tracks of people; who drank red wine every day for 20 days.

In addition to improving the quality of the bacteria in digestive tracts; study participants also saw improvement in several major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, like triglyceride levels. This is likely due to the fact that the good bacteria in your digestive tract; can help improve metabolism for a faster rate of burning that fat.

The bottom line: Enjoy your nightly glass of red wine (4-6oz) to reap the benefits of a longer life; higher good cholesterol levels, and improved digestion and metabolism.

7 Ways to Stay Healthy and Drink Wine for Weight Loss

The following 7 tips may help you enjoy a healthy diet that includes wine.

Know wine’s calories

Most wine has anywhere from 92-175 calories per glass.

The interesting thing about alcohol calories is that our bodies digest ethanol differently. We send excess ethanol into a complex metabolic process involving our liver which; eventually releases acetic acid that’s removed from the body (a.k.a. we pee it out). So, not all of those calories convert to energy.

Earn your glass

Walking in the early evening will; help keep your metabolism up and will also slow down the ‘need to feed’ impulse; that we often have at the end of the day. Walking is a natural decompression. This habit may help reduce over drinking as well.

Don’t drink before you eat

Drinking wine before you eat has shown to increase appetite when consumed; 30 minutes before eating so save your wine for your meal. If you love to cook and drink at the same time; try splitting your glass of wine into 2 servings of 3 ounces each.

Do drink dry red wine

Red wine has shown to have much higher antioxidants than other wines. Pay attention to the alcohol level when purchasing a bottle and attempt to keep it below 13.5% ABV.

Don’t drink too late

Alcohol behaves similar to carbohydrates in our bodies, so resist drinking too late. You will also be able to have higher quality rest; if you stop all eating and drinking for the day around 8 to 8:30pm; that is if you go to sleep around 12am.

Do spend more on wine

In order to change our habits, we have to put value around the things we eat. If you spend a little more on your bottle of wine; it will encourage you to enjoy it over a period of several days. You can easily preserve your red or white wine in the fridge with a vacuum pump wine sealer. Sparkling wines will last up to 4 days with a Champagne stopper.

Drink wine away from home

We, humans, are lazy, so if the temptation isn’t to close by we are less likely to indulge. If you’re on a strict diet, remove indulgent foods and drinks from your house. By all means, you can still have a drink at night! Why not walk to a neighborhood wine bar and meet a friend?

Fast facts on the possible benefits of red wine, wine for weight loss:

Here are some key points about red wine and health. More detail is in the main article.

Red wine is high in resveratrol, and it may offer various health benefits.
Resveratrol may boost heart health, protect against some kinds of cancer, and prevent some types of vision loss.
Grapes and berries are a better source of resveratrol than red wine; so eating these is likely to be more healthful than drinking wine.
However, if you are going to drink, red wine appears to be more healthful than some kinds of alcoholic beverages.
Women should not drink more than one glass a day, and men, two glasses.
Red wine may also help in lowering the risk of strokes and early death. This is because drinking small amounts of red wine helps in retaining the ‘good’ HDL cholesterol in the blood.
Health experts also say that drinking 1–3 glasses of wine per day; gives a reduced risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Moderate consumption of red wine leads a less risk of developing type 2 diabetes, especially in women
Another study on middle-aged and elderly people reveals that those who drank 2–7 glasses of wine per week; were less likely to become depressed.

This is it! We really wanted to believe the red wine equals weight loss rumor too; but the reality is a little more complicated. The bottom line is that drinking a glass of wine before bed probably won’t help you lose weight; but unless you’re training for a bikini competition where every calorie and ounce of fat counts; it certainly won’t undo all the hard work you put in at the gym and in the kitchen.

Wine for Weight Loss: Wine, Dine, and Shed Pounds