Can you drink wine if you’re trying to lose weight and how many calories in the average glass of wine?
Talking to Diane, the American blogger of Oui in France yesterday, it occured to me that many of you would be interested to know which wines you can include in your diet while trying to keep the weight under control.
There is no magic answer as it happens as with many things in life. It’s everything in moderation and that includes wine.
Wine is an integral part to our evening dinner here in France. We enjoy choosing each bottle and try to pair it with what we are eating. At the table we discuss it, pause between mouthfuls, compare notes and above all, it gives us huge pleasure.
We try to have a couple of nights a week with no wine. It’s good for our health and we’ll eat a more simple dinner on wine free nights.
There are about 85 to 120 calories in a glass of dry white wine, around 100 to 140 for a glass of red wine and of course much more for sweet wine. The calories come from any residual sugar in the wine but fundamentally, from the alcohol. Wines with lower alcohol generally are lighter in calories.
So should you be drinking the branded low calorie, low alcohol wines that are on the market aimed at dieters?
They’re not for me! These products have had the alcohol artificially reduced by reverse osmosis. A method that separates the flavour components from the alcohol part of wine, reduces the alcohol and blends the two back again to achieve a lower alcohol wine.
I’ll stick to drinking less, less often, of decent quality in moderate amounts. Dry wines are lighter so stick to those if you’re trying to lose weight. Don’t drink every day and keep hydrated. Drinking too much sees my will power drain away too but denying myself one of the greatest pleasures in life makes me miserable.
Opt for organic wines from cool climates such as Europe and avoid hyped up brands that are expensive and often unexciting.
Cheers – in moderation!
