Ever notice the lack of consideration that dieting has for your wine habit? How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live? Not to worry, there has been overwhelming evidence pointing to wine as a healthy form of booze when consumed in moderation. Here’s how you can stay healthy and still enjoy wine. The following 7 tips may help you enjoy a healthy diet that includes wine. “If you are already thin and healthy, alcohol intake does not seem to affect weight gain.” referenced from Alcohol Alert, Most wine has anywhere from per glass. If you’d like to find out the specifics on a particular wine, check out the . The interesting thing about wine calories is that our bodies digest alcohol (ethanol) differently than we digest food because it is a toxic substance. Our bodies send excess ethanol into a complex metabolic process involving our liver which eventually releases acetic acid that is secreted (a.k.a. we pee it out) so it doesn’t all get converted to energy.

It’s important to note that everyone’s physiology is different: women, Asians, Native Americans and Inuits secrete less alcohol than Caucasian males. What’s weird is that if you are drinking at a rate higher than you can metabolize alcohol, you are more likely to NOT absorb all its calories. This doesn’t mean you can go out and drink a bottle of wine, it just means that alcohol calories are a little more forgiving than say… ice cream calories. How much wine is too much wine? Heavy drinking is about 3+ drinks for a man and 2+ drinks for a women daily. Do your health a favor and acclimate your body to about half of that as a good example of moderate drinking behavior. Some of the longest lived people on earth drink about this much wine every day. 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 natural decompression. This habit may help reduce over drinking as well.

Setting your diet up for success means increasing your metabolism. average price of box of wineWhat’s interesting about wine is that it also increases metabolism for about 70-90 minutes. st james wine reviewIt’s important to drink water when you consume wine and liquor to maintain the balance of water in your cells since alcohol is a diuretic. good earth wine and food companyYou’ll note that beer is different than wine and causes cells to swell.best wine sites uk “Men and women who drink alcohol tend to have a stable body weight over a decade of observation compared with their non-drinking counterparts, whose weight increases”best countertop wine cooler reviews

A prospective study of alcohol intake and change in body weight among US adultsbest wine in california 2013 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. Also, having wine on a full stomach will make it so you’ll be less likely to feel the effects and more likely to absorb all of the associated calories. 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. Find out about the amazing health benefits of red wine. 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.

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. We humans are lazy, so if temptation isn’t 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? A little wine could actually help you get into the mood. We are not doctors so don’t take our word for it, instead look at the facts: You don’t need that much for the effects; Liu S, Sedula MK, Williamson DF, et al. A prospective study of alcohol intake and change in body weight among US adults. Am J Epidemiol 1994;140:912–20. Lawrence Feinman and Charles S Lieber.

Ethanol and lipid metabolism1,2,3. American Society for Clinical Nutrition 1999; Klesges, R. C., et al. Effects of alcohol intake on resting energy expenditure in young women social drinkers. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1994, 59, 805-809. Wine and liquor impedes anti-diuretic hormone in pituitary gland at montana.edu If you are already thin and healthy, alcohol intake does not affect weight gain: pubs.niaaa.nih.gov Don’t drink before you eat, from Pubmed Frary, Carol D. and Johnson, Rachel K. “Chapter 2: Energy” in Krause’s Food and Nutrition Therapy, 12th ed. 2008.DrinkThe Best and Worst Booze to Drink if You Want to Lose WeightAlcohol can either give you a beer belly or help you uncover your abs. After all, while one Archives of Internal Medicine study shows that people who put back one or two drinks a day are less likely to gain weight, research in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that men consume an extra 433 calories on days they have just a couple of drinks.

While lowered inhibitions and drink-fueled munchies have something to do with it, 61 percent of the caloric increase comes from the alcohol itself. So, if you're trying to lose weight while still enjoying the occasional drink, you'd better be wise about which drinks you choose. Here are the best and worst booze you can order.Red or white, you can expect to consume roughly 100 to 120 calories per glass. (That's assuming, however, that you're drinking a standardized 5-ounce glass. Research from Iowa State and Cornell shows that people tend to over-pour by 12 percent.)However, there are some considerations to make when picking grapes: White wine typically contains fewer carbohydrates than does red wine, which makes a small difference in terms of calories, says Caroline Cederquist, M.D., author of The MD Factor and creator of bistroMD. Meanwhile, red wine is richer in antioxidants, and a 2014 study in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, red wine's ellargic acids delay the growth of fat cells while slowing the development of new ones."

A fortified wine with higher alcohol content and infused spices and herbs, vermouth is a calorie saver if you have it by itself—as it's commonly served in Europe," says Georgie Fear, R.D., author ofLean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss. A 1.5-ounce serving contains a mere 64 calories, and typically contains about 15 to 18 percent alcohol, she says. Plus, research out of Budapest shows that it's jam-packed with polyphenol compounds, which may promote healthy weight loss.Still, remember that if you mix it into a Manhattan or martini, you're probably going to be consuming far more calories and sugar, Fear says.When it comes to getting the most alcohol for the fewest calories, shots and straight booze on the rocks are the way to go. "There isn't much of a difference between 80-proof hard liquors," Cederquist says. "They all have around the same amount of calories and carbohydrates." And as calories increase along with alcohol content, the difference isn't huge. For instance, a shot of 86-proof whiskey contains 105 calories and a shot of 80-proof vodka contains 97.However, you also need to keep in mind that the sweeter the liquor, the more calories it typically contains, she says.

"If you're looking for a lower calorie alternative, avoid the flavored vodkas and spiced rums and go for the original or 'plain' option offered," she says. "If you are looking for a flavor boost, try low-calorie mixers like a flavored seltzer or fresh squeezed lemon or lime. This will provide the taste without the calories."With fewer calories and carbs, these are the best brewskis for weight loss, Cederquist says. Many light beers contain 90 to 100 calories per 12 ounces, while extra-light beers pack about 55 to 65.However, just don't use that as an excuse to have more beers than you typically would, or you'll undo all benefits. Hey, they generally pack less alcohol, right? Well, yeah, but they actually tend to have a higher percentage of their calories coming from alcohol compared to standard brews. Budweiser Select 55 for example derives 88.2 percent of its calories from alcohol, compared to Bud Light at 74.1 percent, and regular Budweiser at 66.9 percent calories, Fear says.Sugar-Packed Cocktails"Margaritas and Long Island Iced Teas can set you back more calories than a large order of McDonald's French Fries," Fear says.

Even worse, calories from sugar-laden drinks come as a sneak attack. When you drink a marg, your body is so overwhelmed with the alcohol content that your body doesn't properly metabolize the sugar. Instead, it stores the sweet stuff as fat.There is never a good excuse to drink these and other sugar-filled cocktails especially if you are trying to lose weight or not develop diabetes, she says. Now, if you've got a skilled mixologist behind your bar, you're probably calorically safe ordering a cocktail. After all, he'd never serve up one of these artless offenses.High-Alcohol Craft Beers"The last five years have seen an explosion of craft breweries creating high-alcohol varieties, which pack more calories per bottle than you may realize," Fear says. Remember, more alcohol means more calories. Every gram of the good stuff contains seven calories.For instance, Flying Dog Horn Dog, which contains 10.2 percent alcohol by volume, also contains 314 calories per bottle, and Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA boasts 18 percent alcohol by volume, but also packs 450 calories into each bottle.