carbs in wine?

[bratty55]

This is probably a very dumb question, but I got into the enjoyment (nay love) of red wine about a year ago. Around that time, I also fell off the low carb wagon. I got back on the wagon but enjoy a glass of red with my dinner almost everynight. some evenings, I like to have 2 glasses!

Anyway, I've gone up 2 whole sizes and can't seem to lose that lower belly bulge even after I started cuttign down on the carbs. Now, I'm 37 years old so I'm not sure if its my metabolism slowing down, the wine, or residual pasta still in my system.

it just occurred to me maybe wine is putting the weight on me!

(See my next thread about velasmooth...)

[Redeye]

I feel the same way about Chardonnay. Some nights I have 2 glasses, too.

I'm nearly 58 and I haven't had a weight issue. Even if I did, I would blame something else. I love my wine in the evenings. :)

[NeonJungle]

Have you gone up two dress sizes since you got back on the carb wagon, or since you fell off? It could be the combination of extra calories, rather than just the wine. A glass of wine has about 100 or so calories, so exercise to burn those 200 calories won't be too much -- an extra half hour. I'm willing to be a bit puffier for wine and beer -- a good glass of wine at dinner is so nice, and an icy cold beer on a hot day, is too. Life without those would be too terrible to contemplate. :p

[Rhea]

Hi there....


Yep, fortunately, 4 oz of wine has only 2 carbs. (by the way, that's only 1/2 cup :( ) But, unfortunately, the alcohol part of the wine effects us on a metabolic level. Now, it doesn't raise our blood sugar levels, but our bodies treat the alcohol just like a sugar. It burns off the alcohol first. If I remember right, it is because of the way the alcohol enters the blood stream and the way it breaks down. I'm being real general here and am in no way qualified to go any further... lol....Dr. Sears from the Zone had a pretty simple explanation of the alcohol part and that's what I'm remembering.

Anyhoo, I'm a red winer and have to really bite my lip at night when I want some and really shouldn't. (okay, so it's every night!:eek: )

[jeanie]

Rhea, how did I just KNOW I'd find you over here!

Love you girl!http://www.whfn.com/board/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Rhea]

Love ya too Jeanie....us winers have to stick together you know. :D

[jeanie]

That's right Rhea, and besides -- red wine really is good for you. I would give it up in a second, but I don't want to jeopardize my health.http://www.whfn.com/board/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

[Amber]

I feel the same way about chocolate. I just hate eating it but have to for the antioxidants!:p

[RobinBa]

Yep, fortunately, 4 oz of wine has only 2 carbs. (by the way, that's only 1/2 cup :( ) But, unfortunately, the alcohol part of the wine effects us on a metabolic level. Now, it doesn't raise our blood sugar levels, but our bodies treat the alcohol just like a sugar. It burns off the alcohol first. If I remember right, it is because of the way the alcohol enters the blood stream and the way it breaks down.


Hi there,

I'm Robin, and I'm pretty new. I also love wine, and have small amounts once in a while as a treat. I have a comment about wine and metabolism, though:

Any kind of alcohol does a number of things to the metabolism -- and one important effect is that it raises cortisol levels (there are a host of others, but you'll all fall asleep before the end of this post if I write about them.) The extra cortisol affects food metabolism a lot: one way, I think, is by making your insulin processes a little less effective. (One of its functions to support survival is to make sugar more available in the bloodstream -- it also helps the liver to store glycogen, for example.)

Anyway, my point is that when you drink wine, it raises the cortisol levels -- and creates a state that makes it easy for a lot of us to pack on pounds. Especially belly, hip, and thigh fat. The moral of the story is, rather than counting the carbs or calories in the wine, it is better to be mindful of everything you eat when you drink it, and to be sure to get some exercise that day, even if it's just a walk. Also, don't ever drink too much at any given time (the amount varies from person to person, but I'm sure you know what is too much for you.)

:) Robin

[bratty55]

Robin:

Yikes. Cortisol level? That explains my little wine belly. Stubborn as all heck to get rid of it too. Darnit. I luuuuv wine and I noticed my growing flab the last few months that I was drinking wine almost on a daily basis! I kept telling myself I was drinking it for my heart and it would be of course not to have a good Bordeaux with my steak!

Funny, I go through stages where I really love it and can't get enough of it and stages, like this week, where I really don't want it or even miss it.

I'm cutting down for sure after the cortisol info. Thanks.

But heeeey!! Let's all discuss wine instead! How about that? Yeah! We talk about it but drink less of it. Like a support group. I like that idea. also, I just realized my friend pointing out that people who drink heavily all have that droopy, heavy lidded Teddy Kennedy eye look and I'd rather prevent that if i can.

By the way, thanks to all the lovely ladies who responded to my thread. I didn't realize that I had gotten any since the only alerts I've been getting are for the cellulite cream... sigh... I'm not going there now.. but anyway, thanks.

Redeye: I enjoy 2 glasses too! Sometimes 3. I only pour to my middle of my wine glass though.. but they are rather large red wine goblets!

[RobinBa]

I am all for a wine discussion thread. Let's do it!

Also, I am a half bottle at a meal wine drinker. Two glasses plus epsilon just about does it for me. I find that I drink much less often if I save my wine treats for really, really good stuff -- that way I can look forward to something really lovely, and it's totally worth the wait.

I drink a lot of sparkling mineral water with fresh lemon or lime, and also a lot of herb tea (hot and iced) when I'm not drinking wine.

:) Robin

[bratty55]

Robin, my brave girl, thanks for being the first!

I love a nice glass of cabernet with cheese and warm bread (did I say I fell off the low carb wagon?).

I like a glass of chilled white Burgundy by itself but for the most part, I like Sancerre with my white meats.

I'm also a big lover of Montrachet, especially Pouligny Montrachet but they are like 60 bucks a bottle so I only get it on dates. haha. If anyone wants to start a thread about how to get a successful male and keep his interest, I'm willing to stick my neck out and hand out some advice that will surely get some people angry! (eh, I am a magnet for trouble here!).

Most of time though, I seem to gravitate towards reds like Bordeaux, Cabs and Pinot Noir (givesme a nice buzz faster than white ! LOL) but there are times I love a nice chilled white. YOu know what I mean?

I've found that there are some domestic reds that are better than French reds like Louis M. Martini (love their cabs) and they are affordable. Not all labels with French castles are better than a label with a humble little Oregan vineyard on it. HOWEVER, I try not to go with anything that has a pictures of bears, birds, penguins on the label! Call me quirky but that's just my own preference.

Jeannie: tag, you're it (next).

[RobinBa]

I'm not a great wine expert, and I'm pretty provincial in that I drink a lot of domestic (US) wines, particularly when I'm paying a lot for them -- I have more experience with the domestics, and know what to expect. I remember things like weather, droughts, etc. from my own country. I've also spent a lot of time visiting wineries in the US, and have a nostalgic love for some places over others.

That being said, a lot of the domestic wineries pattern themselves after the French -- not in style, but in the varietals that they pick, so you're in luck if you have a particular French region that you like. Santa Barbara, for example, grows a lot of pinot noir (is that after the Rhone valley?), but you almost never see pinot noir in Washington (the vinyards are in the hot, eastern part of the state.) I don't recall, offhand, which regions Washington wineries pattern themselves after -- but I can remember if I think hard enough.

Domestic chards are a little different for me, though. I am not a great domestic chard drinker. I drink it when the food calls for it, and I like chard from hotter vineyards (DH likes Napa and Sonoma chards, and tends to dislike the SB and Washington chards that I like). I tend to like US sav blanc, fume' blanc, semillon, and such varietals better -- DH and I also tend to agree on those.

I too went on a great white Burgundy kick for a while. Great stuff! I'd do a lot more if I had a better source for good imports (somehow, I suspect that the best stuff never leaves France, unless it is via a distributor that is particularly connected.)

I don't know quite how to describe this -- but one thing that I don't like about the cheaper domestics is that the deep, 'off dry' reds like merlot and zin tend to have a similar 'jammy' flavor -- as if they were innoculated with the same fake fruit flavor that overwhelms the acid content -- like they are afraid that wine drinkers will think their stuff is empty if they don't feel like they were hit in the face with a bat every time they take a sip. I'm not sure what this underlying thing is that I'm tasting, but I'll bet everyone reading this knows what I'm talking about. Anyone out there know what part of the winemaking process is responsible for this? (A similar thing happens with highly distributed chards like Kendall Jackson's -- which I'm not crazy about and find that they taste almost exactly the same to me year after year. I understand better where that flavor comes from, though.)

I'm being paged, and must go -- I'll write more later. :) Robin

ps: I like cheese, too!

pps: If I stepped on your favorite wines, I apologize. Remember that I don't know what I'm talking about!

[Rhea]

Wow, a wine thread...cool. I'll jump right on in.

Well, I used to be one of those Chablis, white wine spritzer type (oh, the nativiety (sp?) of young age!) Then I grew up to love red wines. I'm in CA, so I had the access to numerous wineries. It was wine tasting that made me grow to love red. Favorites range from Merlot to Burgs, been enjoying Pinor Noirs and Sangioveses lately. There was one that we got from our wine club, a Cabernet Franc that was just delish. I have to watch myself or I'll have drank the bottle!

I have learned that different foods will totally enhance or detract from the flavor of the wine. My favorite is dark chocolate. Dark chocolate and a good merlot or slightly drier red wine....whoo...talk about yummy. I discovered just the other day that strawberries will also change the flavor (I only thought they were good with champagne...:rolleyes: )

Okay, got to get back to work.

[Redeye]

I don't know much about wines so it's fascinating reading this thread.

I do know I never met a Chardonnay I didn't like. I've horrified a wine expert by putting ice in my Chardonnay. He was also displeased that I preferred the $50 bottle of Port to the $100 bottle...but what the heck do I know?

He did manage to teach me that sharp cheddar cheese and a glass of Ruby Port make a fabulous dessert.

I love to eat chocolate while drinking Chardonnay...in fact, IMHO, Chardonnay goes with everything and is also very good by itself.

And that's my complete knowledge of wine.:)

[Maryann28]

Hi My name is Maryann and I am a wino!

[nancy]

I like Sancerre with my white meats.

Me too! I love Sancerre. I'm also a red wine lover, but I'm usually too cheap to buy the ones I really like.

So how do I turn my DH onto reds? The tannins really bother him, so he prefers whites. I did find one that he liked, an "old vines" Zinfandel, but I'm drawing a blank on who made it. (Hmmm, maybe if I go pour a glass I'll remember....)

Words of wisdom for my fellow winos from my Grandma: "I discovered after age 70 that life just goes better with a glass of wine." I think she's over 90 now, so she can't be wrong!

[bratty55]

EDITED VERSION:

GOSH I NEED TO REALLY PROOF MY WORK, I SOUND LIKE A MORON IN THESE POSTS.

the tannens used to bother me too but i grew out of it. You can get away with a decent bottle for about $15.00 - perhaps cheaper outside metropolitan areas.

i'm a wino too! let's raise a glass to all our winos.
i'm rarely in the mood for the fruitier (sweeter) wines, prefer dryer woodier wines too but the sweeter ones get me buzzed faster so if you need it, go for sweet! funny, i see these cheap bottles of wine in the wine shop for less than 10 bucks and then restaurants serve them by the glass for like 8 bucks. and you know i'm thinking next time i'll get the cheap bottle,it tastes okay but it never works out that way.

I forgot to write that I've been drinking Cote de Rhone for the last month or so. French wine are cheaper now because of overproduction and the prices are low, low, low. go out and go Francaise. Got that ladies, we need to help the French! hmmm. maybe not... well hate to turn this thread into a political free for all so i'll just say take advantage of cheaper prices and enjoy.

anyway, I heard they were destroying cases of wine to keep the prices from falling to ridiculous prices - wantedto cry. all those poor bottles! wasted! and all these poor americans sober...

[snora]

Another wino here. I prefer a dry red, but I enjoy a Chardonney, too. Bratty, what's that about overproduction in France? I say, VIVE LA FRANCE!

[bratty55]

I agree. hee hee. '

Apparantly, most of France had a really good crop the last few years and made gzillion barrels of fine wine. however, with the competition they have from winemakers in westcoast US and S. America whose wines are just as good but less pricy, their sales were record low. Some of the vineyards that have been around for hundreds of years are facing bankruptcy and will have to "close shop" very soon. Instead of lowering their prices and swallowing their Gallic pride as well, they decided to destroy the wine to keep the prices up as high as they can.

Hey, if it were me, I'd donate the wine to nursing homes, soldiers in Iraq, hard working mothers in the US... you know.