So, you want to lose a couple of pounds but you don't want to give up on your evening
glass of wine? I am with you! Never fear, there is a way. Stick around
and I'll tell you all about it.
All right, how to drink wine on a diet. The calories
in wine come from its alcohol and its sugar, and alcohol actually contributes
more calories: 7 calories per gram of alcohol as compared to 4 calories per
gram of sugar. So you want to pay careful attention to alcohol content. You
also need to think about how much you're pouring. You may have read that a 13%
alcohol, dry red wine is about 120 calories; that is if you are pouring a
standard size, which in North America is about 150 milliliters (or 5 ounces for my
American friends) and it looks like this. If you are pouring your glass up to the
brim, maybe using a larger glass and filling higher, you are obviously going
to be consuming more calories. White wines often have less calories than rosé
and red so for the lowest possible calorie count you want to look for a dry
(under 2 grams per litre residual sugar) white wine at around 11% to 12%.
There are white wines lower than 11% but they tend to have a
lot of residual sugar so that can ramp the calories back up. You might want to
look at wines like Muscadet from the Loire Valley for example, Soave from the
Veneto in Northern Italy. You can try dry styles of Vinho Verde from Portugal,
or early harvested Hunter Valley Sémillon. Sparkling wines are often
sweeter than you might think and so have higher calories than the equivalent
volume of dry, light white wines, but they're often served in smaller volumes
(about a 100 millilitres when they're served in a flute) so they run
you only about 85 calories. This can be a good low cal option, and so
glamorous! If you want the lowest possible sugar content for sparkling
wine look for terms like Brut Nature or Zéro Dosage on the label. Dry rosé and
red wines under 12% are usually pretty tart, pretty lean,
kind of diluted on the palate, I wouldn't recommend these, but in the 12% to 13%
range you have a wealth of great options. Look at Bordeaux, Gamay from the
Beaujolais, or from the Niagara region, all sorts of cool climate Pinot Noirs,
Cabernet Francs, and some Syrahs; there's tons of options out there. Calories will
run from about 120 to 140 here. The sweeter and the higher alcohol you go,
the more calories you're going to consume unfortunately, but like champagne,
dessert wines tend to be served in smaller formats. Port is often served at
around 75 milliliters the pour. This will run you about 145 calories. It is about the
equivalent of a 150 milliliter glass of a medium alcohol red wine.
So, what about low calorie wine brands like Skinny Girl or Weight Watchers?
Well the calorie savings is actually pretty minimal here; about the equivalent
of a couple celery sticks (per glass), and the flavor is often pretty bland. Personally I would
rather abstain altogether, and save the calories, than drink a boring wine. If you
prefer sticking to the wines you love, here are a couple tips to help you drink
with moderation. First of all, you could try moving to a smaller glass, and that
way it'll seem like you have more wine! Or, you could divide your portion into
two smaller glasses, extending the pleasure. Secondly, you can think about
making yourself a white wine spritzer: 2/3 crisp, dry white wine, 1/3
sparkling water, twist of lemon; very refreshing on a hot summer's day!
You could just slap on your running shoes and burn the calories that you
plan to consume later. As always, thanks so much for watching. If you like this
video please feel free to share widely, give me a comment or a thumbs up, and to
subscribe to my channel. Until next week, santé!