Shake it Baby

There are many people who have been watching their carbohydrate intake as part of a healthy lifestyle. By limiting the amount of carbs one consumes during the day, they may be able to lose weight, fend off diabetes, and have more stamina.

Low carbohydrate diets are designed to reduce the amount of simple sugars that are consumed. These diets are easy to follow if you become an avid label reader. By reading the labels on your favourite foods or drinks, you will be able to determine the amount of carbs that are in them and from there decide if it fits your diet plan.

Is there Carbohydrates is Wine?

The simple answer is yes. Wine begins with fruit, most common grapes. All grapes contain natural sugars and on the outside they have a fine coating of natural yeast. During the fermentation process, the sugar and the yeast mix together causing a chemical reaction. This chemical reaction turns the grapes sugars into alcohol.

The carbs in any wine come from the small amount of sugars that are left over from the fermentation process. Most of the sugar in the grapes has turned to alcohol so the amount of carbs found in any wine is going to be low.

There are some wines that do have more sugars in them than others. Sweeter wines contain more sugars and therefore more carbs. Dryer wines are lower in carbohydrates because they contain less sugar.

Amount of Carbs Found in Wine

Wines can contain anywhere from 2-5 grams of carbs per ounce depending on the sweetness of the wine. Dryer wines such a blanc are going to have less carbs in them, between 2-3 grams per ounce. Bottles of Zinfindel or Chardonnay tend to be higher in sugars along with higher in carbs. Dessert wines like Sherry and Port are even higher. They can hit upwards of 13 grams per ounce.

Wine is Not Alone

Beer also contains carbs. Wine and beer are similar in the amount of sugars per ounce. Beer can range anywhere from 2 grams all the way up to 8 grams of carbs per ounce.

You may think that if the beer is labelled light that the carbs would be lower but this is not the case.

Weight Gain

One of the main reasons people chose a low carb diet is to control their weight. Simple sugars are burned quickly by the body so people tend to eat more when their diet is high in sugars and starches.

There really isn’t any strong proof one way or another if wine will lead to weight gain or for that matter if any alcoholic beverage will increase the hips. There is one exception to that which is mixed drinks. Some mixed drinks do contain large amounts of sugar and are high in calories. This is because other ingredients besides alcohol are being used.

An occasional glass of wine or shifter of brandy is not going to cause weight gain. One reason people tend to gain weight when drinking is because they eat things like cheese, nuts or other snack foods high in calories, fats and carbs with their drinks. Another reason is large amounts of alcohol can slow the body’s metabolism down.  Some people are unsure about such matters but it’s a good idea to learn about all the different types of weight loss myths.

Posted by April / Food and Drink