How To Fit Wine Into a Healthy Lifestyle

Drinking wine is like having an old friend from out of town visit. It’s always a fun time for the first week, but after the third week, you’re tired of holding in your farts and the visit becomes stressful. Ok, that example was a little extreme but you get the idea. I know we’ve heard about the antioxidant and polyphenol content of wine and all you really want to know at this point is how we can fit wine into a healthy lifestyle.

You love wine and I love wine (I love wine so much, that I made a drinking montage from my afternoon in Napa). Check it HERE.

Here are some tips to consider that make wine drinking optimal to your health and keep the fat gain controlled.

1.     Drink it post-workout: if you’ve trained hard enough, you’ll simply be replenishing liver glycogen (remember that fructose is metabolized in the liver). I say, “trained hard enough”, because some people don’t even train with enough intensity to start tapping into liver glycogen. However, if you’ve trained hard enough, the fructose from wine will replenish glycogen in a post-workout fasted state. Also, you’ll get “lit” off a glass or two :)

2.     Dry Wines are best: Dry wine = Less sugar. This lessens the caloric effect of the wine you’re drinking. I have to mention that calories are not the only thing to consider when drinking wine. When were drinking we need consider the hormonal effect it starts to have when we start to over consume. However, calories do play a part in the equation, and if we can take care of the caloric aspect of wine, then were covering at least one of our bases. Did I mention that dryer wines have higher alcohol content? Get turnt faster with dryer wines!

3.     Dance: Hear me out. I’m not just trying to be cute. When alcohol is ingested, the body uses acetate (found in alcohol) as a substrate for energy since acetate is the same by product of fat oxidation. The problem is, fat oxidation is halted in place of burning acetate. Basically, when we drink, we're constantly burning alcohol instead of glucose or fat. This increases the chances that our food gets stored as fat rather than utilized as fuel. This is why gaining fat from alcohol is really only a problem in a fed state.  What better way to utilize all that alcohol by dancing at the same time? Also, I realize that it’s not practical to advise someone to hit the big three lifts after a few drinks. Or is it?

4.     Mix carbonated mineral water or ice with sweeter wines: Let’s say you do opt for a sweet wine. If that’s the case, mix a little San Pellegrino or Perrier into the wine to dilute it. It takes on the consistency of a sangria or light sparkling wine. You’re getting “more” in your glass while drinking less alcohol. Another option to use instead of soda or mineral water is ice (more so recommended for a white wine). The traditionalist may hate on you, but they’re not looking out for your waistline.

At the end of the day, these are just casual tips and tricks that incorporate wine into a healthy lifestyle. When in doubt, moderation is always the answer. I’m also realistic in that some occasions call for a night of untracked Sangria. If that’s the case, enjoy yourself and don't "Drake" and drive. 

Why Do Asians Turn Red When They Drink?

Every time I see my girlfriend have a glass of wine, I’ll see her instantly turn red. I walk into a room and find myself always asking her “how much did you have?” The thing is, she’d usually only have a glass or two but it would make her turn super red. The reason for this? The “Asian Flush”.  

Universally, the Asian flush is known as that blotchy red color that your Asian friend turns when they drink a glass of wine. Let’s dive into the reason why Asians tend to turn flush red when drinking a small amount of alcohol.

To keep it simple, the red “glow” is an immune reaction. The alcohol that we drink isn’t being broken down by the liver, as efficiently as it should be. Ethanol is made safer by liver enzymes ADH and ALDH2, which convert alcohol to acetate (known as the less potent substance in the body). Inherently, Asians tend to lack the ALDH2 (aldehyde dehydrogenase) enzyme.

This makes the breakdown of alcohol in Asians less efficient. When this happens, the body reacts to alcohol the same way it would react to anything foreign to the body. In this case, the Asian “glow”.

I don’t want to write a list of supplements that you could take to correct this, because no supplement will do that. What we can do is make the immune system stronger in order to minimize the immune response and subsequently, the blotchy red patches.

We can also simply slow down the rate of absorption and that would be done by utilizing the universal tip of eating food and drinking lots of water while drinking alcoholic beverages. It also goes without saying that a strong immune system will be able to better cope with an immune reaction.

Gut health addressed through probiotics and fermented foods is always a great preventative step to take regardless if you’re drinking or not.

I hope that gives you a little bit of insight as to why our Asian friends turn blotchy red when drinking.