Good wine is a necessity of life for me. ~ Thomas Jefferson

View from our terrace at the Wine Country Inn

Hello Everyone. There has been so much discussion on wine lately that I felt compelled to add my two cents! That's what I love about our blogs. We all give our opinions, and respect each others thoughts, and we certainly get alot of points of view. The topic of wine seems to be a big one though, and I wanted to share my thoughts.

In the champagne caves at Schramsburg, with my son, his fiancee.

When I started the BFC, I was surprised to see that wine ( good wine, not sweet dessert wine) has very little to no sugar. I remember googling it to verify this fact. Sure enough I found it to be true. But as a wine lover and a participant in many wine tours ( I have this deep love of Northern California and the wine country), I remembered some of the wine lessons I learned;fermentation occurs when the yeast consumes the sugar in the grape juice. So wine is not a sugar laden beverage. There are some super sweet dessert type wines, but they are not what most people consume.

I realize there are many schools of thought, as well as some of you, who say you can't lose weight while consuming a couple of glasses of wine a day. Well, wine is a caloric beverage, with little nutritional value. There are some good properties and health benefits associated with red wine, and we all know the Europeans have been enjoying wine with meals from a very young age. It has no fat, a minimal of carbs, little to no sugar. The alcohol componet does make it caloric, so it has the ability to count towards a daily calorie allowance, but there's not alot to it. But to say that you can't lose weight if you have two glasses of wine a day, but you can if you have several slices of bacon, cheese, nuts or chips, doesn't make any sense if you really think about it. I know we don't count calories, but you all know you can't eat unlimited amounts of the "free 0/0 " food. That is the mistake that I have been making. I have been overdoing the bacon, the cheese, the nuts. Staying within my limits, but overdoing nonetheless. I could be wrong, but I believe therein lies my problem, not those two glasses of wine a day. Even though we don't count calories, they do play a role in the loss of weight. That's why some weeks our losses are better than others. If we were to count, we would see that we had too many, even if they did come from belly good foods.

I love wine. It's something I like to read about, talk about and pair food with. I'm not an alcoholic, but I can't imagine going out for a nice meal and not pairing a glass of wine with it. It may seem strange to some, but I don't get cigars or golf, yet I would never dare to tell those that are passionate about those things, that it doesn't make sense to me. It's just not my thing.

I did lose this week, and it was a big loss for me, 3 lbs. I had gained the week before, so I was playing catch up, but I had my two, ( and a few more on the weekends) glasses of wine each day. I did cut out the extra cheese, bacon, nuts, and cut back on one carb each day. I think that was the difference

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I do think it can be worked into the program. Can you have your wine and all your 6 carbs too? That I'm not so sure about. I have the sugar under control, but I am struggling with the carbs. So that's what I'm working on. But my wine, well that's another story. That bottle of Sean Minor Pinot Noir I shared when we went out to dinner tonight was delicious, and it made my seared scallops and spinach all the more heavenly. I passed on the bread though! And that's where I'm concentrating my efforts on. Cheers!

Future daughter-in-law and me listening intently to our wine guide!

Late afternoon champagne on the terrace at Mumm

Drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life's most civilized pleasures."--- Michael Broadbent

Hubby finally gets in a photo!

 

Wine tasting at Jordan vineyards