Wine Is Beautiful!

Can you really lose weight while drinking wine? 

Regardless of whether the wine in your wine diet is in any of the categories -- red, blush / rose', or white, you can lose weight on the wine diet. If you cannot drink wine, you can also lose weight and perhaps the same amount on a red / black grape juice diet. 

The Red Wine Diet is the best for your health Red gives the best cholesterol protection although cholesterol protection has little to do with losing weight. All wine diets provide a similar opportunity for weight loss. 

I hope you do not mind my repeating that I lost 62 pounds in a little more than two years and for the first four months I did not even know that I was on a diet. I was unaware that I was losing so much weight until getting on my doctor's scale in fall 2013. 

I made what turned out to be a major change in my eating habits in the middle of 2013. I moved breakfast, which I had been eating at 9:00 or 10:00 AM to a brunch at 12:00 PM. I still had my coffee. I also moved dinner from 6:00 PM to about 8:00 PM and I added a wine cocktail hour, which is two hours from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. every night. 

Because I spread out the meals, and since I am not just eating crackers, I do not get hunger pangs for any significant length of time before I have a meal, some nice wine or some nice chocolates. 

After dinner, I like to sit outside and gaze upon the back forty. Then we sit down and watch a little family TV. When I go to bed, I watch TV again for just a little while in the bedroom. 

My wife and I enjoy Perry Mason on ME TV much more than when we were kids.  During this time, I enjoy two solid dark chocolate Smidgens from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates. They make the best chocolates. This takes the edge off and is typically the only "after meal" dessert I permit myself. 

When I have brunch, the combined breakfast and lunch event that takes place at noon each day, I will often finish off with a doughnut or a cupcake or something sweet and good. Yes, I still lost 62 pounds, and I am still losing weight.  

It may be bad news to you that on my diet, I formally eat just two times a day; but they are not chinchy meals. I cut out one whole meal. In many ways, that is the secret. I replaces the third meal with a wine time. tKnowing exactly when I will have my first and second meal of the day, as well as wine time, and the two candies at bedtime helps me psychologically to resist eating another meal between meals. 

It permits me to wait until about noon and 8 PM to eat my two real meals of the day. When I need something in between, I find bananas and apples satisfying or vegetables with minimal dip. To assure my health, I take four special fish oil tablets from Physician's Nutriceuticals, a large daily multivitamin, and 1000 mg of vitamin C (in the winter).  

I do not try to artificially limit the size of the two meals per se though I am aware that more food means more calories. My breakfast / lunch (brunch) is typically not that big of a meal for me. I am also very conscious that I do not want to ever hit 400 pounds. In fact, when I was approaching 340 pounds, I did not want to hit 341. So, my recommendation is that you should eat what you want on this diet until you are filled sufficiently. 

I do not count calories. I just do not overstuff myself or make a pig out of myself. If Pop Piotroski's famous lasagna is being served for dinner, I may have more than I should but such breaks in the diet are a rarity. 

If you do not feel the need to grab an extra muffin at breakfast time or another piece of chicken or steak or lasagna at supper (dinner) time, your weight will come off sooner. 

I repeat this often because it highlights how easy this diet is once you get going. The fact is that I was not even sure that I was losing weight until my second six month appointment with my family doctor with all clothes on, including shoes, wallet, and keys. In my first appointment, I had lost nine pounds and in the second, even with the holidays and Dago Red wine seasons in between, I lost another 6 pounds. Something was happening. I found myself down about fifteen pounds in less than a year and it felt good that I was not on another hopeless diet. 

So, now you know the overall scenario involved in my successful wine diet weight loss. But, I bet you wonder what it is that I actually eat for brunch and dinner. 

I eat my day meal at noon or sometime after if I am busy outside or at an appointment. I eat my evening meal typically about 8:00 PM. It helps that I am retired and control my own time. All adoptees of a wine diet may not have such flexibility and may have to make accommodations to their schedules to suit their own needs. 

I am active in the warmer months. I get up between 7 and eight o'clock each morning. I watch about twenty minutes of news before I brush my teeth, shower, and shave. In the late spring, summer, and early fall, I spend several hours a day in the back yard gardening or taking care of the pool. 

From year to year, I grow about 50 tomato plants, along with about 25 pepper plants, eight cucumber plants, six zucchini plants, lettuce, red beets, arugula, dill, basil, and chives. I also plant two small sets of radishes and about four sets of beans. I plant about 20 feet of beans in four different locations, one each every three weeks in the summer to assure a continual harvest. 

In hot, dry months, I get out my 100 foot hose and I water my garden every second or third day. It takes a good half hour for me to finish watering. When Pat asks for the flowers to be watered also, it is an hour job. I typically do not walk extraneously a lot any more in the summer but every now and then I do. It is good for the heart. If you exercise regularly on the wine diet, your weight loss should exceed mine. 

The last two years I created a few new areas that were in the back yard in front of my neighbor's Arbor Vitae bushes. I dug up the area up and planted three rows of three foot zinnias. They are about three and a half feet tall and they are beautiful. At the end of the warm season, the last two years, I used my new mulcher to mulch the huge zinnia stalks and other items for fertilizer. When my radishes were done this year, I planted more zinnias and some tall marigolds. Beautiful. 

Early on each year, I plant pre-grown tomato plants and pepper plants and I like to use seeds for everything else. During the growing season, I am cultivating, fertilizing, and watering. My wife has a ton of flowers and other decorative plants in big moose pots and she enlists my help to water these beauties, which I enjoy. All of this expends some energy and so my fall weight loss has always been better than winter/spring.  

Thus, I do burn some calories during the season and then again as the picking begins, and finally during the garden / back yard cleanup. In the colder months, I try to take a twenty-minute walk about three times a week but mostly I am AWOL. I should do that again regularly. I bought a resistance chair but have not brought that into my daily routine yet. Maybe I will early next year.  

Since I have been theoretically retired from my job as a college professor for over four years, and my computer consulting practice (AS/400, IBM i systems) is not as active as it was in the past, I spend a lot of time in my office. Bennie the dog and Buddie the cat accompany me to work in my office most days. I build web sites and I write books and articles. For example, I wrote two books this year before this one. 

I probably would have lost more weight if I had exercised more and had walked more and had been more physical. But, then again, I unexpectedly lost 15 pounds in my first six months of knowing that I was on the wine diet. I had merely kept my meals to a strict regimen and I scheduled a nice wine pleasure period at my most vulnerable time. 

Getting Hungry???

You may ask what if I become hungry before noon or between noon and 6:00 PM. Well, in almost all instances, I do get a little hungry but I do not feel famished. So, since there is typically an hour or less to wait for a meal or for wine time when I get the pangs, I most often choose to tough it out. In the morning, I may have a helpful early coffee and in the afternoon, I may try a banana or an apple or something good for me. If I need to, I make a half sandwich with as much lettuce and tomato as I can find. 

My wife Pat and I always have fruit available and our favorites are oranges, apples, bananas, and grapes. I never deny myself any of these and sometimes we make a dish of fresh tropical fruits that we schedule in between time. 

As discussed, in the summer, I do grow cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and zucchini, and I sometimes grow green onions. I buy carrots and celery because others grow them better. This stuff makes great vegetable trays. 

Sometimes in midafternoon, Pat makes a nice vegetable tray with some dip which is really great. She also makes dip but sometimes, she buys it. The secret to keeping this lo-cal is to not immerse the veggies fully in the dip as I once did. 

When I finish my home grown pepper supply and I have just a few tomatoes left as it approaches December, I know I have to begin buying produce again at my favorite local place, Malacaris. Everything is about ½ the price of all other produce outlets. In 2015, this year as I write this in December, I am just beginning to buy such items. 

In the meantime, the fruit in between Brunch and Wine time seems to really help curb the appetite. Psychologically after brunch, noon, I know the next step on the plan is a few nice wines. The thought of the red wine and then the actual red wine really keeps me going with a smile. 

So, in essence, the wine diet means you eat raw fruits and vegetables any time; have a brunch type meal at noon, raw fruits and vegetables until 6:00, and then enjoy wine until about 8:00 PM or later; have a great dinner, wait a half hour to a few hours after this meal, have two chocolates (Gertrude Hawk Smidgens) and go to bed without being overfilled. Your next step is to have a great night's sleep. 

That, my friends is the wine diet regardless of the flavor you choose. In other specific wine diet articles, we repeat much of this material as we present the red, blush, white and grape juice specifics. 

I use my PC to write. I have my most productive time on my PC from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM as I finish up on emails; write articles; write books; and I build or update web sites-- some for profit and some for pure fun. I love to drink red wine while I am being creative. 

Question: How much wine do I drink? Answer: Anywhere from a few glasses to a full 750 ml bottle before 8:00 PM comes along. I try to keep it to no more than three 4-6 ounce glasses. Rarely do I finish the equivalent of a bottle but the more immersed I am in my work, the more likely I am to stretch the wine period with another. In the AM, after a fine night's sleep. I must scrutinize closely what I had written during the last glass of the prior evening to be sure it says what I really wanted to say. 

I keep my wine in the garage and so it is a trip to get up to get the next glass so often that a good thought keeps me tied to my keyboard for ten minutes or longer after the current glass runs dry. Only then do I get up and get another.  Did I mention the distance is about 50 feet both ways so there are a few calories expended. 

Once I have a 4 to 6 oz. glass of wine, the world always looks better. I know that you know what I mean. It almost immediately stops any hunger I may have been feeling. So, all the while I am in my two hour wine diet wine mode, I am not at all hungry, regardless of whatever type of work I am engaged. 

Regardless of whether I am writing articles or book chapters or checking emails and writing back to my friends and business associates, I have no hunger pangs. 

I drink reds, mostly Merlot or homemade Italian Wine (Dago Red). This wonderful grape vintage wipes out all the hunger pangs for me and straightens my mood out and permits me to think clearly and creatively. It really does. Right now, the vintage as I write is Cabernet. 

The second wine of the evening gives inspiration to my world view; the third wine gives me the courage to face all obstacles, and the fourth wine, when I go there, tells me that everything I have written is correct and will inspire the recipients to move forward in their lives. 

What you do, once you hit the two hour period from 6 to 8 that I like to call wine time or wine diet time, is up to you. Sometimes, but very rarely, I may go to bed without the 8 o'clock dinner. Sometimes the dinner is at 7:00 or 7:30, and other times the dinner is at 9 or 10 and more wine than in the chart has been consumed. But most of the time I stick to the schedule. 

The beauty is there is no calorie counter and no pressure to move on to another task. I suspect that is why this is not the type of diet that assures a great weight loss every week. Yet, here I am down 62 pounds without really trying to lose anything or thinking that I could. I definitely did not want to gain weight. My first recorded weight loss was a big surprise.

 

Wine Calorie Counting

 

Unfortunately, wine does have calories but not that many calories for its many benefits. For those of you who would appreciate some facts so you can form a good wine calorie perspective, stay tuned: 

Most human beings drink wine in glasses that hold four to six ounces. Typically, there are around 80–100 calories in an average-sized glass of wine (4 to 6 oz.). An average-sized glass is considered to be 125–150 mls (around 4 fl oz), so in a 750ml bottle there are roughly five to six glasses of wine at most. 

There are red wine glasses available today that can hold almost a full bottle of wine so it is important to consider the size of the glass when counting the calories in wine. A 750ml bottle of wine will generally contain between 300 and 500 calories. Think about the smile it will put on your face while you are working your way through the wine diet.  

Not all wines contain the same number of calories. Some of the dryer white wines, for example, Sauvignon Blanc, white Zinfandel, and Chablis are at the lower end of the calorie scale – around 80 calories per glass. Red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinot Noir and Merlot tend to be in the mid-range – around 95 calories per glass. Champagne contains about 75 calories per glass.  

A tablespoon of sugar is just about 50 calories so you can see that drinking dry wines, red or white is a calorie deal. One more fact, a typical glass of red wine will have about 5 calories more in it than white wine. 

It helps to remember that all types of wine qualify for the wine diet.

 

Wine diet meal contents 

 

Remember that in between meal time you can have fresh fruits and / or vegetables. When you have vegetables, the smallest amount of dip helps for sure but again, I was not even watching and I lost weight anyway.

 

Wine Diet Breakfast / Lunch (Brunch) Time 12:00 Noon 

 

For breakfast always have a drink like coffee or tea. Try not to put a lot of cream or sugar in either. Orange juice mixed with water helps reduce your calorie intake if you do not like tea or coffee. 

Drink: coffee, tea, fruit drink, skim milk 

Staples: two eggs, lightly buttered toast, sausage patty or ham, corned beef hash, or a few pieces of well drained bacon. Hamburg, Tuna, ham, roast beef or turkey sandwich or a chef salad easy on heavy dressings... your choice. 

Occasionally: substitute some French Toast or two pancakes 

Occasionally: add a donut or a muffin and of course a packet of jelly for your toast. A small desert for the lunch part of brunch is appropriate. 

Eat as much fruit or vegetables as you want with small amounts of toppings or dips that are not huge in the calorie department. 

Rarely but when you need it, have a piece of pound cake or banana cake or something really good. 

Two times a week have some home fries if you like

Yes, it is OK to have sausage, bacon or ham or a combo as long as you do not go overboard. But, remember this is not the Atkins diet so watch your total meat consumption.  

Now, since this meal occurs at noon, we can consider ourselves as having had a Brunch.

 

Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so

 

Get yourself a white, blush, or red wine and keep getting them until about 8 PM. When you don't have a need to go get one wait a bit of time but when you need your next wine, go get it. If you do not drink wine, find a dry red / black grape juice. It is very healthful.

 

Wine Diet Dinner Time 8:00 PM or so

 

Take a look at your dinner plate. If it is a big plate when empty, consider using a smaller plate that is also empty to begin your dinner hour. Then, fill it up with whatever it is that you choose to eat. 

Health.com offers this great perspective on losing weight simply by using a smaller plate: 

"You can drop 18 pounds this year just by changing plates, according to the Small Plate Movement. Start with a plate that's between 9 and 10 inches in diameter, closer to the size of your grandmother's china."  

It is best to limit meat / fish quantities to about 4 ounces but please note that I did not do this and I still lost weight. When all is said and done, it will help you to use the small plate and have just one piece of meat / fish on this small/medium plate. as it makes you think that you are eating more than you actually are. 

Your dinner meals should consist of some protein (meat, fish, fowl), some vegetables (salad, peas, green beans, etc.), some starch (beans, potatoes, pasta) etc. Fix up any kind of meat or protein if you are a vegetarian. 

Make sure there is some space on your plate before you begin to eat dinner. Yes, you can eat more but after one nice plate try not to stuff yourself unless you can't stand it. Hopefully, you will be able to get by most days without "not being able to stand it." 

About Meats, Fish, Fowl and Other Dinner Items!  

When 8 o'clock comes or you are really ready to eat go ahead and have your dinner. Some may wish to have another wine rather than eat right away. That is OK! When ready, go ahead and have a light soup and a salad with lots of vegetable and nut stuff but do not often use a humunga fattening dressing. Have a nice big slice of bread or two. I like to pile salsa or a lo-cal dressing on top of a salad with spinach leaves in the mix. Mmmmm!!! 

Spinach is not a meat no matter how good it is. Check out your own protein intake so you do not hurt your health on your particular wine diet. Your doctor can help you. We do not claim to be doctors and a doctor may tell you to do something other than that prescribed by this plan. Always listen to your doctor. 

For protein, eat whatever staple as your main dinner course after you have had your wine for two hours and you have enjoyed your light soup and salad. Enjoy dinner and enjoy the night. Along with a nice dinner a few pieces of bread always help it all seem better. 

When you are finished eating whatever food that you feel is good for you at dinner time, see if you are satiated. You should be. When you feel OK, after some nighttime activities and about an hour of TV or whatever you need, go to bed and enjoy your night's sleep. If you feel heavy before retiring for the evening, consider an Alka Seltzer. 

My beautiful wife Pat and I like to watch a few programs on our way to sleep and then at 11:30 we watch Perry Mason and often we get through the whole show before we fall asleep. 

Regardless, the eating on this diet is without regret. When you go to something special such as a wedding, or a birthday party or happy hour once a week, enjoy yourself again without regret. 

I try not to overeat at dinner since it makes it tough to go to sleep. But I am always filled enough to push away from the table. 

 

Final Treat of the Day!

 

Once you have completed your day and you are getting ready to go off into the sleepy sunset, according to my practice of the wine diet, in which I lost 62 pounds so far, it is Smidgen time. You can enjoy two Smidgens from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates before you go to bed, either before or after you watch some good TV such as ME TV! 

Check out Smidgens of all kinds in this small sample of small "Clauses.":

 

In the past year, more unconsciously than consciously, I rarely ate between meals and almost every night, I had a dark chocolate Smidgen or two or three to cap off the night. Since Smidgens are so good, any of US can eat ten or twenty at a time. I was happy with two or three. I don't think I would have lost a pound if I had hit double digits on the Smidgens. Yet, I was happy to have the boxes available because my adult children love them also. 

I am sure that a few Hershey miniatures would do the same trick but I do not like recommending them because Hershey is no longer America-friendly. They no longer make their chocolates in the US. They make them in Mexico. 

Enough about chocolates 

When you have finally had your final treat of the day, feel free to sign off WineDiets.Com and resume your normal life. But, don't sign off for too long. I hope you come back on each and every morning to help remind yourself that you can do it as long as you follow the regimen. 

Nothing good happens overnight. Don't check the scales. Check your belt notches / holes when you need to as a way of getting a clue that this almost mindless diet is working for you. God bless you. 

By the way, after you finish following the plan every day, you. like most people will eventually go to sleep

 

You may know that W C Fields once said, that sleep "is the most wonderful experience in life, except for drink."

So, any good diet depends on your getting your share of good sleep. 

Go ahead and get your ZZZZZZZzzzzzzsssssssssss. You deserve them   

Amen to all wine diets brothers and sisters!