Wine Is Beautiful!

Why You Should Choose Your Wine Carefully

Would it not be very scary of cheap wine or even some of the finest could make your sick or kill you if you drank a lot? Amen! This was the headline at bengreenfieldfitness.com last month. The notion presented was their caution about wine with additional headlines you may have seen. These include: “California Winemakers Sued over High Levels of Arsenic in Wines” and “Bad News for Those of You Who, Like Us, Drank Cheap Wine Each and Every Night of Your 20s”. That was enough to scare me.

Basically, a class action lawsuit that was filed in California against a number of the country’s top winemakers over reported high levels of arsenic in wine. The lawsuit claims that some of the most popular wines have “up to four and five times the maximum amount of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows for drinking water.”

Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability 

I am not trying to scare you with this disclaimer and I am not trying to get you upset with me about where I position it. It is my job to provide the truth. This is part of the truth in this book / website. I am asking you to read this material even though it may annoy you. For your annoyance, I apologize. However, this is standard fare when a non-medical expert talks about medical things that just happened to work for her or him. I do wish that you read this and the rest and you enjoy the weight loss.

This Disclaimer contains important information.  By using this website, you agree to the terms of this Disclaimer.  If you do not agree to them, do not use this site.  Use of this website is at your sole risk. Additionally, if you use any of the information from this website or from the book produced mostly from the website, you agree to the terms of this Disclaimer.  If you do not agree to them, do not read this the book or use any of the information in any way. Use of the book is at your sole risk. 

All information provided by WineDiets.com, also referred to as the Wine Diet, Red Wine Diet, Blush/Rose Diet, and The White Wine Diet or similar name through this website is intended to provide educational information to individuals concerning one approach that for some has been beneficial in helping lose weight and/or lower cholesterol. 

Consequently, there is exercise advice and nutritional advice and some related products and services are highlighted. Please do not view any of this as medical advice. WineDiets.Com employs no medical staff or Doctors or Nurses or assistants. See your doctor before attempting any wine diet. The information contained on the site or in the book is not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, and treatment of any disease or condition.  Again, if you need medical advice, and not a weight loss opinion that has worked for some, and which may work for you, you must consult your physician or health care practitioner before beginning any part of this program regarding nutrition or exercise.  

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WineDiets.Com finds Cabernet as a perfect red wine to use for your red wine diet but does not want you to feel confined to red wine only. Therefore we list a few alternate choices below:

Cabernet Sauvignon
Though the Bordeaux region is famous for Cabernet-based blends—powerful wines with ripe, dark fruit flavors, California's Cabernets have become stars in America. 

Carménère

Another one-time French-only grape has become the signature grape of Chile.  However, its soft, round tannins, low acids, and flavors of herbs, blackberry, plum, smoke, and sweet spice flavors are beginning to make this grape more noticed in America. It is grown in small quantities in California and the Walla Wallaregion of Washington. Enjoy some ham, burritos, pizza or nice sausage with this red. 

Grenache/Garnacha
Known as Garnacha in Spain and as Grenache elsewhere, this red grape is also grown in the San Joaquin Valley in California. Grenache is one of the most widely planted red wine grapes in the world. It likes the hot, dry conditions such as those found in Spain, which is more than likely, the origin country of the grape. 

Malbec
Centuries ago its origins are the Bordeaux region of France.  Malbec is one of my favorites. To me, it is a cross between a Merlot and a Cabernet. This Old World grape is a favorite planting in Argentina. Malbec has most of its planting in Argentina, In the United States, Malbec grapes are mostly (85%) found in California. 

Merlot
Looked upon as softer than Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot is blessed with medium tannins and acids. It is a popular stand-alone varietal as well as a major blending grape in Bordeaux.  Along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, Merlot is one of the primary grapes used inBordeaux wine, California Merlot consumption in 2014 was about 18 million cases. 

Nebbiolo
This is the Italian grape responsible for the famous Italian reds of Barolo and Barbaresco. For American wineries, the experience of growing and producing wine with Nebbiolo has been notoriously challenging. Production and quality levels are often inconsistent from year to year. Some attribute this to the grape having a reputation for needing well-established vineyards. In Italy, the traditional view is that vineyards must be at least 40 years old to produce quality wine. 

Pinot Noir
Wines from Burgundy in France use this grape. Other regions of the world including New Zealand, Oregon, and California have also had great success with Pinot Noir. The Pinot Noir grape is much more delicate than cabernet sauvignon. It has a pale color when in the glass and its acidity can be described as quite zesty. Its thin black skinned grapes are tightly wound in bunches and so the grape struggles to gather necessary precious sun. It prefers growing areas with a long spring and fall. Though temperamental, vintners and connoisseurs alike find that the extra effort to produce these grapes is worth it when the resulting wine is so complex and interesting. The taste of Pinot Noir can be described with flavors ranging from cranberries to black cherries. The grape and therefore the wine has great variation 

Sangiovese (Chianti)
Known as Chianti in America, this is the most widely planted red grape in Italy. The Sangiovese grape used in Chianti is found in all corners of the world. Its origin is central Italy. It has traveled across the world including to America thanks to Italian immigrants. The California variety found sudden popularity in the 1980s when winemakers were looking for red wine alternatives to the standard French Bordeaux varietals.
 

Shiraz (Syrah)

Shiraz and Syrah are the same grape known by both names. The French like to use Syrah in their Rhône reds, while in Australia, Shiraz is the name and the wine has become increasingly popular down under. It is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. The style and flavor of Syrah wines depends on the climate where the grapes are grown. Moderate climates (Northern Rhone Valley & Walla Walla) produce medium to full-bodied wines with medium-plus to high levels of tannins and flavors of blackberry, mint and black pepper notes. Hot climates (Crete, Barossa Valley of Australia), produce a more consistently full-bodied vintage with softer tannin, jammier fruit and spice notes of liquorice, anise and earthy leather. 

Zinfandel
The Zinfandel grape is widely grown in California. Its flavor varies from fruity to full-bodied, and produces wines that range from structured reds to somewhat sweet pink wines, depending on the way it is vinified. The white zinfandel is pink as the grape itself is red and the shade of pink depends on how long the skins are kept with the wine. Red Zinfandel is rich and full-bodied..

White is the lowest calorie wine diet

 

The White Wine Diet should result in some pounds lost for you over the next 365 days. In my case it was over 62 pounds over about two years on the similar Red Wine Diet. My 800 + days are up and that is why I decided to make this effective diet plan into a book. It worked for me. 

I hope to be updating my total again next April after my semi-annual doctor's appointment. No weight loss diet is guaranteed to work for you but it surely worked for me, and chances are it will work fine for you. It has less calories than the Red Wine Diet. 

Please share the essence of this diet with your family physician to make sure the prescribed regimen will keep you healthy during your weight loss. Best wishes!  

I did not even know that I was losing weight until my doctor's scale in the fall 2013, presented to me the facts. So, I went back through the prior months before my appointment to see what I had done differently. Whatever it was, I wanted to be able to keep it up. 

I have told you this story a few times already on this site. The most descriptive essay is presented in the winediets.com classic article Wine Diets Basics. It shows on the web site and as a full chapter in the book version at Chapter 5. You may want to read this classic before you read the rest of this piece as it has the theory, the rationale, and the implementation directives for the wine diet of your choice -- Red, White, or Rose' / Blush. Though I do not intend to try it myself, if you cannot drink red wine, you may want to read the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet. It is the lowest calorie diet and the food quantities are the same as all the others.  

Thank you for choosing the White Wine Diet though the Red Wine Diet is certainly the healthiest diet of them all. The White Wine diet has less calories and so theoretically the five calories saved per 4 oz. glass may help you knock of another pound or so. 

For you to achieve the benefits of any of the wine diets, you should stick to your favorite wine because, other than sweet wines, described below, they all work well for weight loss. If you do not like the wine you picked, chances are you will not do well on the diet.  

The sugar content of the Red Wine Diet is about 2.5 calories more than the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet and 5 calories more than the White Wine Diet.  

Even though you have picked the White Wine Diet, please indulge me for a bit as I provide some edification on another wine topic. The "Blush" aka Rose' wine is a combination of red and white with fewer calories than red and more than white. Measured at the same sugar level, typically, four ounces of white wine has about five calories less than red wine.  

Red wine drinkers never have to worry about a mix of wines as do Blush Rose' drinkers. All things being equal, Blush is in the middle calorie–wise. Red / Black grape juice with similar grapes would be less due to no alcohol.  

Regarding mixing wines to make Rose' and other varieties, traditional wine producers, would go nuts. They would declare a sacrilege if wines of different colors were simply thrown together in a barrel rather than following the "nobler" tradition of macerating red grapes for a few hours and bleeding off the blush/rose-tinted liquid.  

But, then again, I am not suggesting mixing or drinking. This point is to show how I arrived at the calorie differences of the Blush compared to white and red wine. Of course adding sugar to Blush/Rose' or any wine also increases the calories accordingly. Red wine has more body and so it costs us a few calories more. For its health component, for my money, Red is worth it. If you don’t like Red wine, by all means pick the wine or juice that you like or your diet will not work.  

Any of the three wine diets and even the Red/Black Grape Juice Diet can help you lose weight at just about the same proportions as the wine diets. Again, juice diets with similar grapes have no alcohol and therefore contain 75% of the calories than in wine. Though lower in carbs, juices do contain about 400% more carbohydrates than wine. The carbohydrates are used up in the alcohol-producing fermentation process.  

No other wine or juice diet affects your cholesterol count as positively as the Red / Black Diets whether wine or juice. Since this site is about dieting and losing weight, as the German's say: Machs Nichts! Enjoy your California white wines such as Liebfraumilch or dry Gewurz Traminer, and lose as much weight as happens to come off.  

The good news my dear wine dieters is that you can drink your favorite wine or grape juice on this diet and still be a candidate to lose weight with a huge smile on your face. Though you may choose white, you do not have to drink the lower calorie white wine to lose weight. Red wine is just 5 calories more than white and just 2.5 calories more than a 4 oz. glass of Rose' / Blush. All wines can be very effective in losing weight. The dryer the wine within a category of red, white or blush, the fewer the calories from the wine itself.  

Sometimes you cannot diet so eat

The quick snapshot of the diet is that you should follow the pages of this web site or the book with the agreement of your primary physician of course. You are permitted to break this diet many times over the course of the 365 day test drive. The worst that will happen is that instead of say, a loss of 15 to twenty pounds, you may lose only ten to fifteen pounds.  

When you crave, to assure that you will stay mostly true to your personal diet, I suggest that you take that brief binge rather than say no. Then when it is out of your system, come back after a few days. Hopefully the binge will make you more satisfied and you will be ready to continue. Do what you must to continue on the diet but, remember, no diet works if you leave it forever r you do not like what you are eating or drinking.  

If you make a fasting diet out of this (other than the wine component, which is a diet requirement), then you probably should take some vitamins or supplements as your doctor may recommend to support you with the challenges of your modified wine diet.  

To assure that you can maintain your health, especially if you have any concerns whatsoever, take this diet and your dinner plans based on this diet to your physician and get your personal diet approved for your use. That should be easy. Since WineDiets.Com cannot be responsible for your health whether you are on our diet or not, we recommend strongly that you consult your physician. It is her job to keep you healthy. It is our job to help you lose weight.  

Most adults know they cannot just eat meats or just eat starches or just drink wine or just eat vegetables so you do not need me to tell you that. Our three main diets (Red, White, and Rose'/Blush) are very similar and all depend on an understanding of the Wine Diets Basics as presented in an article on this site and as Chapter 5 in the book.  

In essence, the White Wine Diet asks you to eat just two meals a day and not to eat anything in-between mails other than vegetables and fruits -- in almost limitless quantities depending on the type of vegetable or fruit. It asks you to drink lots of water and instead of a third meal, it demands a half bottle of White or perhaps less or more at the happy hour part of each day -- 365 days a year. For me, I begin my wine consumption at 6:00 PM.  

With the White Wine Diet, the wine should be mostly dry if possible but again, make sure you like the wine. Dry wine has less calories than medium sugar or sweet wine.  

Caveats Regarding Sweet Wine and Dieting with Sweets in General  

 Manischewitz or Moden David or Kedem sweet wines, or Niagara types, Moscato, Sweet French Columbard, Port, and other sweet whites / yellows are all sold in the PA State Stores and liquor / wine stores across the Country and the world. They are not hard to find. 

These are not recommended for wine dieters using the same rate of consumption as the three favorite wines. Other sweet wines called dessert wines are in the same boat. These do not qualify for the full impact of the White Wine Diet but you can make adjustments to the quantity to compensate for the substantially higher calories in the sweet varieties. 

Semi-sweet red wines are not as bad as sweet but again, it is up to you to compensate. I thought you would like to see this nice picture of the Kedem Winery shown below. Kedem is known for its rich grape juice and its sweet wines. I have a soft spot for Kedem. 

Their tasting venue shown below is quite elegant and they have both dry and sweet wines that are really fine. Just watch the calories in some of their sweet varieties as all sweet wines to make sure you do not over-consume on calories.

 

Kedem dry wines are also very, very nice.

In other words, if you check out the calorie content of any sweet or semi-sweet wines and you adjust your intake so that you are within the calorie range of the dry reds, your diet can be just as effective. Depending on your metabolism, you may even be able to get away with a good portion of the full bottle quotient for dry wines.

Make sure, of course, that you are not overly passionate about drinking lots of sweet wine or I regret to say, you run the risk of actually gaining weight. Weigh yourself at the beginning of your diet on a reliable and consistent scale, use that for every weigh in you may plan. Write your weight down every two weeks. After about two weeks to two months on a sweet wine regimen weigh yourself to be sure that the diet is working for you. 

My recommendation would be that if possible, get rid of sweet candies and cakes almost completely in your wine diet. Sweets always add empty calories -- of course those Gertrude Hawk Chocolates we talk about at the end of this piece are an exception -- Don't we wish? Even though no sweet is an exception, the impact of the Gertrude Hawk Smidgeons has been accounted for already in the three major wine diets and the grape juice diet. 

Sweet eats and drinks must be managed 

Back as a child, my parents let me take my coffee as if it were a coffee milkshake. It was made with half milk and at least three heaping T-spoons of sugar to give it an OK taste for child consumption. So, I ask those thinking of sweet wines to consider that under these circumstances I did gain weight as a child and young teen.  

When I got older and into my college years, I eventually lessened the impact of coffee calories by putting just a thimble full of milk in my coffee and I reduced the amount of sugar from three to 1/4 teaspoons. Finally I was able to completely eliminate sugar from my coffee. 

Yet, I still gained weight but it was not because of the coffee. In my case in my early twenties, I discovered a new favorite liquid. I can rightfully blame excessive beer drinking for my weight gain. Watch beer consumption as it can ruin the full impact of the wine diets. When I stopped drinking beer excessively more than twenty years ago, I kept gaining weight but not so rapidly. 

I had not been paying attention. When the mirror stopped lying to me, I would always do something. But, until the wine diet, I could never lose more than 20 or so pounds at a time…and it came back quickly and then some. 

Things happen to us over our lives. Our metabolism begins to decrease while our unwillingness to eliminate things from our diet increases. Unfortunately, in my case, I gained weight for most of my life in small increments but I did not gain as much as I would have if I had given in to all urges. That's just how it was for me. That's how I woke up one day at 343 pounds, and the mirror had stopped lying. 

How I lost 62 pounds on the Wine Diet 

Sometime in the summer of 2013, I don't even know exactly when or why, but with little thought, I began to eat consciously and differently. I was hoping to gain no more weight. I did not think I could lose any weight but staying the same sounded pretty good at the time. I dreaded hitting 400 pounds which would have put me in the lost-cause category. 

I was beginning to feel huge and I thought that I could do nothing about it other than stop drinking beer and wine and starving forever. I really did not think anything that I could do would help me lose weight for the long haul. Though I am an upbeat guy, I did feel a bit doomed by my plight. 

Finally, without really tuning in to what was happening. I began to lose weight. I did not realize it because it was coming off so slowly. I could not tell that I was losing weight and I was blinded to the fact since I am such a poor dieter and I was not really trying to lose weight.  

It was not until my early October 2013 doctor's appointment that I found that I had been losing real weight. I was surprised that I had lost 9 pounds. My belt holes were the same and I had not added any new holes but my pants were just a bit looser. 

I went back and charted what I had been doing. I kept doing it looking for continual results. In spring 2014, at the doctor's office again, I found that I had lost another 6 pounds. I had gotten through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and the Dago Red wine season and had still lost six pounds. And the diet had become second nature to me. It was not burdensome. I had not named my routine or thought about a formal diet at the time. It was all ad-hoc.  

In October 2014, I checked in at the doctor's office for the next semi-annual appointment. This time, I had a fourteen pound loss. I was living naturally by the diet now and I had added a walking regimen but not an awful lot of walking in the 2014 summer months. However, I was starting to believe that I had something that worked for me and could work for others. Around this time, I built the WineDiets.Com web site and began to tell the story in articles such as this on the web site.  

In April 2015 at the semi-annual Doctor's visit, I was looking for a really big loss. I had three losses in a row and was ready to be uplifted. Unfortunately, on this semi-annual visit, I learned that even my new wine diet is not magical. I lost zero pounds. I was upset for a while but upon reflection, I definitely do know why.  

In prior years, I would have gained ten pounds or more with my Dago Red wine consumption. Please see Chapter 11 or the web article titled "Dago Red: World's Best Wine." Then, you too will know why I lost no pounds in my April 2015 doctors' office weigh-in.  

Once the Dago Red was long gone, I could feel myself losing weight again. I found some older (smaller sized) jeans that once fit and now fit again and I added a few holes to my belts. During the Dago Red off-season, I switched to Pennsylvania-grown Chambourcin red wine from Benigna Creek Winery in Klingerstown, PA. It is great.  

To keep wine consumption expenses down, when I am not looking for the best red, such as Chambourcin, I use some of the California Box wines or Carlo Rossi gallon jugs of Cabernet. The calorie and alcohol count, fullness and body are minimal in the store jug wines, but then again, it is about 40% of the price of Dago Red and Chambourcin. Moreover, its overall impact helped me lose weight. Even though it is not really that bad, cheaper bulk wines simply do not make me want to drink as much as I would with Dago Red or Chambourcin.  

This fall in early October 2015 at the Doctor's office, I was thrilled. I lost a staggering 22 pounds. So, altogether, adding the 9 lbs. to the 6lbs. to the 14lbs. to the 0 lbs. to the 22 pounds, I had lost a total of 51 pounds. I hope I never find them again and I hope I stay healthy. Wealthy and wise would also be nice, but I would be very happy with simply healthy.  

That's not the end of the loss. By the time I finished this book in December 2015, I weighed myself again. I did not have the doctor's scale available but I have a pretty good scale and it is now in pretty good synch with the doctor's scale. I lost another 11 pounds.  

So, now as I prepare the book version for distribution, my weight bogey is 281.6 pounds. I am definitely a 281.6 pound weakling and proud of it. That my dear WineDiet.Com friends, is down from 243. That is 62 pounds. This great weight loss over 2+ years was the motivation for me to take the WineDiets.Com web site and create a book from it while updating my personal weight-loss experience on the web site. Thank you all for sharing in my joy.

 

The Diet Part of the White Wine Diet

 

Now that we got through all the when's, where's, and why's, let's discuss the what's and how's. As we are about to reveal the secrets of the infamous White Wine Diet, be advised again that you should be able to use white or red or blush / rose' wines and have the same fine results. 

There are separate articles about each of these wine diets on the web site and in the book. Each wine diet chapter (white, red, grape juice, blush / rose') is like this one on white wine. They are all complete so you need only read about the diet that you choose. Skip the other chapters if they do not apply. 

They are self-contained essays. They are not identical but they contain all of the facts that apply to specific diets and all of the facts that pertain to all diets. If you read every diet, you may get bored but if your read just the diet chapter that you choose to engage, it will be very convenient for you. 

As discussed previously, there is a chapter / web site article that describes the generic attributes of all the wine diets as well as the grape juice diet. It is called "Wine Diet Basics." It is Chapter 5. So that you do not have to go back to this article for a perspective, I borrowed some of its text, touched it up a bit, and put it in each wine diet chapter / article. 

For example, in this particular chapter / article, I tuned the text to be more appropriate for the White Wine Diet.

When thinking of your meal contents with the White Wine Diet it helps to consider the few rules in the Wine Diet Basics to help make sure that your diet is successful. One key item is noted immediately below: 

Behaving Between Meals 

Remember that during between-meal-time, you can have fresh fruits and / or vegetables, but as a rule do not have another full meal. When you have raw vegetables, eat as many as you want with the smallest amount of dip. Some raw hard raw vegetables burn up more calories than they add. 

Remember that I went through several months of my first summer without even watching my weight, while on the Red Wine Diet. I lost weight anyway. The diet guides you on a path to weight loss.  

Here are the basic notions of your daily diet. The key elements of the Wine Diet on a daily basis are as follows:

 

  • Wine Diet Breakfast / Lunch (Brunch) Time 12:00 Noon or so
  • Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so
  • Wine Diet Dinner Time 8:00 PM or so
  • Final Treat of the Day -- After Dinner before bed some time!
  • Relax and watch some TV
  • Time for sleep

 

For very early risers, you might find it more comfortable to have your brunch at some other time between ten o'clock and noon, and you might want to begin your wine time and dinner time earlier. It's up to you as long as it works.  

It is not how I did it, however. I do not recommend it as I do not have result statistics yet to see if it works. I can't see why it would not work, however, for certain people.  

 

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

 

For the breakfast / lunch combination (Brunch) always have a drink such as coffee or tea. It will help fill you up and satisfy your cravings. Try not to put a lot of cream or sugar in either. Water or a light sugar drink can also be used. Orange juice or a fruit juice mixed with half water or even a higher percentage of water would also help reduce your calorie intake if you do not like tea or coffee. 

Drink: coffee, tea, fruit drink, skim milk. Make sure sugar is light. Splurge seldom. 

Breakfast / Lunch Staples – Eat just one meal: Choose one:

 

  • 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 some 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 whenever 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. All parts of Brunch should add up to one meal.
  • Now, since this meal occurs at noon, we can consider ourselves as having had Brunch. As long as it fits on a reasonably small to medium sized plate.

 

Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so 

Get yourself a nice dry White Wine as discussed above and keep getting glasses of them until about 8 PM. When you don't have a need to go get one more of these fine beverage' wait a bit of time. When you need your next wine, go get it.

 

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 you choose to eat from the type of selections outlined below. 

Health.com sees significant weight loss potential to the notion of the small plate. They write: 

"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." 

How much meat or fish? 

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. 

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 your type of protein if you are a vegetarian. 

Make sure there is some space on your plate before you begin to eat your dinner. Yes, you can eat more but after one nice plate try not to stuff yourself unless you can't stand it. A helpful way to become full is to have a glass or two of water before dining and another one or two right before leaving the table. Once you eat—no more wine for the day.  

Hopefully, you will be able to get by most days without "not being able to stand it." It may help to remember that the recommended Gertrude Hawk's Dark Chocolate Smidgeon is very satisfying at the end of the day before bed.  

You may find that just paying attention to your weight helps pave the way for weight loss just as announcing a quality initiative makes factory workers more conscious of quality.  

Admittedly it can be frustrating. The objective here is to not pay attention every day and just lose weight by following the directions. Eventually it will become natural and the short diet breaks you choose to take will not really hurt your progress. 

About Meats, Fish, Fowl and Other Dinner Items! 

When 8 o'clock PM comes or you are really ready to eat after finishing your day's wine, go ahead and eat your dinner slowly, and enjoy it. Do not speed eat and do not chinch on what you eat. Depending on the time, you may even wish to have another wine rather than eat right away. That too is OK! 

When ready to eat; go ahead. It helps to have a lot of parts to your dinner meal as you fill up along the way. Have a light soup and a salad with lots of stuff such as other vegetables and some fruits and nuts. Almost never use an especially fattening dressing. We never say "never." 

In other words, look at the calories of the dressing and most of the time, pick something like a balsamic vinegar or a light dressing but every now and then let loose and have Blue Cheese or Ranch. If you need a diet break take it. Don't get frustrated and always plan to come back after your break. 

Sometimes I too will put some blue cheese dressing (heavy hitter) on half of my salad and balsamic vinegar on the other half. It helps on the psychology side. Have a nice slice of bread or two. You should not be hungry after eating your two main meals of the day or your diet probably will not work. 

When I am not craving to have ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing or any other creamy variety, I may choose to pile salsa or a relish like chili sauce on top of a green salad. I like to assure that half of the salad is baby spinach leaves because they have lots more nutrition than plain greens. Mmmmm!!! Spinach of course is not a meat no matter how good it is. The salad should be in its own bowl, not on your dinner plate.  

Check out your own protein intake to make sure you do not hurt your health on your particular Wine Diet. Use your physician as a consultant. We do not claim to be doctors. We do not know the medical facts as a doctor does. A doctor may tell you to do something other than that prescribed by this plan. Listen to the doctor in all cases; not the plan.  

But, if like me, you have had a difficult time losing weight, this wine diet should be good for you if you give it a chance over a long time. It would help if you wrote down your meal contents and the time of day when you ate and share this information with your physician so she knows you are maintaining healthy consumption habits.  

For protein, eat whatever you like as your main course for supper (dinner) after you have had your wine for two hours or so and you have enjoyed your salad and soup. Put your meat and vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots) and pasta (potatoes, beans, light pasta salad) on the same plate unless you are having some spaghetti or a similar pasta. Spaghetti or pasta would be better on its own smaller plate.  

Enjoy dinner; don’t make it a bore; and enjoy the night. Along with a nice dinner a few pieces of bread at dinner with some but not much butter always helps it all seem better. You may also have a small to medium sized dessert and some more coffee or tea to top off the meal.  

When you have finished eating whatever food that you feel is good for you at dinner time, check to see if you are satisfied. You should at least not feel hungry. When you feel OK, after about an hour of TV or sitting out in nice weather, whatever you need—no limit—go to bed and enjoy your night's sleep. If you feel heavy before retiring for the evening, please consider an Alka-Seltzer. They sure help my wife Pat and I when we overeat or eat too close to bed time.  

Retirees have different schedules than working folk. 

Retirees often stay up later than when they are fully engaged in the workplace. My beautiful wife Pat and I like to watch a few programs on our way to sleep. Then, at 11:30 PM from Monday to Friday; we almost always watch Perry Mason together. Often we get through the whole show before we fall asleep. 

Pat is luckier than I. She is still slim; so she does not need a regimen such as the WineDiets.Com formula that you are studying and which helped me lose 62 pounds. Despite no obligation on her part, she often chooses to have a wine or two at 6:00 PM to keep her husband company… especially on the weekends. She likes white wine and champagne, both of which have special health benefits. 

Regardless, the eating on this diet is always without regret. When you go to something special such as a wedding, or a birthday party or a happy hour once or twice a week, enjoy yourself again without regret. Don't skimp, but do not create a fictitious event just so you can legitimately break your wine diet. 

As a rule stay on the diet but on special occasions, enjoy yourself. It will give you more incentive to stick with your chosen White Wine Diet.  

I try not to overeat at dinner but I do want to be filled so that later on I am not looking for more. I have learned over the years what overeating feels like when trying to go to sleep… You know too! Overeating makes it tough to go to sleep. In my case, I make sure that I am filled enough to push away from the table. Also, I always have my handy dandy Alka Seltzers available in case I miscalculate my consumption. We buy the huge Alka Seltzer box from Sam's Club because it is sometimes tough when we run out. 

I list a dessert below as a pre sleep treat; but I do not recommend a dessert with dinner. However, if you must have dessert, go ahead and see how it works out for you. Think about keeping it small. My wife likes a small dip of ice cream or sherbet after dinner. Sometimes I join her.  

Final Treat of the Day!

Once you have completed your "diet" day and you are getting ready to go off into the sleepy sunset, according to how I practice the wine diet-- the one in which I have lost 62 pounds so far, you are encouraged to enjoy two dark chocolate Smidgens from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates. 

Dark chocolate in moderation has its own set of health benefits. Pop a Smidgeon in, and enjoy it for a while. Then pop in the other. This should be at the end of the night before you go to bed. 

You may do this either before or after you watch some good TV such as ME TV! If you fall asleep before having the candy, that is OK. Don’t make it up the next day. If you find a chocolate stain on your pillow, you'll know you fell asleep before you finished your Smidgeons. If you find a huge chocolate stain in your hand when you wake up, you probably do not need the chocolates. Good night Sweet Pea!  

Check out Smidgens of all kinds in this small sample picture of small little "Clauses." courtesy of Gertrude Hawk Candies in Northeastern PA. 

Gertrude Hawk Smidgeons Mmmmm!

 

In the past two years, 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 evening. I try to keep it at one but two works fine, and sometimes three is necessary. 

Since Smidgens are so good, any of us can probably eat ten or twenty at a sitting but our diet would not work and we would continually be buying new belts and new clothes. I like dark chocolate because it tastes so good and because it has special health benefits. I am almost always happy with one or two Smidgens but I do cheat every now and then and I go for a third. 

There is rarely a chocolate stain on my pillow or a chocolate stain in my hand in the morning. They are that good. I don't think I could have lost any weight if I had hit double digits on the Smidgens. Yet, I was tickled to have the boxes available even though my daily portion was meager. What a great way to end a great day. 

In my nightly retinue, at one time, one Smidgen had to be dark chocolate with nuts, and the other could be plain solid dark chocolate. I am sure that a few Hershey miniatures and other varieties 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 had your final treat of the day, you can 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 online each and every morning to check the diet news and to help remind yourself that you can do it as long as you follow the regimen. Nothing good diet-wise happens overnight even though we all weigh somewhat less in the morning.  

Once you convinced yourself that you have lost a few pounds, and your particular Wine-Diet is working; stop the checking. Don't check the scales daily anymore! Check your belt once a month or come up with some other way of getting a clue that this almost mindless diet is working for you. God bless you always! 

Nothing worth having in life is easy. Enjoy your weight loss struggle. 

By the way, each and every day and night, after you finish following the plan, most of you, I suspect, will eventually go to sleep. That, in and of itself is a treat. Knowing that you are knocking off some pounds, makes your sleep even sweeter.  

You may know that W C Fields once said, that sleep "is the most wonderful experience in life; except for drink." Any good diet depends on you getting your share of good sleep. Go ahead and get your ZZZZZZZzzzzzzsssssssssss. You deserve them. Amen to all wine diets' brothers and sisters!  

Thank you very much for visiting the site and / or reading the book. Let us know how well you do by leaving a comment using Disqus or another tool on our web site. Tell your friends how you lost the weight.  

Yes, it would be OK if you bought enough books to give one to all of your non-Internet-savvy friends. 

See www.bookhawkers.com  

Please see DISCLAIMER to make sure you keep healthy on this diet.  

More importantly than anything you do for this diet, please remember that this site is not a medical site and the book is not a medical journal.

Any questions—please call your doctor!

 

Red wine is healthy and effective 

Is The Red Wine Diet the best of all wine diets? It helps your heart and your physical appearance. It should result in some pounds lost for you over the next 365 days. In my case it was over 62 pounds over about two years. 

My 800+ days are up and that is why I decided to make this complete diet plan into a book. It worked for me. I hope to be updating my totals again when I go to the Doctors in the spring. 

The Blush / Rose' Wine Diet

The Rose' / Blush Wine Diet should result in some pounds lost for you over the next 365 days. I lost 62 pounds on a similar diet in just over two years. My 800+ days are up and that is why I decided to make this diet plan into a book. It worked for me. I hope to be updating my total again next spring and I am confident in continued success. 

No weight loss is guaranteed to work for you but it surely worked for me. Please share the essence of this diet with your family physician to make sure the prescribed regimen will keep you healthy during your weight loss. Best wishes!  

I did not even know that I was losing weight until my doctor's scale in the fall 2013, presented to me the facts. So, after my appointment, I went back through the prior months to see what I had done differently. Whatever it was, I wanted to be able to keep it up. I feared hitting the 400 mark.  

I have told you this story a few times already on this site. The most descriptive essay is presented in the winediets.com classic article Wine Diets Basics. It shows as Chapter 5 in the book version. You may want to read this classic before you read the rest of this article as it has the theory, the rationale, and the implementation directives for the wine diet of your choice -- Red, White, or Rose' / Blush.  

Though I do not intend to try it myself, if you cannot drink red wine, you may want to read the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet. If you like grape juice, it should work as well as the wine diets.   

Thank you for choosing the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet even though the Red Wine Diet is the healthiest. For you to achieve the benefits of the wine diet, you should drink your favorite wine on this diet and stick to it. Other than sweet wines, which are described below; all four "wine" diets should work for weight loss.  

I used the Red Wine Diet even though sugar content for the Red Wine Diet is about 2.5 calories more than the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet. Four ounces of white wine has about five calories less than red wine. Blush as a combination red and white is right in between on calories.   

Some suggest that Blush can be made simply by mixing various wines together. Regarding mixing wines to make Rose' and other varieties, however, traditional wine producers would cry foul. They would declare a sacrilege if wines of different colors were simply thrown together rather than following the "nobler" tradition of macerating red grapes for a few hours and bleeding off the blush/rose-tinted liquid.  

But, then again, I am not suggesting mixing or drinking. My point is to show how I arrived at the calorie difference. Of course adding sugar to Blush/Rose' or any wine also increases the calories accordingly. Red wine has more body and so it costs us a few calories more. It's worth it.  

Of course adding sugar to Blush/Rose' or any wine increases the calories accordingly. Red wine has more body and so it costs us a few calories more. It is worth it for the health benefits.

Any of the three wine diets and even the Red/Black Grape Juice Diet help you lose weight at just about the same proportion but none of the others affect your cholesterol count as positively as the Red Wine Diet. Since this site is about dieting and losing weight, as the German's say: Machs Nichts!  

Enjoy your California Liebfraumilch or dry Gewurz Traminer, or any other German dry white and lose as much weight as happens to come off. Since Rose is made from the same grapes as the reds, a German Rose is German only because it is made in Germany.  

The good news my dear wine dieters is that you can drink your favorite wine or grape juice on this diet and still be a candidate to lose weight with a huge smile on your face. You do not have to drink the lower calorie white wine to lose weight. Red wine is just 5 calories more than white and just 2.5 calories more than a 4 oz. glass of Rose' / Blush. All wines therefore can be very effective in losing weight. The dryer the wine within a category of red, white or blush, the fewer the calories from the wine itself.  

Binge if you must!  

The quick snapshot of the diet is that you should follow the pages of this web site or the book with the agreement of your primary physician of course. You are permitted to break this diet many times over the course of the 365 day test drive. The worst that will happen is that instead of say, a loss of 15 or twenty pounds, you may lose only ten or fifteen pounds.  

When you crave, to assure that you will stay true to your personal diet, I suggest that you take a brief binge but then come back after a few days. Hopefully the binge will make you more satisfied and you will be ready to continue. Do what you must to continue on the diet but, remember, no diet works if you leave it forever.   

If you make a fasting diet out of this (other than the wine component, which is a diet requirement), then you probably should take some vitamins or any supplements your doctor recommends to support you with the challenges of your modified wine diet.  

To assure that you can maintain your health, especially if you have any concerns whatsoever, take this diet and your dinner plans based on this diet to your physician and get your personal diet approved for your use. That should be easy.  

Since WineDiets.Com cannot be responsible for your health whether you are on our diet or not, we recommend strongly that you consult your physician. Making sure you are healthy is her job.  

Most adults know they cannot just eat meats or just eat starches or just drink wine or just eat vegetables so you do not need me to tell you that. Our three main diets (Red, White, and Rose'/Blush) are very similar and all depend on an understanding of the Wine Diets Basics as presented in Chapter 5 and on the Wine Diets site.  

In essence, the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet asks you to eat just two meals a day and not to eat anything in-between mails other than vegetables and fruits -- in almost limitless quantities depending on the type of vegetable or fruit. The wine period can be thought of as the third meal.  

The diet asks you to drink lots of water and a half bottle of Blush or perhaps more at the happy hour part of each day -- 365 days a year. For me, I begin my wine consumption at 6:00 PM.  

With the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet, the wine should be mostly dry if possible but it is up to you to make sure that you like the wine. Dry wine has less calories. A dry White Zinfandel; a White Merlot; or any of the other dry Blush varieties will do you well.  

Caveats Regarding Sweet Wine and Dieting with Sweets in General  

Manischewitz or Moden David or Kedem sweet wines, or Niagara types, Moscato, Sweet French Columbard, Port, and other sweet whites / yellows are all sold in the PA State Stores and liquor / wine stores across the Country and the world. These are not recommended for wine dieters using the same rate of consumption as the three favorite wines of the Wine Diets site.  

Other sweet wines called dessert wines are in the same boat. These do not qualify for the full impact of the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet but you can make adjustments to the quantity to compensate for the substantially higher calories in the sweet varieties. Semi-sweet red wines are not as bad as sweet but again, it is up to you to compensate. 

In other words, if you check out the calorie content of any sweet or semi-sweet wines and you adjust your intake so that you are within the calorie range of the dry reds, your diet can be just as effective. Depending on your metabolism, you may even be able to get away with a good portion of the full bottle quotient for dry wines.  

Make sure, of course, that you are not overly passionate about drinking lots of sweet wine or I regret to say, you run the risk of actually gaining weight. Weigh yourself at the beginning of your diet on a reliable and consistent scale, use that for every weigh in you may plan. Write your weight down every two weeks. After about two weeks on a sweet wine regimen weigh yourself to be sure that the diet is working for you.  

Let's take a short break to check out the Kedem Winery Tasting Bar. Kedem is known for its fine grape juice and sweet grape wines. I thought you would like to see this nice picture of the Kedem Winery shown below. I have a soft spot for Kedem.  

Their tasting venue is quite elegant and they have both dry and sweet wines that are really fine. Just watch some of their sweet varieties as all sweet wines to make sure you do not over-consume on calories. Kedem dry wines are very, very nice. See Kedem Tasting Area below.  

Back to sweets temporarily   

My recommendation if asked would be that if possible, get rid of sweet candies almost completely in your wine diet. Sweets always add empty calories -- of course those Gertrude Hawk Chocolates we talk about at the end of this piece are an exception -- Don't we wish? Even though no sweet is an exception, the impact of the Gertrude Hawk Smidgeons later noted in this diet has been accounted for in all major wine diets and the grape juice diet.  

Sweet stuff must be managed  

Back as a child, my parents let me take my coffee as if it were a coffee milkshake. It was made with half milk and at least three heaping T-spoons of sugar to give it an OK taste for child consumption. So, I ask those thinking of sweet wines to consider that under these circumstances I did gain weight as a child and young teen.  

When I got older and into my college years, I eventually lessened the impact of coffee calories by putting just a thimble full of milk in my coffee and I reduced the amount of sugar from three to 1/4 teaspoons. Finally I was able to completely eliminate sugar from my coffee.  

Yet, I still gained weight but it was not because of the coffee. In my case in my early twenties, I discovered a new favorite liquid. I can rightfully blame excessive beer drinking for my weight gain. Watch beer consumption as it can ruin the full impact of the wine diets.  

When I stopped drinking beer excessively more than twenty years ago, I kept gaining weight but not so rapidly. I was not paying attention. When the mirror stopped lying to me, I would always do something. But, until the wine diet, I could never lose more than 20 or so pounds at a time…and it came back quickly and then some.  

Things happen to us over our lives. Our metabolism begins to decrease while our unwillingness to eliminate things from our diet increases. Unfortunately, in my case, I gained weight for most of my life in small increments but I did not gain as much as I would have if I had given in to all urges. That's just how it was for me. That's how I woke up one day at 343 pounds, and the mirror had stopped lying.  

How I lost 62 pounds! No lie!  

Sometime in the summer of 2013, I don't even know exactly when or why, but with little thought, I began to eat consciously and differently. I was hoping to gain no more weight. I did not think I could lose any weight but staying the same weight sounded pretty good at the time.  

I was beginning to feel huge and I thought that I could do nothing about it other than stop drinking wine and starving forever. I really did not think anything that I could do would help me lose weight for the long haul. Though I am an upbeat guy, I did feel a bit doomed by my plight.  

Finally, without really tuning in to what was happening. I began to lose weight. I did not realize it because it was coming off so slowly. I could not tell that I was losing weight and I was blinded to the fact since I am such a poor dieter and I was not actively trying to lose weight.  

It was not until my October 2013 doctor's appointment that I found that I had been losing real weight. I was surprised that I had lost 9 pounds. My belt holes were the same and I had not added any new holes but my pants were just a bit looser. I looked back a few months and charted what I had been doing. I kept eating and drinking the same hoping for continual results.  

In the spring of 2014, at the Doctor's Office again, I found that I had lost another 6 pounds. I had gotten through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and the Dago Red wine season and had still lost six pounds. And the diet had become second nature to me. It was not burdensome. I had not named my routine or thought about a formal diet at the time. It was all ad-hoc.  

In October 2014, I checked in again at the doctor's office. This time, I had lost another fourteen pounds. I was living naturally by the diet now and I had added a light walking regimen but not an awful lot of walking in the 2014 summer months. However, I was starting to believe that I had something that worked for me and could work for you. Around this time, I built the WineDiets.Com web site and began to tell the story in articles such as this.  

In April 2015 at the semi-annual doctor's visit, I was looking for a really big loss. I had three losses in a row and was ready to be uplifted. Unfortunately, on this semi-annual visit, I learned that even my new Wine Diet is not magical. I lost zero pounds. I was upset for a while but upon reflection, I definitely do know why.  

In prior years, I would have gained ten pounds or more with my dago red wine consumption, which began in November of 2014. Please see Chapter 11 or the web article titled"Dago Red: World's Best Wine" Then, you too will know why I lost no pounds in my April 2015 doctors' office weigh-in. I have to make sure that does not happen this year by drinking Dago Red more moderately.    

Once the Dago Red was long gone, I could feel myself losing weight again. I found some older jeans that fit and I added holes to my belts. During the dago red off-season, I switched to Pennsylvania-grown Chambourcin red wine from Benigna Creek Winery in Klingerstown, PA. It is great. They are nice people and their wine is always highlighted at the Flea Market in Hometown, PA.  

To keep wine consumption expenses down, when I am not looking for the best reds I know, such as Chambourcin, I use some of the California box wines or Carlo Rossi gallon jugs of Cabernet. The calorie and alcohol count, fullness and body are not like Chambourcin or Dago Red, but then again, the cheap substitutes are about 40% of the price of Dago Red and Chambourcin.  

Moreover, its overall impact helped me lose weight. Even though it is not really that bad, cheaper bulk wines simply do not make me want to drink as much as I would with Dago Red.  

This fall in early October 2015 at the Doctor's office, I was more than pleased. I lost a staggering 22 pounds. So, altogether, adding the 9 lbs. to the 6lbs. to the 14lbs. to the 0 lbs. to the 22 pounds, I had lost 51 pounds. I hope I never find them again and that I stay healthy. Wealthy and wise would also be nice, but I would be very happy with simply healthy.  

That's not the end of the loss. By the time I finished this book in December 2015, and was preparing to send it to the editors / printers, I weighed myself again. I did not have my doctor's scale available and I did not want to bother Dr. Kerrigan. I have a pretty good scale and now it is in pretty good synch with the doctor's scale. I lost another 11 pounds. Wow!  

So, now as I am outing the final touches on this book, my weight bogey is 281.6 pounds. I am a 281.6 pound weakling and very proud of it. That my dear WineDiet.Com friends, is down from 243. A 62 pound weight loss is outstanding. This great weight loss over 2+ years was the motivation for me to take the WineDiets.Com web site and create a book from it while updating my personal weight-loss experience on the web site. Thank you all for sharing in my joy.  

A Fine Chubby Animal Hoping to Join Wine Dieters Soon!

 

 

Diet Part of the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet

 

Now that we got through all the when's, where's, and why's, let's discuss the what's and how's. As we are about to reveal the secrets of the infamous Blush / Rose Wine Diet, be advised again that you should be able to use white or red or blush / rose' wines and have the same fine results. 

There are separate articles about each of these wine diets on the web site and in the book. Each wine diet chapter (white, red, grape juice, blush / rose') is like this one on Blush / Rose' wine. The same goes for the grape juice diet. They are all complete so you need only read about the diet that you choose. Skip the other chapters if they do not apply.  

They are self-contained essays. They are not identical but they contain all of the facts that apply to specific diets and all of the facts that pertain to all diets. If you read every diet, you may get bored but if you read just the diet chapter that you choose to engage, it will be very convenient for you.  

As discussed previously, there is Chapter 5 and a web site article that describes the generic attributes of all the wine diets is available. It is called "Wine Diet Basics." So that you do not have to go back to this article for a perspective, I borrowed some of its text, touched it up a bit, and put it in each wine diet chapter / article. For example, in this particular chapter / article, I tuned the text to be more appropriate for the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet.  

When thinking of your meal contents with the Blush / Rose' Wine Diet it helps to consider the few rules in the Wine Diet Basics to help make sure that your diet is successful. One key item is noted immediately below:  

Be Careful Between Meals  

Remember that during between-meal-time, you can have fresh fruits and / or vegetables, but as a rule do not have another full meal. When you have raw vegetables, eat as many as you want with the smallest amount of dip. Some raw hard raw vegetables burn up more calories than they add.  

Remember that I went through several months of my first summer without even watching my weight, while on the Red Wine Diet. I lost weight anyway. The diet guides you on a path to weight loss. It is quite effective.  

Here are the basic notions of your daily diet. The key elements of the Wine Diet on a daily basis are as follows:

 

  • Wine Diet Breakfast / Lunch (Brunch) Time 12:00 Noon or so
  • Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so
  • Wine Diet Dinner Time 8:00 PM or so
  • Final Treat of the Day -- After Dinner before bed some time!
  • Relax and watch some TV
  • Time for sleep 

 

For very early risers, you might find it more comfortable to have your brunch at some other time between ten o'clock and noon, and begin your wine time and dinner time earlier / later as you might choose. It is not how I did it, however. I do not recommend it as I do not have results yet to see if it works. However, I cannot see why it would not work for most if not all people. 

 

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

 

For the breakfast / lunch combination (Brunch) always have a drink such as coffee or tea. Try not to put a lot of cream or sugar in either. Water or a light sugar drink can also be used. Orange juice or a fruit juice mixed with 3/4 more with water helps reduce your calorie intake if you do not like tea or coffee. 

Drink: coffee, tea, fruit drink, skim milk. Make sure sugar is light. Splurge seldom. 

Breakfast / Lunch Staples – Eat just one meal: Choose one:

 

  • 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 some 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 whenever 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. All parts of Brunch should add up to one meal.
  • Now, since this meal occurs at noon, we can consider ourselves as having had Brunch. As long as it fits on a reasonably small to medium sized plate.

 

Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so. 

Get yourself a nice Rose' / Blush Wine as discussed above and keep getting 4 oz. glasses of it until about 8 PM. Find a friend to share your experience and solve the problems of the world. When you don't have a need to go get one more of these fine beverages, feel free to stop and look forward to the next daily event, dinner. Wait a bit of time but if you prefer to have another wine next, go right ahead.

 

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 you choose to eat from the type of selections outlined below. You may substitute similar food from nutritional information sources (the Internet is one source) that you may have available. 

It is best to limit meat / fish quantities to about 4 ounces for this meal 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.  

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 your type of protein if you are a vegetarian.  

Make sure there is some space on your plate before you begin to eat your dinner. Yes, you can eat more but after one nice plate-full, try not to stuff yourself unless you can't stand it. A helpful way to become full is to have a glass of water before eating and one or two before leaving the table. Once you eat—no more wine for the day.   

Hopefully, you will be able to get by most days without "not being able to stand it." If you get a hunger pang, it may help to remember that the recommended Gertrude Hawk's Dark Chocolate Smidgen is very satisfying at the end of the day before bed. I look forward to it on days that I do not choose to skip it altogether.  

You may find that just paying attention to your weight helps pave the way for weight loss; but admittedly it can be frustrating. The objective here is to not pay attention every day and just lose weight by following the directions.  

 

Meats, fish, fowl & other dinner items!

 

When 8 o'clock PM comes along or you are really ready to eat after finishing your day's wine, go ahead and eat your dinner slowly, and enjoy it. Do not speed eat and do not chinch. Depending on the time, you may wish to have another wine rather than eat right away. That is OK!  

When ready to eat; go ahead. It helps to have a lot of parts to your dinner meal as you fill up along the way. Have a light soup and a salad with lots of stuff on the salad such as other vegetables and some fruits and nuts but do not use an especially fattening dressing.  

In other words, look at the calories of the dressing and most of the time, pick something like a nice balsamic vinegar or a light dressing but every now and then let loose and have Blue Cheese or Ranch.  

Sometimes I will put some blue cheese dressing (heavy hitter) on part of my salad and balsamic vinegar on the other part. Have a nice slice of good bread or two. Make sure what you eat tastes good so you feel pleased.  

When I am not compelled to have ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing or any other creamy variety, I often choose to pile salsa or a relish like chili sauce (both reasonably calorie free) on top of a green salad. I like to assure that half of the salad is baby spinach leaves because they have lots more nutrition than plain greens. Mmmmm!!! Spinach of course is not a meat no matter how good it is. The salad should be in its own bowl, not on your dinner plate. If the dressing is fairly light, the salad will not impact your calorie count.  

Check out your own protein intake to make sure you do not hurt your health in any way on your particular Wine Diet. Use your physician as a consultant. We do not claim to be doctors. We do not know the medical facts as a doctor does. A doctor may tell you to do something other than that prescribed by this plan. Listen to the doctor in all cases; not the plan.  

On the up-side, if like me, you have had a difficult time losing weight in your last few years, this wine diet should be very helpful for you. It gives you a blueprint for another crack at attacking an expanding waistline.  

To see what you are doing over time, it always helps to record your experience. Write down your meal contents and the time of day when you ate and share this information with your physician. It will help explain why you are losing weight or why you are not losing as much as you think you should be losing.  

For protein, eat whatever you like as your main course for supper (dinner) after you have had your wine for two hours and you have enjoyed your salad and soup. put your meat and vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots) and pasta (potatoes, beans, light pasta salad) on the same plate unless you are having some spaghetti or a similar pasta. Spaghetti or a major pasta would be better on its own smaller plate. For the main dinner, it is good to use a small 8 to 9 inch plate so that it looks like a lot.  

Enjoy dinner and enjoy the night. Along with a nice dinner a few pieces of high quality bread at dinner with some but not much butter always helps it all seem better. You may also have a small to medium sized dessert and some more coffee or tea to top off the meal.  

When you have finished eating whatever food that you feel is good for you at dinner time, check to see if you are satisfied. You should at least not feel hungry. When you feel OK, in nice weather go watch the Evening Primrose bloom as the sun sets and when you come back in watch  about an hour of TV or whatever you need—no time limit—then go to bed and enjoy your night's sleep.  

If you feel heavy before retiring for the evening, please consider an Alka-Seltzer. They sure help my wife Pat and I when we overeat or eat too close to bed time.  

Retirees may have a different schedule 

Retirees often stay up later than when they were fully engaged in the workplace. My beautiful wife Pat and I like to watch a few TV programs on our way to sleep. Then, when we are not too tired, at 11:30 PM Monday through Friday, we watch Perry Mason together. In fact, we often get through the whole show before we fall asleep. 

Pat is still slim so she does not need a regimen such as the WineDiet.Com formula; but she often chooses to have a wine or two at 6:00 PM to keep her husband company. Plus, she knows that a few glasses of wine or champagne, her personal favorite per day, gives health benefits not provided in normal diets. I want this lady to live forever.  

Regardless of your many potential decisions, it helps to know that eating on this diet is always without regret. When you go to a special event such as a wedding, or a birthday party or a happy hour once or twice a week, enjoy yourself again without regret. Don't skimp! As a rule stay on your diet but on these special occasions, enjoy yourself. It will give you more incentive to stick with your chosen Rose' / Blush Wine Diet.  

I try not to overeat at dinner but I do want to feel filled. I have learned over the years what overeating feels like when I try to go to sleep… You may know the feeling. Overeating makes it tough to go to sleep. In my case, I make sure that I am filled enough to push away from the dinner table.  

I list a dessert above but do not recommend a dessert with dinner. However, if you must have dessert, go ahead and see how it works out for you. Think about keeping it small. My wife likes a small dip of ice cream or sherbet after dinner. Sometimes I join her. 

 

Final treat of the Day!

 

Once you have completed your "diet" day and you are getting ready to go off into the sleepy sunset, according to how I practice the wine diet-- the one in which I have lost 62 pounds so far, I encourage you to enjoy two dark chocolate Smidgens from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates. Pop one in at a time and enjoy it for a while. Then pop the other. This should be at the end of the night right before you go to bed.  

You may do this either before or after you watch some good TV such as ME TV! If you fall asleep before having the candy, that is OK. Don’t make it up the next day. If you find a chocolate stain on your pillow, you'll know you fell asleep before you finished one of your smidgeons. If you find a huge chocolate stain in your hand when you wake up, you probably do not need the chocolates. Good night Sweet Pea!  

Check out Smidgens of all kinds in this small sample picture of small little "Clauses" from Gertrude Hawks, a fine Chocolatier.  

Gertrude Hawk Santa Clause Shaped Smidgens

In the past two years, more unconsciously than consciously, I rarely ate between meals and almost every night, I had my dark solid chocolate Smidgen or two or three to cap off the evening. I try to keep it at one but two works fine, and sometimes three is necessary.  

Since Smidgens are so good, any of us can probably eat ten or twenty at a sitting but our diet would not work and we would continually be buying new belts and other clothing. I like dark chocolate best as it tastes great and has special health benefits. I am almost always happy with one or two Smidgens at night but I do cheat every now and then and I go for a third.  

There is rarely a chocolate stain on my pillow or a chocolate stain in my hand in the morning. They are that good. I don't think I could have lost any weight if I had hit double digits continually on the Smidgens. Yet, I was very happy to have the boxes available even though my daily portion was meager. What a great way to end a great day.  

Most of the older third generations in my family do not need the diet weight makeover that I am doing so it seems they can eat chocolate without regret all the time. We keep Gertrude Hawk Smidgens on the table for all gatherings and find few at the end.  

In my nightly retinue, at one time, one nightly Smidgen was dark chocolate with nuts, and the other was plain solid dark chocolate. 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 made in the USA.  

Enough about chocolates & back to wine

When you have had your final dark chocolate 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 online each and every morning to help remind yourself that you can do it as long as you follow the regimen. Nothing good diet-wise happens overnight even though we all weigh somewhat less in the morning.  

Once you convinced yourself that you have lost a few pounds, and your particular Wine-Diet is working; stop the checking. Don't check the scales daily anymore! Check your belt once a month or come up with some other way of getting a clue that this almost mindless diet is working for you. God bless you always!  

Nothing worth having in life is easy. Enjoy your weight loss struggle and then you will enjoy your weight loss. But, please do not be impatient and please do not cheat more than you adhere to the principles. It's all for you!  

By the way, each and every day and night, after you finish following the plan, most of you, I suspect, will eventually go to sleep. That, in and of itself is a treat. Knowing that you are knocking off some pounds, makes your sleep even more sweet.  

You may know that W C Fields once said, that sleep "is the most wonderful experience in life; except for drink." Any good diet depends on you getting your share of good sleep. Go ahead and get your nightly ZZZZZZzzzzzssssssss. You deserve them. Amen to all wine diets' brothers and sisters!  

Thank you for visiting this site and/or reading the book. Let us know how well you do on your diet challenge by leaving a comment using Disqus on our web site.  

Yes, it would be OK with me, if you bought enough books to give one to all of your non-Internet-savvy friends. www.bookhawkers.com.

While you are at it, please review our DISCLAIMER. 

More importantly, please remember that the web site is not a medical site and the book is not a medical journal. 

Any questions about your health—please call your doctor! 

You can lose weight on a grape juice diet. 

Though the Red/Black Grape Juice Diet is technically not a wine diet, it is given in the same spirit as the three wine diets. If you follow this diet as religiously as you would the wine diets, the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet should result in a similar weight loss. Watch what happens over the next 365 days. In my case, I lost over 62 pounds over about two years on the Red Wine Diet. My 800 + days are up and then some and that is why I decided to make the whole diet plan into a book.  

Each particular Diet has its own nuances and so all parts of each particular diet are included in a main article such as the one you are reading now about the grape juice diet. All four chapters (three wines and one juice) occupy full chapters in the book and each is a separate article on the WineDiets.Com web site.  

The liquid grape diet definitely worked for me. My grapes were fermented and produced alcohol in the red wine which I enjoyed. I have the extra belt holes to prove it. I hope to be updating my total again in spring 2016.This is such a low paced, no-pressure diet, that within another six months or so, my goal is to lose another ten pounds at the check-in.  

No weight loss is guaranteed to work for you but my derivative surely worked for me. Please share the essence of this juice diet with your family physician to make sure the prescribed regimen as presented will keep you healthy during your weight loss. Your physician may have some additional to do's for you or some caveats. Best wishes!  

It is hard to lose weight under all circumstances. If you are lots bigger than you ever thought you would be, as was my case, this is your perfect diet. If you have been on so many diets over your lifetime, that after the first five pounds, you cannot buy a pound of weight loss, this is the perfect diet for you. Of course, I project from my own success and there are no guarantees in life.  

I did not even know that I was losing weight when I changed my daily eating and drinking routine. I did not want a strict diet that seemed to work and got in the way of all fun and frivolity and more or less suggested that a few years in a monastery would be the only way I could ever lose twenty pounds again. I had had many successful weight loss endeavors in my earlier life but that semmed to have ended several years ago when I turned 60.  

It just gets harder to lose a thinning pound the older that one gets. I had given up 100%. My objective was simply to stop gaining weight at the rate of five to ten pounds or worse per year.  

My first inkling that I was actually losing weight was several months after I changed my every-day life—though I did not think substantially. I found out that I was losing weight only when I met that nasty doctor's scale at Dr. Patrick Kerrigan's practice in the fall 2013. The scale presented to me some very pleasing facts. I had lost real weight almost unknowingly.  

So, I reviewed the prior few months of minimally changed behavior to account for what I may have done differently. Whatever it was, I wanted to be able to continue it and hopefully lose more weight. I was either sick or I had stumbled on a new approach that would not only help me not-gain weight but would actually help me lose weight.  

I have told parts of this story a few times already on the web site and in this book in the wine diets above. The most descriptive essay is presented in the winediets.com classic article / chapter titled Wine Diets Basics. It is Chapter 5 in the book 

You may want to read this classic before you read the rest of this article / chapter as it has the theory, the rationale, and the implementation directives for the wine diet of your choice -- Red, White, or Rose' / Blush, and of course your selection The Red / Black Grape Juice Diet. Most of that chapter is in this chapter if you want to keep reading here without taking a break.  

I must admit that I do not intend to ever try the juice diet myself, though I would not mind a glass or two every now and then. I love grape juice, especially from Kedem. Grape juice drives this diet. I am still healthy enough to drink wine. I thank God for that with many Amens! But, what if one day, I could no longer drink alcohol and maintain my health? This is a great alternative.  

So, as I examined the substitution of dry grape juice for dry wine, I realized that anybody on NA either temporarily or permanently may learn to enjoy their NA grape juice as much as NA beer drinkers enjoy their NA beer and as much as wine drinkers enjoy their wine. A dry grape juice diet therefore is a real thing. 

In fact, it can actually be more effective than a dry wine diet for the zealous dieter because dry grape juice has less calories than dry grape wine. And, so, if you cannot drink dry wines, this juice diet or perhaps a different flavored juice in the diet may be just the solution that you have been searching for. And, after all that goodness, you can still manage to lose weight.  

Thank you for choosing The Red / Black Grape Juice Diet. To put the diets in perspective, those who cannot or do not wish to drink alcohol or who get migraines from wine, logically would choose this Red / Black Grape Juice Diet.  

For your friends who are wine drinkers, the Red Wine Diet is certainly the healthiest wine diet of them all. The White Wine diet has less calories and so theoretically the five calories saved per glass may help white wine drinkers knock of another pound or so. The Blush Rose' diet is in between on health properties and calories.  

For you to achieve the benefits of any of the wine or juice diets, I would advise that you stick to your favorite wine or juice on this diet. Other than sweet wines, described below, they all should work fine for weight loss. When your friends are part of the Red Wine Diet even though its sugar content is about 2.5 calories more than the Rose' / Blush wine Diet and 5 calories more than the White Wine Diet, they would be doing the best diet that combines health and weight loss.  

For non-wine drinkers, the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet, which we are now studying, is an excellent choice. All dark-skinned grapes contain antioxidants that are beneficial for your health. Any dry red grape juice would have similar properties to the Red Wine Diet. Just like the only-red wine diets, the other dry grape juice diets, such as dry combos or dry whites, are not as beneficial as the red / black grape juice diet, because red / black grapes are the best.  

As I was digesting all the facts about this dry juice diet, I started to wonder where one could get Cabernet or Merlot dry grape juices as I do not recall seeing them in grocery stores. First of all, they may very well be in grocery stores but their manufacturers like to call them non-alcoholic wine. When you cannot find what you want in the grocery store, there is always the Internet. I found a great source of dry red grape juice I copied some of their ad material below:

 

Drape Valley Vineyard

 

This is not an endorsement but a recognition that there are sellers of such fine juices and they market their wares as if they are among the best. Perhaps they are the best. Here is an ad with which I was particularly impressed.  

Drape Valley Vineyard’s non-alcoholic grape juice is unique in its purity. Most non-alcoholic wine is dealcoholized, leaving a slightly acerbic aftertaste behind along with a small amount of alcohol. To make its juice, DVV crushes and presses premium wine grapes with all the fresh goodness of the grape preserved with absolutely no alcohol. This is no ordinary grape juice. It’s a symphony for the taste buds with a wonderful aroma! 

DVV’s Cabernet Sauvignon wine grape juice bursts with rich flavors reminiscent of cherry, strawberry and raspberry with a faint whisper of plum. 

An ad such as that puts this whole quest in perspective as it shows that dry grape juice vintners and sellers have a stake in the game. 

What good healthy stuff would we find in red or black grapes? 

The two main flavonoids in red grapes are quercetin and resveratrol. Resveratrol is often in the news for its anti-inflammatory effects. It is often cited as a reason to drink red wine.  

Red / black grape juice, therefore is beneficial for arthritis and heart disease patients. It also helps reduce the risk of cancer. Quercetin is a powerful antioxidant that can combat free radicals, protecting the body from disease and reducing the effects of aging. It is also an antihistamine, so it can help reduce the symptoms of seasonal allergies. And it does it all without a hint of alcohol.  

Like red rapes, black grapes contain vitamins C, B-1 and B-6. Black grapes also contain quercetin and resveratrol. So they are equally good for reducing cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart disease. They also contain substances known as phenolic acids.  

In 2008, S.M. Huang et al conducted a study, which has been published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. The study noted that phenolic acids can protect cells from diabetic neuropathy. This is a complication of diabetes, in which high blood sugar levels damage the nerves. 

In case you were wondering, eating these grapes before they are liquefied is also very healthful.  

The good news my dear wine and juice dieters is that you can drink your favorite wine or grape juice on the WineDiets.Com diets and still be a candidate to lose weight with a huge particularly smile on your face.  

You do not have to drink the lower calorie whites to lose weight. You can drink higher calorie red wines or even lower calorie red / black grape juices and you can check in at your doctor's office every six months like I do to watch the weight dripping off in double figures.  

Be careful if you must binge!   

The quick snapshot of the dry juice diet is that you should follow the pages of this web site or the book with the full agreement of your primary physician of course. Unless you are advised by your physician against it, you are permitted to break this diet many times over the course of your 365 day test drive. Try not to make it a weekly thing.  

The worst that will happen if you go astray for short periods is that instead of say, a loss of 15 or 20 or more pounds in a year, you may lose only ten or fifteen pounds. When you crave, to assure that you will stay true to your personal diet, I suggest that you give in sometimes and take that brief binge.  

But, make sure that that you come back after a few days. Hopefully the binge will make you more satisfied and you will be ready to continue. Do what you must to continue on the diet. Remember this always: no diet works if you leave it forever.   

What about fasting on your "wine" diet?  

If you make a fasting diet out of this (other than the wine or juice component, which is a diet requirement), then you probably should take some vitamins or any supplements your doctor recommends to support you with the challenges of your modified wine or juice diet.  

To assure that you can maintain your health, especially if you have any concerns whatsoever, take this diet and your dinner plans based on this diet to your physician and get your personal diet approved for your use. That should be easy. Since WineDiets.Com cannot be responsible for your health whether you are on our diet or not, we recommend strongly that you consult your physician. It is her job.  

Most adults know they cannot just eat meats or just eat starches or just eat candy or just drink wine or just eat vegetables so you do not need WineDiets.Com to tell you that. Our three main diets (Red, White, and Rose'/Blush) are very similar and all depend on an understanding of Wine Diet Basics as presented on this site and in Chapter 5 of the book. The dry grape juice diet works the same way.  

In essence, the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet asks you to eat just two meals a day and not to eat anything in-between meals other than vegetables and fruits -- in almost limitless quantities depending on the type of vegetable or fruit.  

It asks you to drink lots of water and several glasses of red / black grape juice (preferably dry) during the happy hour part of each day -- 365 days a year. For me, I begin my wine consumption at 6:00 PM. I would begin grape juice consumption in the wine time slot for those who cannot or choose not to drink win. It may help most days to drink your dry juice over conversation with a good friend.  

With the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet, as noted, the juice should be mostly dry if possible but again, make sure you like the juice. Dry grape juice has less calories than all of the wine diets per ounce.  

Caveats Regarding Sweet Wine / Juice and Dieting with Sweets in General.  

Manischewitz or Moden David or Kedem juices and sweet wines, or Niagara types, Moscato, Sweet French Columbard, Port, Welch's sweet grape juice, and other sweet whites / yellows are all sold in various highly reachable markets such as PA State Stores, as well as liquor / wine stores across the Country and the world. Grape juice varieties are sold in most supermarkets. Sweet wines or juices are not recommended for dieters using the same rate of consumption as the dry varieties.  

Other sweet wines and juices in a dessert class are in the same boat. These do not qualify for the full impact of the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet but you can make adjustments to the quantity to compensate for the substantially higher calories in sweet varieties.  

Semi-sweet red wines and juices are not as bad as sweet but again, it is up to you to compensate. Even though this is a juice diet chapter, I thought you would like to see this nice picture of the Kedem Winery shown a page or so below. I have a soft spot for Kedem.  

Their tasting venue is quite elegant and they have both dry and sweet wines that are really fine. Just watch some of their sweet varieties as all sweet wines. Make sure you do not over-consume on calories. Kedem dry wines are very, very nice. Kedem makes excellent juice but most of their varieties are very sweet

Having a taste at Kedem surely does not look painful;.

 

In other words, if you check out the calorie content of any sweet or semi-sweet wines or juices and adjust your intake so that you are within the calorie range of the dry reds or blacks, your diet can be just as effective. Depending on your metabolism, you may even be able to get away with a good portion of the full bottle quotient for dry varieties. 

Make sure, of course, that you are not overly passionate about drinking lots of sweet wine or juice or I regret to say that you run the risk of actually gaining weight. Weigh yourself at the beginning of your diet on a reliable and consistent scale. Use that same scale for every weigh-in you may plan. 

Write your weight down about every two weeks on the same day. This helps and verifies your diet history for your own future reference. After about two weeks on a sweet wine or juice regimen make sure that you weigh yourself to be sure that the diet is working for you. 

Sweet candies and other goodies 

My recommendation on all sweet delicacies would be that if possible, stay away from them; but if you must—all things are acceptable on this diet in moderation. To the extent you can, get rid of sweet candies and cakes and large quantities of ice cream almost completely in your wine or juice diet.  

Sweets always add empty calories—of course those dark Gertrude Hawk Chocolates we talk about at the end of this piece are an exception—Don't we wish? Even though no sweet is an exception, the impact of the Gertrude Hawk Dark Chocolate Smidgeons has been accounted for in the three major wine diets and also the dry grape juice diet. I was the Guinea Pig. Yes, you can eat some Smidgens and you can still lose weight. It's all part of the diet.  

Sweet stuff—even coffee must be managed  

Back as a child, my parents let me take my coffee as if it were a coffee milkshake. It was made with half milk and at least three heaping T-spoons of sugar to give it an OK taste for child consumption. So, I ask those thinking of sweet wines or sweet juices to consider that under these circumstances I did gain weight as a child and young teen.  

When I got older and into my college years, I eventually lessened the impact of coffee calories by putting just a thimble full of milk in my coffee and reducing the amount of sugar from three to 1/4 teaspoons. Eventually, I was able to completely eliminate sugar from my coffee. I don’t miss the sugar a bit.  

Yet, I still gained weight but it was not because of the coffee. In my case in my early twenties, I discovered a new favorite liquid. I can rightfully blame excessive beer drinking for my weight gain. Watch your beer consumption as it can ruin the full impact of any of the wine or juice diets.  

When I stopped drinking beer excessively more than twenty years ago, I kept gaining weight but not so rapidly. At the time, I was not paying attention. When the mirror finally stopped lying to me, I tried to do something. But, until the wine / dry grape juice diets, I could never lose more than 20 or so pounds at a time…and if I lost anything, it came back quickly with more.  

Things happen to us over our lives. Our metabolism begins to decrease while our unwillingness to eliminate things from our diet increases. Unfortunately, in my case, I gained weight for most of my life in small almost unnoticeable increments.  

But I did not gain as much as I would have if I had given in to all urges. That's just how it was for me. That's how I woke up one day at 343 pounds, and the mirror had stopped lying.  

How I lost 62 pounds on the "Wine" Diet 

Sometime in the summer of 2013, I don't even know exactly when or why, but with little thought, I began to eat consciously and differently. I was hoping not to gain any more weight. I had resigned myself that I could not lose any weight at all and so staying the same weight sounded pretty good to me at the time.  

I was beginning to feel huge and I thought that I could do nothing about it other than stop drinking wine and good grape juice and starving forever. I really did not think anything that I could do would help me lose weight for the long haul.  

Though I am an upbeat guy, I did feel a bit doomed by my plight. Finally, without really tuning in to what was happening. I began to lose weight. I did not realize it because it was coming off so slowly. I could not tell that I was losing weight and I was blinded to the fact since I am such a poor dieter and I was not really trying to lose weight.  

It was not until my October 2013 Doctor Kerrigan appointment that I found that I had been losing real weight. I was surprised that I had lost 9 pounds. My belt holes were the same and I had not added any new holes, yet my pants were a bit looser. I figured I needed to rethink how this had happened. So, I went back and charted what I had been doing. I got the drift.  

I kept doing the prescription looking for continual results. In the Spring of 2014, at the doctor's office again, I found that I had lost another 6 pounds. I had gotten through Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays and more importantly the Dago Red wine season and had still lost six pounds.  

By then, the diet had become second nature to me. It was not burdensome. I had not formalized anything and I had not named my routine or thought about a formal diet at the time. It was all ad-hoc. But, for sure, something good was happening.  

In October 2014, I checked in at the Doctor's office again. This time, I had lost fourteen pounds. I was really feeling good. I was living naturally on the diet now and I had added a light walking regimen in the summer but not an awful lot of walking in the 2014 summer months.  

However, I was starting to believe that I had something that worked for me and could work for others. Around this time, I built the WineDiets.Com web site and began to tell the story in articles such as this one the web site.  

In April 2015 at my semi-annual Doctor's visit, I was ready. I was looking for a really big loss. I had three losses in a row and was ready to be uplifted onto the svelte platform. Unfortunately, on this semi-annual visit, I learned that even my new Wine Diet is not magical. I lost zero pounds.  

I was upset for a while but upon reflection, I definitely now do know why. In prior years, I would have gained ten pounds or more with my holiday Dago Red wine consumption. Please see Chapter 11 or the article titled "Dago Red: World's Best Wine" on the web site. Then, you too will know why I lost no pounds in my April 2015 Dr. Kerrigan office weigh-in.  

Once the Dago Red was long gone, I could feel myself losing weight again. I found some older retired jeans that fit again and I added holes to my belts. During the Dago Red off-season, I switched to Pennsylvania-grown Chambourcin red wine from Benigna Creek Winery in Klingerstown, PA. It is great.  

To keep wine consumption expenses down, when I was not looking for the best red, such as Chambourcin from Benigna, I used some of the California box wines or gallon jugs of dry reds—Merlot or Cabernet such as those from Carlo Rossi. The calorie and alcohol count, fullness and body were minimal, but then again, box wine and public jug wine is about 40% of the price of Dago Red.  

The key notion for the return to a weight loss scenario was that the box wine and bulk wines were not heavy. Thus, they did not carry a lot of calories with them. The end of the Dago Red availability in late spring, and the switch to a lighter substitute brought me back to reality. It  helped me lose weight.  

Even though such red wines are not really that great, they are not that bad either. These cheaper bulk wines simply did not make me want to drink as much wine as I would have with Dago Red.  

This fall in early October 2015 at Dr. Kerrigan;s office, I was very surprised. I lost a staggering 22 additional pounds. Altogether, adding the 9 lbs. to the 6lbs. to the 14lbs. to the 0 lbs. to the 22 pounds, I had lost 51 pounds. I hope I never find them again and I hope that I continue to stay healthy. Wealthy and wise would also be nice, but I would be very happy with simply healthy.  

That's not the end of the 2015 weight loss. By the time I finished this book in December 2015, I weighed myself again. I did not have the doctor's scale available but I have a pretty good scale now and with fresh batteries, it is now in pretty good synch with the doctor's scale. I had lost another 11 pounds.  

So now at completion, as I prepare this book for publication, my weight is at 281.6 pounds. I am now a 281.6 pound weakling and I am very proud of the loss.  

That, my dear WineDiet.Com friends, is down from 343—a total of 62 pounds. This great weight loss over 2+ years was the motivation for me to take the WineDiets.Com web site public and create a book from it. At the same time, I updated my personal weight-loss experience on the web site and in the book. Thank you all for sharing in my joy.

 

The Diet Part of the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet

 

Now that we got through all the when's, where's, and why's, let's discuss the what's and how's. As we are about to reveal the secrets of the infamous Red / Black Grape Juice Diet. Be advised again that you should be able to use other dry juices and have the same fine weight results. A fine hair dryer controlled clinic might help:

There are separate articles about each of these wine diets on the web site and in the book. Each wine diet chapter (white, red, grape juice, blush / rose') is like this one on red /black grape juice. They are all complete so you need only read about the diet that you choose. Skip the other chapters if they do not apply. 

They are self-contained essays. They are not identical but they contain all of the facts that apply to specific diets and all of the facts that pertain to all diets. If you read every diet, you may get bored but if you read just the diet chapter in which you choose to engage, it will be very convenient for you.  

As discussed previously, there is Chapter 5 and a web site article that describes the generic attributes of all the wine diets. It is called "Wine Diet Basics." So that you do not have to go back to this article for a perspective, I borrowed some of its text, touched it up a bit, and put it in each wine diet and juice diet chapter / article including this. For example, in this particular chapter / article, I tuned the text to be more appropriate for the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet.  

When thinking of your meal contents with the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet it helps to consider the few rules in the Wine Diet Basics to help make sure that your diet is successful. One key item is noted immediately below: 

Be careful between meals, 

Remember that during between-meal-time, you can have fresh fruits and / or vegetables, but as a rule do not have another full meal. When you have raw vegetables, eat as many as you want with the smallest amount of dip. Some raw hard raw vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower burn up more calories than they add.  

Remember that I went through several months of my first summer without even watching my weight, while post-facto being declared on the Red Wine Diet. I lost weight anyway. The diet guides you on a path to weight loss.  

In my opinion, only if you are kidding about wanting to lose weight, will this great diet be a dead-end for you. But, you have to stick to the guidelines for you to be happy with the results.  

Here are the basic notions of your daily diet. The key elements of the Wine / Dry Juice Diet on a daily basis are as follows:

 

  • Wine /Juice Diet Breakfast / Lunch (Brunch) Time 12:00 Noon or so
  • Wine /Juice Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so
  • Wine /Juice Diet Dinner Time 8:00 PM or so
  • Final Treat of the Day -- After Dinner before bed some time!
  • Relax and watch some TV
  • Time for sleep

 

For very early risers, you might find it more comfortable to have your brunch at some other time between ten o'clock and noon, and then you may choose to begin your wine time and dinner time earlier if you choose. It is not how I did it, however. I do not recommend it as I do not have results yet to see if it works well. I can't see why it would not work for many people. 

Wine / Juice Diet Breakfast / Lunch (Brunch) Time 12:00 Noon or so. 

For the breakfast / lunch combination (Brunch) always have a drink such as coffee or tea. Try not to put a lot of cream or sugar in either. Water or a light sugar drink can also be used. Orange juice or a fruit juice mixed with half way or more with water helps reduce your calorie intake if you do not like tea or coffee.  

Drink: coffee, tea, fruit drink, skim milk. Make sure sugar is light. Splurge seldom. 

 

Breakfast / Lunch Staples – Eat just one meal: Choose one:

 

  1. Two eggs, lightly buttered toast, sausage patty or ham, corned beef hash, or a few pieces of well drained bacon.
  2. Hamburg, Tuna, ham, roast beef or turkey sandwich or a chef salad easy on heavy dressings... your choice.
  3. Occasionally, substitute some French Toast or two pancakes
  4. Occasionally, add a donut or a muffin and of course some jelly for your toast. A small desert for the lunch part of brunch is appropriate.
  5. Eat as much fruit or vegetables as you want with small amounts of toppings or dips that are not huge in the calorie department.
  6. Rarely… but whenever you need it, have a piece of pound cake or banana cake or something really good.
  7. Two times a week have some home fries if you like.
  8. 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. All parts of Brunch should add up to one meal.
  9. Now, since this meal occurs at noon, we can consider ourselves as having had Brunch. As long as it fits on a reasonably small to medium sized plate.

 

Wine Diet wine / juice time 6:00 PM or so

 

Get yourself a favorite dry red / black grape juice as discussed above and keep getting glasses of them until about 8 PM or until you have had your fill. When you don't have a need to go get one more of these fine beverages, wait a bit of time. But when you need your next juice, go get it. Enjoy your third meal of the day prior to dinner of course. 

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 you choose to eat for dinner from the type of selections outlined below. 

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. Just do not over-do it! 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 along with all of the other dinner accoutrements. 

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 your type of protein if you are a vegetarian. Make sure there is some space on your plate before you begin to eat your dinner. Yes, you can eat more but after one nice plate try not to stuff yourself unless you can't stand it. A helpful way to become full is to have a glass of water before leaving the table. Once you eat—no more wine for the day. 

Hopefully, you will be able to get by most days without "not being able to stand it." It may help to remember the recommended Gertrude Hawk Dark Chocolate Smidgeon is very satisfying at the end of the day before bed.  

You may find that just paying attention to your weight helps pave the way for weight loss; but admittedly it can be frustrating. The objective here is to not pay attention every day and just lose weight by following the directions. 

Meats, fish, fowl and other dinner items! 

When 8 o'clock PM comes or you are really ready to eat after finishing your day's wine quotient, go ahead and eat your dinner slowly; and enjoy it. Do not speed eat and do not chinch. Depending on the time, you may wish to have another nice dry grape juice rather than eat right away. That is OK!  

When ready to eat; go ahead. It helps to have a lot of parts to your dinner meal as you fill up along the way. Have a light soup and a salad with lots of stuff such as other vegetables as well as some fruits and nuts but do not pick an especially fattening dressing.  

In other words, look at the calories of the dressing and most of the time, pick something like a balsamic vinegar or a light dressing but every now and then let loose and have blue cheese or ranch if it will help you.  

Sometimes I will put some Blue Cheese dressing (heavy hitter) on half of my salad and Balsamic Vinegar on the other half. Try a nice slice of bread or two. When I am not compelled to have ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing or any other creamy variety, I may choose to pile salsa or a relish like chili sauce on top of an already attractive green salad.  

These toppings hardly register on the calorie scale and are delicious and filling. I also like to assure that half of the salad is baby spinach leaves because they have lots more nutrition than plain lettuce salad greens. Mmmmm!!! Spinach of course is not a meat no matter how good it is. The salad should be in its own bowl, not on your dinner plate.  

Check out your own protein intake to make sure you do not hurt your health on your particular Wine / Juice Diet. Use your physician as a consultant. We do not claim to be doctors. We do not know the medical facts as a doctor does. A doctor may tell you to do something other than that prescribed by this plan. Listen to the doctor in this case; not the plan.  

But, if like me, you have had a difficult time over the last several years losing weight, this wine diet should be good for you. It would help checking it out if you wrote down your meal contents and the time of day when you ate and share your documentation with your physician.  

For protein, eat whatever you like as your main course for supper (dinner) after you have had your dry grape juice for two hours and you have enjoyed your salad and soup.  

Put your meat and vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots) and pasta (potatoes, beans, light pasta salad) on the same plate unless you are having some spaghetti or a similar pasta.  

Major pasta such as spaghetti would be better on its own plate. Enjoy dinner and enjoy the night. Along with a nice dinner a few pieces of the best bread at dinner with some, but not much butter, always helps it all seem better. You may also have a small to medium sized dessert and some more coffee or tea to top off the meal.   

When you have finished eating whatever food that you feel is good for you at dinner time, check to see if you are satisfied. You should at least not feel hungry. At the end of the evening, when you feel OK, after about an hour of TV or whatever you need—no limit on TV or outdoor ogling—go to bed and enjoy your night's sleep.  

If you feel too heavy before retiring for the evening, please consider an Alka-Seltzer. They sure help my wife Pat and I when we overeat or eat too close to bed time.  

What about retirees? 

Retirees often stay up later than when they are fully engaged in the workplace. I am retired and Pat still works. Pat is on my retiree schedule though it makes it tough when she has to go to work. 

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

Pat is still slim so she does not need a regimen such as the WineDiet.Com formula; but she often chooses to have a wine or two at 6:00 PM to keep her husband company. She loves the healthy effects of wine and that makes having some champagne a lot easier than otherwise.  

Regardless, the eating on this diet is always without regret. When you go to something special such as a wedding, or a birthday party or a happy hour once or twice a week, enjoy yourself again without regret. Don't skimp. As a rule stay on the diet but on special occasions, enjoy yourself. It will give you more incentive to stick with your chosen Red / Black Grape Juice Diet.  

I try not to overeat at dinner but I do want to be filled. I have learned over the years what overeating feels like when trying to go to sleep… You know too! Overeating makes it tough to go to sleep. In my case, I make sure that I am filled enough to push away from the table in time to digest enough that getting to sleep is not an issue.  

I list a dessert above but do not recommend a dessert with dinner. However, if you must have dessert, go ahead and see how it works out for you. Think about keeping it small. My wife likes a small dip of ice cream or sherbet after dinner. Sometimes I join her. 

Final treat of the day! 

Once you have completed your "diet" day and you are getting ready to go off into the sleepy sunset, according to how I practice the wine diet—the one in which I have lost 62 pounds so far, you are encouraged to enjoy two dark chocolate Smidgens from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates in PA. Pop one in at a time and enjoy it for a while. Then pop the other. This should be at the end of the night before you go to bed.  

You may do this either before or after you watch some good TV such as ME TV! If you fall asleep before having the candy, that is OK. Don’t make it up the next day. No Makeups!   

If you find a chocolate stain on your pillow, you'll know you fell asleep before you finished your Smidgens. If you find a huge chocolate stain in your hand when you wake up, you probably do not need the chocolates. Good night Sweet Pea!  

Check out Smidgens of all kinds in this small sample picture of small little "Clauses" from Gertrude Hawks massive assortment of chocolate goodies.  

Gertrude Hawk Candies WB PA, Christmas Smidgens

 

 

In the past two years, 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 evening. I try to keep it at one but two works fine, and sometimes three is necessary.  

Since Smidgens are so good, any of us over 100 pounds avoirdupois, can probably eat ten or twenty at a sitting. But, you guessed it… The Wine Diet or the Dry Grape Juice Diet cannot work with so many Smidgens in the gut. We would continually be buying new belts.  

I do like dark chocolate as they have special health benefits independently of red wine. But most importantly, dark chocolate tastes like it was made out of this world.  

I am almost always happy with one or two Smidgens before bedtime but I do cheat every now and then and I go for a third. There is rarely a chocolate stain on my pillow or a chocolate stain in my hand in the morning. They are that good.  

I don't think that I could have lost any weight if I had hit double digits on the Smidgens. Yet, I was tickled to have the boxes available even though my daily portion was meager. What a great way to end a great day.  

In my nightly retinue, at one time, I used two different types of Smidgens. One Smidgen was dark chocolate with nuts, and the other was plain solid dark chocolate. 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.  

Enough about chocolates  

When you have had your final treat of the day, you can 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 online each and every morning to help remind yourself that you can do it as long as you follow the regimen. Nothing good diet-wise happens overnight even though we all weigh somewhat less in the morning.  

Once you convinced yourself that you have lost a few pounds, and your particular wine diet or dry grape juice diet is obviously working; stop the checking. Don't check the scales daily anymore! Check your belt once a month or come up with some other way of getting a clue that this almost mindless diet is working for you. God bless you always! 

Nothing worth having in life is easy. Enjoy your weight loss struggle.  

By the way, each and every day and night, after you finish following the plan, most of you, I suspect, will eventually go to sleep. That, in and of itself is a treat. Knowing that you are knocking off some pounds, makes your sleep even sweeter.  

You may know that W C Fields once said, that sleep "is the most wonderful experience in life; except for drink." Any good diet depends on you getting your share of good sleep. Go ahead and get your ZZZZZZZzzzzzzsssssssssss. You deserve them. Amen to all wine diets' brothers and sisters!  

Thank you for visiting this site and/or reading the book. Let us know how well you do by leaving a comment using Disqus on our web site.

Yes, it would be OK if you bought enough books to give one to all of your non-Internet-savvy friends. www.bookhawkers.com 

Please see DISCLAIMER information prior to Chapter 1. More importantly, please remember that this site is not a medical site and the book is not a medical journal.

Any questions—please call your doctor!

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!


The pleasure is truly yours 

Dago Red is my favorite wine, period. It is red, nutritious, and delicious. It is most often made locally in Pennsylvania from fresh grapes shipped across the country from California in huge train cars. It is made without nitrites or nitrates or any preservatives at all.  

Since it is not preserved, there are no harmful chemicals for the human body to encounter when enjoying the wine. However, it lasts only three or four months when kept at winter garage temperature in PA and for those not willing to go to the garage for a nice drink, it lasts about a week when brought inside and kept by the fireplace.  

Once this happens, it makes a nice red wine vinegar for just a few more days before it is gone and starts to stink out the place. Despite these disadvantages, the vintners in Northeastern PA (NEPA) who make such delights legally, sell out each year. I discovered Dago Red or as I like to call it, DGR more than twenty years ago at my neighbor's table. It costs a lot to make and so it is tougher to get such gifts during the holiday season than it was in the past.    

Is it legal to make wine in Pennsylvania for personal use? 

Section 491(2) of the [PA] Liquor Code provides that wine may be produced by any person without a license, as long as the products are not for sale, and the total production does not exceed two hundred (200) gallons per calendar year. [47 P.S. § 4-491(2)]. While a person may not sell or offer for sale the wine he or she produces, he or she may use it at organized affairs, exhibitions, competitions, contests, tastings or judgings.  

Surprise spring 2015 weigh-in 

In April 2015, after three successive semi-annual checkups that included substantial weight loss, I was expecting another ten pound loss. Unfortunately, I lost nothing. I was dejected; I admit. But, since there was still Dago Red wine available from my local vintner, I drowned my sorrows that evening. In so doing, I reflected and quickly realized why I had failed to lose weight in the prior six-month period. 

After having persevered the triple diet whammy—Thanksgiving, Christmas and the dago red season in many prior years, I was ready for a loss. Then I remembered that in those years, I typically gained ten or more pounds. The 2014 vintage was excellent. I was a major consumer. The Thanksgiving and Christmas Turkeys were to die for. Everything was superlative. How could anybody lose a pound—even a fella eating just two meals a day on the Red Wine Diet?  

Upon reflection, cheating was the order of the day, not the exception. I learned that I was not invincible and that the Red Wine Diet was not as magical as I hoped it was. To this day, I am thankful that I did not gain ten pounds.  

As I write this chapter, the 2015 first shipment has arrived and it is very good. So far, I am down 62 pounds and I surely hope that I at least maintain that…but I really would like to see five or more additional in the spring 2016 Doctor Kerrigan weigh-in.  

To net it out for my readers, it was very easy to conclude that my failure to achieve any weight loss had to do with the easy availability of Dago Red from mid-November through early May in 2015. When I was weighed in April by Dr. Kerrigan, I still had several gallons left of the precious nectar left in the garage. It had yet to become red wine vinegar.   

As noted, Christmas 2014 was bountiful for sure. The supply of Dago Red was good from multiple sources, and it was plentiful. I got carried away. My favorite red wine, is called "Dago Red" by those Italians in Northeastern PA who make it and those Italians who drink it.  

The politically correct refer to it as homemade Italian wine. Since my Italian friends and the vintners call it "Dago Red," so do I. I am never corrected by the Italians but sometimes real PC aficionados try to get their whacks in. I ignore them.  

The Dago Red was great and during the period, I would often add an extra glass to my daily repertoire because it was so darn good. I always slept well during this period. I rarely missed the opportunity to share this gift at the table with my friends and quite frankly, the truth is for almost six months, I drank too much Dago Red. And, so I lost not a pound.  

It is not just the high alcohol content of up to 20% in Dago Red that adds its share of extra red wine calories to the vintage. With some sugar in the form of simple syrup added to the mix, plus the inherent richness, sweetness, and fullness of the never fully strained crushed grapes, the calories simply mount up.  

By the way, let me discuss the name a bit more. Dago Red is the moniker used for centuries in America for the wine that original Italian immigrants made from whatever grapes they could find in America. Italian grapes from the "Old Country" were way too expensive to import.  

Today's highly popular Dago Red blends are often made from a mix of Muscat and Alicante grapes. However, vintners who I know have used their own particular favorite grapes and that is why all Dago Red is different and worth trying.  

Zinfandel is a staple in fine NEPA Dago Red. Cabernet and Merlot grapes and concentrated dry wine juice packs are way too expensive for the vintners who crush-out about five to ten fifty gallon sized wooden barrels a year.  

Many Italian vintners across the country make Dago Red from other fine grape varieties. The cost of grapes is always one of the major considerations.  For example, in Northeastern PA, I know that vintners use Zinfandel, Muscat, Alicante, Shiraz, Grenache, Thomson, and even Blue Concord grape types to make their "brew." Enjoy!  

There is a "Dago Red" full recipe using Concord at http://www.homebrewit.com/dago-red-wine-recipe-with-concord-grapes/    

Personally, I know of no vintner in NEPA who makes DGR with Concord grapes. When my dad once brought DGR home as a gift from his friends at Stegmaier Brewery where he worked, it was always dirt cellar dry. Today it is much more pleasant but nothing like Concord sweet.  

To be correct, for the most part, most commercially produced Concord wines are finished sweet. However, dry versions are possible if adequate fruit ripeness is achieved. My interest is piqued on Dago Red from Concord grapes so this will be explored in future articles on the WineDiets.Com Web Site.

chieved. My interest is piqued on Dago Red from Concord grapes so this will be explored in later articles on the WineDiets.COM Web Site.

 

Please don't be mad at me about this. Many think it is funny. There are a lot of great heart diets on the Internet. Click Here for just one of them. To see the cardiologists' humorous diet, please read more. 

Solid Proof That Red Wine Is Good for You

From: Dina Spector at www.businessinsider.com/health-benefits-of-resveratrol-in-red-wine-2013-3#ixzz3Few6mM8r

Dina wrote a wonderful article displayed at http://www.businessinsider.com/health-benefits-of-Resveratrol-in-red-wine-2013-3#ixzz3Few6mM8r. In the article, she presents a natural ingredient found in red wine, Resveratrol, which can help fight off diseases associated with age. Since I have never met an individual who was not subject to the rules of aging, I would recommend your reading this great piece by Gina which is discussed in this article. Here conclusions are based on a new study that shows very promising results for red wine drinkers..

I captured the picture shown in Dina's article and I included the caption shown below the picture.  Since I am really into red wine for both health and spiritual reasons, I am bringing the essence of Dina's article forward for all to enjoy by using my own words to describe this phenomenon.  The fact is that there is a great chemical substance called Resveratrol that gives red wine many of its magical properties. Resveratrol is found in the skin of grapes--the part of the grape that gives red wine its color and its unique tastes and it provides the fermentation yeast. Resveratrol, as a helpful substance for years has been touted for its anti-ageing properties.

If you do not like wine, my best advice is learn to like it because wine, especially red wine is good for you in moderation -- no more than three glasses a day. It is also good for your spirits.

But, if you want a diversion from the wine diet, because you would like to lose weight even faster, you can literally fast every other day and still use your favorite wine diet. Or you can not drink wine at all, and fast every other day. Scientists now think this is quite effective.

Here is a link you should enjoy: 

For the healthy effects of grape juice, check this little blurb out:

 

 

Migraine headaches can be quite devastating. They typically result in severe throbbing and can be accompanied by vomiting, nausea and extreme sensitivity to light. Migraine sufferers with a migraine seek out dark spaces to rest. Migraines give signals that they are coming. Sometimes it is moodiness and depression, a stiff neck, diarrhea or constipation and even some food cravings. T

hose afflicted by constant migraines over time discover specific triggers and they make changes to their lives to avoid the triggers. Ironically for a site, which advocates Red wine for cholesterol, we must say that red wine can make some things worse...such as migraines. Red wine can be a trigger for many migraine sufferers, while grape juice and grape seed extract can provide relief for many people. In all cases, before trying any alternative treatments or making dietary changes, of course you should talk to your doctor to prevent additional complications.

I would like to add that there are some research studies that suggest that red and purple grape juices may provide some of the same heart benefits of red wine. These benefits include: reducing the risk of blood clots and reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") cholesterol. Again, discuss this with your doctor. 

BTW, when you have time please consider becoming a member of Disqus (read short article on our site or go here) so you can leave comments on the articles on this site. .

Also, don't forget our sponsor, www.bookhawkers.com. There may be something there that you like. Great Christmas gifts.

Enjoy your life, and get yourself to a healthy weight level.

If you think you can't you're almost always right. So, think you can instead and watch the pounds roll off.

One more point. We recently added a grape juice diet to our site. You may examine it here!

 

Do not forget that the # 4 "wine diet" provided on this site is the Red/ Black Grape Juice Diet. Go back to the mainsite, take a peak around and then click on the Red / Black Grape Juice Diet. If uou are not a wine drinker, this juice is the best you can get health-wise. The best! 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for supporting my campaign for Mayor of the City of Wilkes-Barre, PA.

The campaign website is www.briankellyformayor.com. On the site, you may link to my new book, Wilkes-Barre PA: Return to Glory.

As you will see when you visit the campaign donations area, during the campaign, I asked for ten dollars from those who could afford it. I had hoped to attract a lot of people to my campaign for Mayor. I knew that ten dollar gifts would go a long way; you can be assured. My personal thank you for those who helped. Since we still have campaign debts, you may still contribute. Thank you again. 

Thank you to all of you, who in your hearts wanted Wilkes-Barre to be a better city by becoming a safe city, an affordable city, and a clean city. Thank you for supporting this campaign to help make Wilkes-Barre a city that has a lot of promise. Best wishes to Mayor Tony George for his first four year term beginning in January.

The legal notions of campaign giving, as we understand them, (since we are not lawyers) are provided below: Please do not let this stuff frighten you for then, only the friends of the big shots will be able to receive the funding necessary to run their campaigns. God Bless You for helping!

---------


Donation Limits:


We all understand why the government has set donation limits on the amount an individual can contribute to a candidate in one election. In 2015, when the WB City Mayoral Election took place, an individual was permitted to $2700 in the primary and $2700 in the general election. But, no more! {Don't worry, I requested just ten dollars from visitors for my campaign. Thank you}


The limits on contributions to a candidate committee are different from an individual. They apply separately to each election in which the candidate participates. (Primaries, runoffs and general elections are considered separate elections, with separate contribution limits. To avoid making an inadvertent excessive contribution, the Commission strongly encourages contributors to designate their contributions to a candidate by writing the name of the specific election on the check or by attaching a signed statement with the same information. Feel free to send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you wish to further explain your campaign contribution.


An undesignated contribution automatically applies to the candidate's upcoming election. For example, an undesignated contribution made after the candidate's primary but before the general election counts against an individual's limit for the general. An undesignated contribution made after the general election counts against the limit for the next election in which the candidate runs for federal office.
If a contributor wants a contribution to count against a particular election other than the candidate's upcoming election, the donor should designate the election on the check or in an accompanying signed note. You may send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. from your standard email account to offer any comment, suggestion, or to ask any question. Thank you again.  

Health Issues?

I forgot where I got this piece last week after a year of live operation on the site. I was looking for material from WineDiets.Com to include in the new book. I did not write all that is here for sure but I wanted to give attribution to those that did. This article is useful because it is true or so it seems and because it is also very funny.  Therefore, I include it in this space and in the new book.  Until today, I really had forgotten who had written it so I went back to the web to do more research and I found that this piece was written by Clive Maxfield on March 8, 2012 and posted at 07:50 PM EST.  When I had only a few things to report about wine diet weight losses, I grabbed this great piece for my web site. Now as I prepare the book version of the web site, I want to give full credit to Clive Maxfield for an entertaining and informative piece.

Feel free to comment on this site to the site authors using the commenting system DISQUS . Here is the article with some modifications for effect. It is taken from http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?doc_id=1285928. Again, feel free to communicate your thoughts to this site's authors or the eetimes people using DISQUS here and using their commenting system there.  Here we go!

  • Do you have feelings of inadequacy?
  • Do you suffer from shyness?
  • Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Cabernet Sauvignon. If this did not come from Dr. Phil, I bet it could have!

 

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The best!

 

 

Thank you for visiting Wine Diets dot com. Hopefully from some of the tips we have on this site, you will be able to enjoy yourself and you will be able to lose some weight.

We came into being after our founder lost 62 pounds from 2013 to 2015. We tell you how on this site and in the book.

He had been trying for years to lose weight and could not. Then, he simply changed when he ate and the pounds came off slow but they came off. Eventually he noticed after two doctor appointments and began to realize that his wine diet actually worked.

Feel free to contact us by making a comment on this article or any other article on this site.

If you want some fine books to read, check out those on www.bookhawkers.com

Enjoy!

 

The Rose' / Blush Wine Diet should result in some pounds lost for you over the next 365 days. In my case it was over 40 pounds. My 365 days are not up yet so I may be updating my total in the next month or so. The weight loss is not guaranteed to work for you but, then again, I don't know you and you don't know me.

I did not even know that I was losing weight until my doctor's scale presented to me the facts. So, I went back through my year to find what I had done differently so that whatever it was, I could keep it up.

I have told you this story a few times already on this site. The most descriptive essay is presented in the winediets.com classic article Wine Diets Basics. Please read this classic before you read the rest of this article as it has the theory, the rationale,  and the implementation directives for the wine diet of your choice -- Red, White, or Rose' / Blush.

Thank you for choosing the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet even though the Red Wine Diet is the healthiest. You should stick to your favorite wine on this diet because, other than sweet wines, described below, they all work. I used the Red Wine Diet even though sugar content for sugar content, the Red Wine Diet is about 3% higher in calories than the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet.

Any wine diet helps you lose weight at just about the same proportions but none of the others affect your cholesterol count as well as the Red Wine Diet. Since this site is about dieting and losing weight, as the German's say: Machs Nichts! Enjoy your Liebfraumilch or dry Gewurz Traminer, and lose as much weight as comes off.

So, the good news is that you can drink your favorite wine on this diet and be a candidate to lose weight with a huge smile on your face. You do not have to drink red wine to lose weight. The Rose' / Blush Wine Diet can be very effective. The dryer the wine, the better.  

The quick snapshot of the diet is that you should do nothing else than what is on these pages. However, you can break this diet many times over the course of the 365 days. When you crave, take a brief binge but come back after a few days. Do what you must to continue but, remember, no diet works if you leave it forever. 

If you make a fasting diet out of this (other than the Rose' / Blush wine component, which is a requirement), then you probably should take some vitamins or any supplements you need to support you with the challenges of the diet. If you have any concerns whatsoever, take this diet and your dinner plans based on this diet to your physician and get it approved for your use. That should be easy. Since Wine Diets cannot be responsible for your health whether you are on our diet or not, we recommend strongly that you consult your physician. 

Most adults know they cannot just eat meats or just eat starches or just drink wine or just eat vegetables so you do not need me to tell you that. Our three main diets (red, white, and rose'/blush) are very similar and all depend on an understanding of the Wine Diets Basics as presented on this site.

In essence, the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet asks you to eat two meals a day and not eat in between mails other than for vegetables and fruits -- in almost limitless quantities. It asks you to drink a full bottle of Rose' / Blush or less at the happy hour part of each day -- 365 days a year.

With the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet, the wine should be mostly dry. A Grenache, Cinsault, dry white zinfandel, etc. are the driest and best for the Rose' / Blush diet.   Favorites such as Mateus, a bit sweeter can also slip in to favor on this Rose' / Blush diet. The sweeter the wine, the more work to lose weight but in almost all cases, Rose' / Blush wines will get you to your goal just about as quickly as a white or a red.  

Caveats Regarding Sweet Wine and Dieting with Sweets in General 

Manischewitz or Moden David Sweet Wines, or Niagara types, Moscato, Sweet French Columbard, and other sweet whites / yellows are all sold in PA State Stores. These are not recommended for dieters using the same rate of consumption as the dry wines. Other sweet wines called dessert wines are in the same boat. These do not qualify for the full impact of the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet but you can make adjustments to the quantity to compensate for the substantially higher calories in sweet varieties. Semi-sweet Rose' / Blush wines are not as bad but again, it is up to you to compensate. I thought you would like to see this nice picture of the Kedem Winery. It is pretty elegant and they have dry and sweet wines. Just watch some of their sweet varieties. Their drys are very, very nice. 

 

In other words, if you can check out the calorie content of any sweet or semi-sweet wines and you adjust your intake so that you are within the calorie range of the dry reds, your diet can be as effective. Depending on your metabolism, you may eve be able to get away with a good portion of the full bottle quotient for dry wines. Make sure, of course, that you are not overly passionate about drinking lotsa sweet wine or I regret to say, you run the risk of actually gaining weight. Weigh yourself at the beginning of your diet on a reliable and consistent scale, use that for every weigh in you may plan. After about two weeks on a sweet wine regimen weigh yourself to see if it is working. 

If possible, my recommendation would be to get rid of the sweet wine in your diet Sweets always add empty calories -- of course those Gertrude Hawk Chocolates we talk at the end of this article are an exception -- Don't we wish?

Back as a child, my parents let me take my coffee as if it were a milkshake. It was made with half milk and at least three T-spoons of sugar to make it OK for child consumption  So, I ask those thinking of sweet wines to consider that under these circumstances I gained weight. I eventually lessened the impact by putting a thimble full of milk in my coffee and after reducing the amount of sugar from three to 1/2 teaspoons full, I was able to completely eliminate sugar from my coffee.

Yet, I still gained weight but not because of the coffee. In my case I can rightfully blame excessive beer drinking. When I stopped drinking beer excessively, I kept gaining weight but not so rapidly. A few things happen to us over our lives. Our metabolisms decreasing while our willingness to eliminate things from my our diet increases. Unfortunately, in my case, I gained weight for most of my life in small increments but I did not gain as much as I would have if I had given in to all urges. That's just how it was for me. At the beginning of this year, I don;t even know why, I just began to eat differently hoping to gain no more weight. Finally, I began to lose weight even though at first I did not realize it because it was coming off so slow and I was not really trying to lose weight.

The Diet Part of The  Rose' / Blush Wine Diet

As we are about to reveal the infamous Rose' / Blush Wine Diet, be advised that you should be able to use red or blush / rose' wines and have the same fine results. There are Separate articles on these wine types in this menu when you close out your reading.

So that you do not always have to go back to the Wine Diet Basics article, I borrowed some of its text and I touched it up a bit to make it more appropriate for the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet.

When thinking of meal contents with the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet it helps to consider the few rules in the Wine Diet Basics to make sure your diet is successful. One key item is noted immediately below:

Remember that in between meal time you can have fresh fruits and / or vegetables, but as a rule do not have another full meal. When you have raw vegetables, eat as many as you want with the smallest amount of dip. Remember that I went through the whole summer without even watching and I lost weight anyway.

Here are the basic notions of your daily diet:

The key elements of the Wine diet on a daily basis are as follows:

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

Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so

Wine Diet inner Time 8:00 PM or so

Final Treat of the Day -- After Dinner some time!

Relax and watch some TV

Time for sleep

For very early risers, you might find it more comfortable to have your brunch at some time between ten o'clock and noon, and begin your wine time and dinner time earlier if you choose. It is not how I did it so although I do not recommend it, I can;t see why it would not work for certain people. 

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

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 some 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 brunch. As long as it fits on a 

Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so

Get yourself a nice dry Rose' / Blush wine or semi sweet Rose' / Blush wine as discussed above and keep getting glasses of them until about 8 PM. When you don't have a need to go get one more of these fine beverages. The, wait a bit of time but when you need your next wine, go get it.

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 you choose to eat. It is best to limit meat 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 big plate on such a small plate.  

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 your type of 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." Sometimes just paying attention to your weight helps you lose weight, but it can be frustrating. The objective here is to not pay attention and just lose weight by following the directions.   

About Meats, Fish, Fowl and Other Dinner Items! 

When 8 o'clock comes or you are really ready to eat some time before this, go ahead and eat your dinner and enjoy it. Do not chinch. Some may wish to have another wine rather than eat right away. That is OK! When ready, go ahead and have a salad with lots of stuff other than an especially fattening dressing. Sometimes I will put some blue cheese dressing (heavy hitter) on half of my sald and balsamic vinegar on the other half. Have a nice big slice of bread or two. When i am not compelled to have ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing or a creamy variety, I may choose to pile salsa or a lo-cal dressing on top of a green salad. I like to assure that half of the salad is baby spinach leaves because they have lots more nutrition than plain greens. Mmmmm!!! Spinach of course is not a meat no matter how good it is. The salad should be in its own bowl, not on your dinner plate. 

Check out your own protein intake to make sure you do not hurt your health on your particular Wine Diet. We do not claim to be doctors and a doctor may tell you to do something other than that prescribed by this plan. But, if like me, you can't lose weight, this wine diet should be good for you. Feel free to write down what and when you you eat and share it with your physician. 

So, for protein, eat whatever you like as your main course for supper (dinner) after you have had your wine for two hours and you have enjoyed your salad. Put your meat and vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots, corner) and pasta (potatoes, beans, pasta) on the same plate unless you are having some spaghetti or a similar pasta. Feel free to put that on its own plate. 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 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, please consider an Alka Seltzer.

Pat and I like to watch a few programs on our way to sleep and then at 11:30 PM 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. Don't skimp. As a rule stay on the diet but on special occasions, enjoy yourself. It will give you more incentive to stick with the Rose' / Blush Wine Diet. 

I try not to overeat at dinner but I do want to be filled. Overeating makes it tough to go to sleep. In my case, I make sure that I am filled enough to push away from the table.

I do not recommend a dessert with dinner but if you must have one go ahead and see how it works out for you. Think about keeping it small. My wife likes a small dip of ice cream after dinner. 

 

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 how I practice the wine diet-- the one  in which I have lost 40 pounds so far, you are encouraged to enjoy two Smidgens from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates at the end of the night before you go to bed. Do this either before or after you watch some good TV such as ME TV! If you fall asleep before the candy, that is OK. If you find a chocolate stain on your pillow, you'll know you fell asleep in process. If you find a huge chocolate stain in your hand when you wake up, you probably do not need the chocolates. Good night Sweet Pea!

Check out Smidgens of all kinds in this small sample picture of small little "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 sitting but we would continually be buying new belts. I like dark chocolate as it has special health benefits. I was almost always happy with two or three Smidgens but I did cheat every now and then by pretending I did not have any. There was rarely a chocolate stain on my pillow or a chocolate stain in my hand in the morning. They are that good. I don't think I could have lost any weight if I had hit double digits on the Smidgens. Yet, I was tickled to have the boxes available even though my daily portion was meager.

My adult children love them also and the miniature people (I call them the munchkinettis -- grand nieces, grand nephews) in the family also love them intensely. And, few of them need the diet weight makeover that I did.

In my nightly retinue, one Smidgen was dark chocolate with nuts, and the other was just dark chocolate. 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 where I hope the water is always good. Gertrude Hawks is in good ole Pennsylvania in the good ole USA. 

For you chocolate lovers on a diet who are also great Americans, I add this little tidbit from candyblog.net right here -- they aughta know: "The big difference in the packaging is easy to spot. The American made [Hershey] version was mostly clear so the mixture was easy to see and the center of the package had the brand and product information. The new Mexican made version is yellow and extremely easy to spot on the shelf. It’s still consistent with Hershey’s branding, but now opaque so no way to tell if the bag was light or heavy on a particular variety you liked."

Enough about chocolates

When you have had your final treat of the day, you can 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 online each and every morning to help remind yourself that you can do it as long as you follow the regimen. Nothing good diet-wise happens overnight even though we all weigh less in the morning.  

Don't check the scales daily! Check your belt once a month or some other way of getting a clue that this almost mindless diet is working for you. God bless you always.

By the way, each and ever day and night, after you finish following the plan, most of you, including me, I suspect, will eventually go to sleep. That, in and of itself is a treat. Knowing that you are knocking off some lbs. makes the sleep even more sweet. 

-------

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

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

Go ahead and get your ZZZZZZZzzzzzzsssssssssss. You deserve them.

Amen to all wine diets' brothers and sisters!

Thank you for visiting. Let us know how well you do by leaving a comment.

 

 

The White Wine Diet should result in some pounds lost for you over the next 365 days. In my case it was over 40 pounds. My 365 days are not up yet so I may be updating my total in the next month or so. The weight loss is not guaranteed to work for you but, then again, I don't know you and you don't know me.

I did not even know that I was losing weight until my doctor's scale presented to me the facts. So, I went back through my year to find what I had done differently so that whatever it was, I could keep it up.

I have told you this story a few times already on this site. The most descriptive essay is presented in the winediets.com classic article Wine Diets Basics. Please read this classic before you read the rest of this article as it has the theory, the rationale,  and the implementation directives for the wine diet of your choice -- Red, White, or Rose/Blush.

Thank you for choosing the White Wine Diet even though the Red Wine Diet is the healthiest. You should stick to your favorite wine because, other than sweet wines, described below, they all work. I used the Red Wine Diet even though sugar content for sugar content, the Red Wine Diet is about 5% higher in calories than the White Wine Diet.

Any wine diet helps you lose weight at just about the same proportions but none of the others affect your cholesterol count as well as the Red Wine Diet. Since this site is about dieting and losing weight, as the German's say: Machs Nichts! Enjoy your Liebfraumilch or Gewurz Traminer, and lose as much weight as comes off.

So, the good news is that you can drink your favorite wine on this diet and be a candidate to lose weight with a huge smile on your face. You do not have to drink red wine to lose weight. The White WIne Diet can be very effective. 

The quick snapshot of the diet is that you should do nothing else than what is on these pages. However, you can break this diet many times over the course of the 365 days. When you crave, take a brief binge but come back after a few days. Do what you must to continue but, remember, no diet works if you leave it forever. 

If you make a fasting diet out of this (other than the white wine component, which is a requirement), then you probably should take some vitamins or any supplements you need to support you with the challenges of the diet. If you have any concerns whatsoever, take this diet and your dinner plans based on this diet to your physician and get it approved for your use. That should be easy. Since WIne Diets cannot be responsible for your health whether you are on our diet or not, we recommend strongly that you consult your physician. 

Most adults know they cannot just eat meats or just eat starches or just drink wine or just eat vegetables so you do not need me to tell you that. Our three main diets (red, white, and rose'/blush) are very similar and all depend on an understanding of the Wine Diets Basics as presented on this site.

In essence, the White Wine Diet asks you to eat two meals a day and not eat in between mails other than for vegetables and fruits -- in almost limitless quantities. It asks you to drink a full bottle of white wine or less at the happy hour part of each day -- 365 days a year.

With the White Wine Diet, the wine should be mostly dry. A Sauvignon Blanc, which is one of the driest, crispest wines is a great choice. Chardonnay originally came from the Burgundy region of France but there are many great wines produced right here in the US. Chablis is another great dry wine. Dry Rieslings and versions of Gewurz Traminer, sometimes called Traminettes are also very nice. Some Pinot Grigios are especially dry. Moving to a medium sweet white wine should not really impact your White Wine Diet in a negative way. Enjoy your white wine. it will keep you on your diet by design and you will not have to think about it all the time. Foreign wines such as Albariño, Alvarinho, and Muscadet are also very nice dry wines that give the full impact of the White Wine Diet.

Caveats Regarding Sweet Wine and Dieting with Sweets in General 

Manischewitz or Moden David Sweet Wines, or Niagara types, Moscato, Sweet French Columbard, and other sweet whites / yellows are all sold in PA State Stores. These are not recommended for dieters using the same rate of consumption as the dry wines. Other sweet wines called dessert wines are in the same boat. These do not qualify for the full impact of the WHite WIne Diet but you can make adjustments to the quantity to compensate for the substantially higher calories in sweet varieties. Semi-sweet white wines are not as bad but again, it is up to you to compensate. I thought you would like to see this nice picture of the Kedem Winery. It is pretty elegant and they have dry and sweet wines. Just watch some of their sweet varieties. Their drys are very, very nice. 

 

In other words, if you can check out the calorie content of any sweet or semi-sweet wines and you adjust your intake so that you are within the calorie range of the dry reds, your diet can be as effective. Depending on your metabolism, you may eve be able to get away with a good portion of the full bottle quotient for dry wines. Make sure, of course, that you are not overly passionate about drinking lotsa sweet wine or I regret to say, you run the risk of actually gaining weight. Weigh yourself at the beginning of your diet on a reliable and consistent scale, use that for every weigh in you may plan. After about two weeks on a sweet wine regimen weigh yourself to see if it is working. 

If possible, my recommendation would be to get rid of the sweet wine in your diet Sweets always add empty calories -- of course those Gertrude Hawk Chocolates we talk at the end of this article are an exception -- Don't we wish?

Back as a child, my parents let me take my coffee as if it were a milkshake. It was made with half milk and at least three T-spoons of sugar to make it OK for child consumption  So, I ask those thinking of sweet wines to consider that under these circumstances I gained weight. I eventually lessened the impact by putting a thimble full of milk in my coffee and after reducing the amount of sugar from three to 1/2 teaspoons full, I was able to completely eliminate sugar from my coffee.

Yet, I still gained weight but not because of the coffee. In my case I can rightfully blame excessive beer drinking. When I stopped drinking beer excessively, I kept gaining weight but not so rapidly. A few things happen to us over our lives. Our metabolisms decreasing while our willingness to eliminate things from my our diet increases. Unfortunately, in my case, I gained weight for most of my life in small increments but I did not gain as much as I would have if I had given in to all urges. That's just how it was for me. At the beginning of this year, I don;t even know why, I just began to eat differently hoping to gain no more weight. Finally, I began to lose weight even though at first I did not realize it because it was coming off so slow and I was not really trying to lose weight.

The Diet Part of The  White Wine Diet

As we are about to reveal the infamous White Wine Diet, be advised that you should be able to use red or blush / rose' wines and have the same fine results. There are Separate articles on these wine types in this menu when you close out your reading.

So that you do not always have to go back to the Wine Diet Basics article, I borrowed some of its text and I touched it up a bit to make it more appropriate for the White Wine Diet.

When thinking of meal contents with the White Wine Diet it helps to consider the few rules in the Wine Diet Basics to make sure your diet is successful. One key item is noted immediately below:

Remember that in between meal time you can have fresh fruits and / or vegetables, but as a rule do not have another full meal. When you have raw vegetables, eat as many as you want with the smallest amount of dip. Remember that I went through the whole summerwithout even watching and I lost weight anyway.

Here are the basic notions of your daily diet:

The key elements of the Wine diet on a daily basis are as follows:

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

Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so

Wine Diet inner Time 8:00 PM or so

Final Treat of the Day -- After Dinner some time!

Relax and watch some TV

Time for sleep

For very early risers, you might find it more comfortable to have your brunch at some time between ten o'clock and noon, and begin your wine time and dinner time earlier if you choose. It is not how I did it so although I do not recommend it, I can;t see why it would not work for certain people. 

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

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 some 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 brunch. As long as it fits on a 

Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so

Get yourself a nice dry white wine or semi sweet white wine as discussed above and keep getting glasses of them until about 8 PM. When you don't have a need to go get one more of these fine beverages. The, wait a bit of time but when you need your next wine, go get it.

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 you choose to eat. It is best to limit meat 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 big plate on such a small plate.  

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 your type of 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." Sometimes just paying attention to your weight helps you lose weight, but it can be frustrating. The objective here is to not pay attention and just lose weight by following the directions.   

About Meats, Fish, Fowl and Other Dinner Items! 

When 8 o'clock comes or you are really ready to eat some time before this, go ahead and eat your dinner and enjoy it. Do not chinch. Some may wish to have another wine rather than eat right away. That is OK! When ready, go ahead and have a salad with lots of stuff other than an especially fattening dressing. Sometimes I will put some blue cheese dressing (heavy hitter) on half of my sald and balsamic vinegar on the other half. Have a nice big slice of bread or two. When i am not compelled to have ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing or a creamy variety, I may choose to pile salsa or a lo-cal dressing on top of a green salad. I like to assure that half of the salad is baby spinach leaves because they have lots more nutrition than plain greens. Mmmmm!!! Spinach of course is not a meat no matter how good it is. The salad should be in its own bowl, not on your dinner plate. 

Check out your own protein intake to make sure you do not hurt your health on your particular Wine Diet. We do not claim to be doctors and a doctor may tell you to do something other than that prescribed by this plan. But, if like me, you can't lose weight, this wine diet should be good for you. Feel free to write down what and when you you eat and share it with your physician. 

So, for protein, eat whatever you like as your main course for supper (dinner) after you have had your wine for two hours and you have enjoyed your salad. Put your meat and vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots, corner) and pasta (potatoes, beans, pasta) on the same plate unless you are having some spaghetti or a similar pasta. Feel free to put that on its own plate. 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 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.

Pat and I like to watch a few programs on our way to sleep and then at 11:30 PM 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. Don't skimp. As a rule stay on the diet but on special occasions, enjoy yourself. It will give you more incentive to stick with the White Wine Diet. 

I try not to overeat at dinner but I do want to be filled. Overeating makes it tough to go to sleep. In my case, I make sure that I am filled enough to push away from the table.

I do not recommend a dessert with dinner but if you must have one go ahead and see how it works out for you. Think about keeping it small. My wife likes a small dip of ice cream after dinner. 

 

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 how I practice the wine diet-- the one  in which I have lost 40 pounds so far, you are encouraged to enjoy two Smidgens from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates at the end of the night before you go to bed. Do this either before or after you watch some good TV such as ME TV! If you fall asleep before the candy, that is OK. If you find a chocolate stain on your pillow, you'll know you fell asleep in process. If you find a huge chocolate stain in your hand when you wake up, you probably do not need the chocolates. Good night Sweet Pea!

Check out Smidgens of all kinds in this small sample picture of small little "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 sitting but we would continually be buying new belts. I like dark chocolate as it has special health benefits. I was almost always happy with two or three Smidgens but I did cheat every now and then by pretending I did not have any. There was rarely a chocolate stain on my pillow or a chocolate stain in my hand in the morning. They are that good. I don't think I could have lost any weight if I had hit double digits on the Smidgens. Yet, I was tickled to have the boxes available even though my daily portion was meager.

My adult children love them also and the miniature people (I call them the munchkinettis -- grand nieces, grand nephews) in the family also love them intensely. And, few of them need the diet weight makeover that I did.

In my nightly retinue, one Smidgen was dark chocolate with nuts, and the other was just dark chocolate. 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 where I hope the water is always good. Gertrude Hawks is in good ole Pennsylvania in the good ole USA. 

For you chocolate lovers on a diet who are also great Americans, I add this little tidbit from candyblog.net right here -- they aughta know: "The big difference in the packaging is easy to spot. The American made [Hershey] version was mostly clear so the mixture was easy to see and the center of the package had the brand and product information. The new Mexican made version is yellow and extremely easy to spot on the shelf. It’s still consistent with Hershey’s branding, but now opaque so no way to tell if the bag was light or heavy on a particular variety you liked."

Enough about chocolates

When you have had your final treat of the day, you can 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 online each and every morning to help remind yourself that you can do it as long as you follow the regimen. Nothing good diet-wise happens overnight even though we all weigh less in the morning.  

Don't check the scales daily! Check your belt once a month or some other way of getting a clue that this almost mindless diet is working for you. God bless you always.

By the way, each and ever day and night, after you finish following the plan, most of you, including me, I suspect, will eventually go to sleep. That, in and of itself is a treat. Knowing that you are knocking off some lbs. makes the sleep even more sweet. 

-------

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

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

Go ahead and get your ZZZZZZZzzzzzzsssssssssss. You deserve them.

Amen to all wine diets' brothers and sisters!

Thank you for visiting. Let us know how well you do by leaving a comment.

 

 

The Red Wine Diet should result in some pounds lost for you over the next 365 days. In my case it was over 40 pounds. My 365 days are not up yet so I may be updating my total in the next month or so. The weight loss is not guaranteed to work for you but, then again, I don't know you and you don't know me.

I did not even know that I was losing weight until my doctor's scale presented to me the facts. So, I went back through my year to find what I had done differently so that whatever it was, I could keep it up.

I have told you this story a few times already on this site. The most descriptive essay is presented in the winediets.com classic article Wine Diets Basics. Please read this classic before you read the rest of this article as it has the theory, the rationale,  and the implementation directives for the wine diet of your choice -- Red, White, or Rose/Blush.

Thank you for choosing the Red Wine Diet for it is the healthiest. It is my favorite and it is the one I used. Any of the other wine diets help you lose weight at the same proportions but none of the others affect your cholesterol count as well as the Red Wine Diet. Since this site is about dieting and losing weight, as the German's say: Machs Nichts!

So, the good news is that you can drink your favorite wine on this diet and be a candidate to lose weight with a smile on your face. You do not have to drink red wine to lose weight. 

The quick snapshot of the diet is that you should do nothing else than what is on these pages. However, you can break this diet many times over the course of the 365 days. When you crave, take a brief binge but come back after a few days.

If you make a fasting diet out of this (other than the red wine that is a rewuirement), then you probably should take some vitamins or any supplements to support you with the challenges of the. If you have any concerns whatsoever, take the diet to your physician and get it approved for your use. That should be easy. Since WIne Diets cannot be responsible for your health whether you are on our diet or not, we recommend strongly that you consult your physician.

Most adults know they cannot just eat meats or just eat starches or just drink wine or just eat vegetables so you do not need me to tell you that. Our three main diets (red, white, and rose'/blush) are very similar and all depend on an understanding of the Wine Diets Basics as presented on this site.

In essence, the Red Wine Diet asks you to eat two meals a day and not eat in between mails other than for vegetables and fruits -- in almost limitless quantities. It asks you to drink a full bottle of wine or less at the happy hour part of each day -- 365 days a year.

With the Red Wine Diet, the wine should be mostly dry. A Zinfandel, a Merlot, A Cabernet, a Malbec, or any of the other dry red wine varieties will do you well.   

Caveats Regarding Sweet Wine and Dieting with Sweets in General 

Danish Cherry, or Manischewitz or Moden David Sweet Red Wines, which are sold in PA State Stores, and the great sweet cooking wine Marsala are not recommended for dieters at the same rate of consumption. Other sweet wines from manufacturers such as Kedem or dessert wines do not qualify for the Red Wine Diet unless adjustments are made. Semi-sweet are not as bad but please compensate. I thought you would like to see this nice picture of the Kedem Winery. It is pretty elegant. Just watch some of their sweet varieties. Theirr drys are very nice. 

 

In other words, if you can check out the calorie content of any sweet or semi-sweet wines and you adjust your intake so that you are within the calorie range of the dry reds, your diet can be as effective. Depending on your metabolism, you may eve be able to get away with a good portion of the full bottle quotient for dry wines. Make sure, of course, that you are not overly passionate about drinking lotsa sweet wine or I regret to say, you run the risk of actually gaining weight. Weigh yourself at the beginning of your diet on a reliable and consistent scale, use that for every weigh in you may plan. After about two weeks on a sweet wine regimen weigh yourself to see if it is working. 

If possible, my recommendation would be to get rid of the sweet wine in your diet Sweets always add empty calories -- of course those Gertrude Hawk Chocolates are an exception -- Don't we wish?

Back as a child, my parents let me take my coffee as if it were a milkshake. It was made with half milk and at least three T-spoons of sugar to make it OK for child consumption  So, I ask those thinking of sweet wines to consider that under these circumstances I gained weight. I eventually lessened the impact by putting a thimble full of milk in my coffee and after reducing the amount of sugar from three to 1/2 teaspoons full, I was able to completely eliminate sugar from my coffee.

Yet, I still gained weight but not because of the coffee. In my case I can rightfully blame excessive beer drinking. When I stopped drinking beer excessively, I kept gaining weight but not so rapidly. A few things happen to us over our lives. Our metabolisms decreasing while our willingness to eliminate things from my our diet increases. Unfortunately, in my case, I gained weight for most of my life in small increments but I did not gain as much as I would have if I had given in to all urges. That's just how it was for me. At the beginning of this year, I don;t even know why, I just began to eat differently hoping to gain no more weight. Finally, I began to lose weight even though at first I did not realize it because it was coming off so slow and I was not really trying to lose weight.

The Diet Part of The  Red Wine Diet

As we are about to reveal the infamous Red Wine Diet, be advised that you should be able to use white wine or blush / rose wines and have the same fine results. There are Separate articles on these wine types in this menu.

So you do not always have to go back to the Wine Diet Basics article, I borrowed some text and I touched it up a bit to make it more appropriate for the Red Wine Diet.

When thinking of meal contents with the Red Wine Diet it helps to consider the few rules in the Wine Diet Basics to make sure your diet is successful. One key item is noted immediately below:

Remember that in between meal time you can have fresh fruits and / or vegetables, but as a rule do not have another full meal. When you have raw vegetables, eat as many as you want with the smallest amount of dip. Remember that I went through the whole summerwithout even watching and I lost weight anyway.

Here are the basic notions of your daily diet:

The key elements of the Wine diet on a daily basis are as follows:

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

Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so

Wine Diet inner Time 8:00 PM or so

Final Treat of the Day -- After Dinner some time!

Relax and watch some TV

Time for sleep

For very early risers, you might find it more comfortable to have your brunch at some time between ten o'clock and noon, and begin your wine time and dinner time earlier if you choose. It is not how I did it so although I do not recommend it, I can;t see why it would not work for certain people. 

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

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 some 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 brunch. As long as it fits on a 

Wine Diet Wine Time 6:00 PM or so

Get yourself a nice dry red wine or other red wine as discussed above and keep getting glasses of them until about 8 PM. When you don't have a need to go get one more of these fine beverages, wait a bit of time but when you need your next wine, go get it.

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 you choose to eat. It is best to limit meat 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 big plate on such a small plate.  

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 your type of 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." Sometimes just paying attention to your weight helps you lose weight, but it can be frustrating. The objective here is to not pay attention and just lose weight by following the directions.   

About Meats, Fish, Fowl and Other Dinner Items! 

When 8 o'clock comes or you are really ready to eat some time before this, go ahead and eat your dinner and enjoy it. Do not chinch. Some may wish to have another wine rather than eat right away. That is OK! When ready, go ahead and have a salad with lots of stuff other than an especially fattening dressing. Sometimes I will put some blue cheese dressing (heavy hitter) on half of my sald and balsamic vinegar on the other half. Have a nice big slice of bread or two. When i am not compelled to have ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing or a creamy variety, I may choose to pile salsa or a lo-cal dressing on top of a green salad. I like to assure that half of the salad is baby spinach leaves because they have lots more nutrition than plain greens. Mmmmm!!! Spinach of course is not a meat no matter how good it is. The salad should be in its own bowl, not on your dinner plate. 

Check out your own protein intake to make sure you do not hurt your health on your particular Wine Diet. We do not claim to be doctors and a doctor may tell you to do something other than that prescribed by this plan. But, if like me, you can't lose weight, this wine diet should be good for you. Feel free to write down what and when you you eat and share it with your physician. 

So, for protein, eat whatever you like as your main course for supper (dinner) after you have had your wine for two hours and you have enjoyed your salad. Put your meat and vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots, corner) and pasta (potatoes, beans, pasta) on the same plate unless you are having some spaghetti or a similar pasta. Feel free to put that on its own plate. 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 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.

Pat and I like to watch a few programs on our way to sleep and then at 11:30 PM 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. Don't skimp. As a rule stay on the diet but on special occasions, enjoy yourself. It will give you more incentive to stick with the Red Wine Diet. 

I try not to overeat at dinner but I do want to be filled. Overeating makes it tough to go to sleep. In my case, I make sure that I am filled enough to push away from the table.

I do not recommend a dessert with dinner but if you must have one go ahead and see how it works out for you. Think about keeping it small. My wife likes a small dip of ice cream after dinner. 

 

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 how I practice of the wine diet-- the one  in which I have lost 40 pounds so far, you can enjoy two Smidgens from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates at the end of the night before you go to bed. Do this either before or after you watch some good TV such as ME TV! If you fall asleep before the candy, that is OK. If you find a chocolate stain on your pillow, you'll know you feel asleep in process. If you find a huge chocolate stain in your hand when you wake up, you probably do not need the chocolates. Good night Sweet Pea!

Check out Smidgens of all kinds in this small sample of small little "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 sitting but we would continually be buying new belts. I like dark chocolate as it has special health benefits. I was almost always happy with two or three Smidgens but I did cheat every now and then by pretending I did not have any. There was rarely a chocolate stain on my pillow or a chocolate stain in my hand in the morning. They are that good. I don't think I could have lost any weight if I had hit double digits on the Smidgens. Yet, I was tickled to have the boxes available even though my daily portion was meager.

My adult children love them also and the miniature people (I call them the munchkinettis -- grand nieces, grand nephews) in the family also love them intensely. And, few of them need the diet weight makeover that I did.

In my nightly retinue, one Smidgen was dark chocolate with nuts, and the other was just dark chocolate. 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 where I hope the water is always good. Gertrude Hawks is in good ole Pennsylvania in the Good ole USA. 

For you chocolate lovers on a diet who are also great Americans, I add this little tidbit from candyblog.net right here -- they aughta know: "The big difference in the packaging is easy to spot. The American made [Hershey] version was mostly clear so the mixture was easy to see and the center of the package had the brand and product information. The new Mexican made version is yellow and extremely easy to spot on the shelf. It’s still consistent with Hershey’s branding, but now opaque so no way to tell if the bag was light or heavy on a particular variety you liked."

Enough about chocolates

When you have had your final treat of the day, you can 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 online 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 daily. Check your belt once a month or some other way of getting a clue that this almost mindless diet is working for you. God bless you.

By the way, each and ever day and night, after you finish following the plan, most of you, including me, I suspect, will eventually go to sleep. That, in and of itself is a treat. Knowing that you are knocking of some lbs. makes the sleep even more sweet. 

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

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

Go ahead and get your ZZZZZZZzzzzzzsssssssssss. You deserve them

Amen to all wine diets' brothers and sisters!

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