”
The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the
second day, you’re off it.
”
– Jackie Gleason
If you live on planet Earth, by now you’re probably aware that
there is a diet craze that purports to help people lose weight by
reducing or eliminating carbohydrates from their diet.
“The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the second day, you’re off it.”
– Jackie Gleason
If you live on planet Earth, by now you’re probably aware that there is a diet craze that purports to help people lose weight by reducing or eliminating carbohydrates from their diet.
Once upon a time, there was a physician named Robert C. Atkins who wrote a book that said, basically, that a person could lose significant amounts of weight by ignoring bread, pasta, cereals and sugar and gorging on bacon, burgers (sans bun), steak, cheese and hot dogs (again, no bun). After years of being told that all that yummy stuff was bad for them and would clog their arteries, overweight Americans jiggled up and down with glee. They embraced this revelation and began to spend millions on products that claimed to be low- or reduced carb. “I’m watching my carbs,” became the new water cooler mantra (mercifully replacing “Who let the dogs out?”).
So an entire industry was born. Companies, led by Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., tripped over each other rushing low-carb products to market. Virtually overnight, grocery store shelves were groaning with low-carb bagels, salad dressing, pancake mix, pizza, ketchup, bread – you name it, it had the carbs taken out of it.
Since this is a wine column, the astute reader will already know where I’m heading with all this. Yep. Low carb wine.
In April of the year, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) – a branch of the United States Treasury Department and the governing agency of the wine business – issued a ruling that provided the wine industry with “guidelines for the use of caloric and carbohydrate claims in advertising and labeling in alcoholic beverages.” It did so because “TTB has concluded that there is a need for immediate guidance as a result of the recent trend in which industry members are seeking to use such claims in the labeling and advertising of their products.”
Whew. Can you imagine a child saying “Mommy, when I grow up I want to work for the United States government and write long-winded descriptions of things that you have to read three times before grasping the meaning.”
So now two beverage companies – Diageo and Sutter Home Family Vineyards – have begun including carbohydrate information on their labels. Diageo produces BV Coastal, Sterling and the Blossom Hill labels, among others. Sutter Home is the famous California producer that jumped on the “blush” wine bandwagon a couple of decades ago and took an industry lead with White Zinfandel.
Another industry giant, Brown-Forman, has taken things a step further with its “one.6” Chardonnay and “one.9” Merlot wines (slogan: “life is full of compromises. This isn’t one of them.TM). One.6 and one.9 are exactly what they say. The chardonnay contains 1.6 grams of carbohydrates and the merlot 1.9 per five-ounce serving.
My friend Kathy Muszynski recently followed the Atkins Diet. She tells me that the daily limit of carbohydrates for her was 20 grams. Looking at Sutter Home’s Web site, (where nutritional information is posted for their wines) I see that a glass of Sutter Home chardonnay contains 3.8 grams of carbohydrates and merlot has 4.1. (It’s weird that white merlot has 8.9 grams. Whatever the white stuff is, it’s loaded with carbs). So that is a bit of a savings.
But here’s what I think, to take a page from the Bill Clinton campaign book: “It’s the calories, stupid.” Common sense tells me that a person loses weight by burning more calories than he or she consumes. Period. It doesn’t matter whether those calories come from merlot or muffins, cabernet or Crunch-n-Munch, zinfandel or Zagnuts, if you take in too much, it’s gonna hang around.
We should enjoy a glass of good wine with dinner or relaxing with friends without feeling guilty about consuming too much of one substance or another. It’s all a question of moderation.
Oh, and for those dieters who have not yet gotten with the low-carb program, you’ll be very glad to know that wine contains no fat or cholesterol whatsoever. So go ahead – drink up!
