“I can’t drink wine — it’ll make me fat.”

Really? The good news for all you wine lovers out there is that “it ain’t necessarily so.” While wine has calories, dry wine is low-carb and totally free of fat. So why do we think our favorite beverage will pack on the pounds?

Here’s a quick video take on the wine/fat debate:

 Now let me add some recent research. A study of 19,000 women showed that moderate wine drinkers were less obese as they aged than non-drinkers. Good news!

But every wine lover knows that junk food looks pretty good after a few glasses of red, white or bubbly. And that’s where the “fat” comes in.

Your brain on alcohol tricks you into making bad food choices. While it’s true that wine wins a prize in the low carb and fat contest, alcohol calories are metabolized differently than food calories. The wine calories push right to the head of the metabolic line, and our bodies rush to process them and leave food calories unattended.

Metabolizing those wine calories drops our blood sugar level, which causes our brain to scream, “Eat food now!” to get our blood sugar back in comfortable territory.

And guess what? Alcohol acts on another part of our brain by making our palate particularly receptive to fat and salt. Hello Cheetos!

Sadly, no one has ever had a monster salad craving after a bottle or two of wine. Alcohol seems to predispose our bodies to decide, “let’s order a pizza or three, and don’t forget the extra cheese.” So are we doomed to make terrible food choices when we drink?

Heck no! You can do something to head your drunk-food cravings off at the pass.
1. Eat good protein before you start drinking, to help quell those cravings.
2. Drink plenty of water to help your body process the alcohol.

Better yet, drink your wine while you’re eating good food. Make it a meal-time beverage, like in Europe, and enjoy your wine with nuts, olives, and an antipasto tray or a great entree.

Make wine part of a balanced lifestyle, and defeat the “fat factor” forever.