‘Science says’ – wine and weight loss

A friend of mine told me about the glass-of-wine-each-night before bed for weight loss trend thats going on right now… I felt completely out of the loop.

So naturally, I freaked out and then looked into it.

This advice is based off of two studies conducted by Washington State University and Harvard.. so it MUST be legit right?

Let’s look.

1. Washington state University.

They conducted a study using mice giving them the polyphenol (resveratrol) that is found in wine. They somehow calculated that they gave the tiny creatures the equivalent of the amount of resveratrol found in two glasses of certain red wines.

The mice didn’t actually lose weight – they found that the mice just converted the fat cells from white to beige, which has been found to fight against obesity “keeping the body in balance”. Not bad, but still.

2.  Harvard University.

These guys followed 20,000 women (why do I feel so targeted)  who drank 2 glasses of wine a day and they concluded those women had a 70% less chance of developing obesity and the wine “slowed weight gain”

The kicker here is that the weights were all self reported… and the study isn’t ongoing.

WHO HERE HAS LIED ABOUT THEIR WEIGHT AT LEAST ONCE IN THEIR LIFE?

And do you weigh the same as you did a decade ago?

I do not know about you but I think these studies are flawed… and lets take a closer look at why…

1. They didn’t take into account everything else that is found in alcohol and what it does to the body.
   1. Study number one didn’t even use alcohol, nor humans, so do we really know if it converts our fat from evil, I mean, from white to beige?
   2. Study number two was self reported, enough said.
2. They used mice
   1. The closest you can get to reproducing actual human studies are pigs (the irony)
   2. The use of mice are cheap, easy to control and they duplicate so quickly we can somewhat guess what something will do years or generations down the line. Humans, on the other hand, like to be wined and dined and hate to be controlled.
   3. They’re not humans – they’re not allowed to drink alcohol at will. What other factors are they also controlling… what are they feeding them? Should we be eating the mouse diet? Do they exercise?
3. The women self reported their weight and claimed to have 2 glasses every night over a relatively short amount of time.
   1. How big or how small were these pours?
   2. How many different scales were used?
   3. Who exercised? Who didn’t? Who crashed dieted? Who drank nothing but wine for four years? Inquiring minds need to know..

I would also like to mention that a glass of wine is a sedative but it also disrupts sleep – therefore you fall asleep faster but do not get a good nights rest. About 60 million Americans don’t get a full nights rest and poor sleep is ACTUALLY LINKED TO OBESITY.

1. For weight loss: go to sleep

I also want to mention that I used to argue with people about the connection of a glass of wine every night and people being thin in general  – a study conducted sometime in the last decade.

The study admitted that people who were able to drink only one glass per day were the people who also passed up the bread basket and woke early to lift weights, bike and run. Their diets were rich in fruits, vegetables, good sources of fat and proteins. But no one ever gets that far into the reading material, apparently.

2. For weight loss: Eat right and exercise and practice self control AKA live a healthy lifestyle

But I won’t leave you with just those two points because resveratrol is a real antioxidant found in more than just a glass of wine. You can find this antioxidant in the following foods:

1. blueberries
2. cranberries
3. peanuts
4. pistachios
5. grapes
6. mulberries

Look! Berries and nuts! Part of a healthy diet.

And since I did speak a little about sleep I am going to also leave some tips on how to manage it better.

1. Turn off all the lights, cover the window with black-out curtains and stay off your phone (that blue light, I know you know)
2. Chill before bed without the TV – try reading an actual book with actual pages (I know some people that would pass out within the first few pages)
3. Exercise in the morning. Not easy for everyone but afternoon exercise can disrupt sleep quality. If you don’t exercise, start.
4. Don’t drink alcohol (shocker)
5. Drink 100% tart cherry juice
   1. If you thought that picture of the glass of wine was actually wine, fooled ya! It’s juice. ‘Science’ actually does say that two cups of cherry juice every day for two weeks vastly improved sleep quality (In real human studies!) – not to mention the antioxidant powerhouse actually has a great impact on sports performance (again, in real human studies!). If you want to argue the sugar content but you are drinking red wine, beer or any other form of alcoholic beverage or are doing Keto.. Thank you, next!
   2. Pour a cup in your wine glass and fool everyone.

Moral of the story is – if you don’t drink, don’t start, especially every night. If you already drink, moderate yourself to one glass (4 oz – seriously measure this out).  Eat a healthy diet, exercise and get enough sleep and you will lose weight. Pinky promise.

Cheers to ‘science’!