This past January, a handful of people I know did “dry January” where they abstained from alcohol for the month. Of course, there are a myriad of benefits of not drinking alcohol, especially if you have trouble moderating. This begs the question: are any alcoholic drinks actually healthy for you? Most of us would answer that they’ve heard or read about red wine being heart healthy or good for us in some way or another. Is that it?
Are you only to drink red wine in order to be truly healthy for the rest of your life?
First of all, let me say for the millionth time, we are all unique individuals and there is no one answer to that question. Second, if you don’t drink, there’s no outstanding health benefit that you’d get from starting to drink alcohol. Third, must I remind us all, MODERATION is key. With almost everything.
Ok, those disclaimers out of the way, what is out there to drink that won’t throw you completely off track with your health and wellness goals?
It’s best to be simple.
Clear liquors like vodka, tequila, and gin are lowest in sugar and calories and are easiest for our bodies to metabolize. Avoid sweet mixers, flavored sodas, syrups and tonic water. One or two ingredient drinks with high-quality clear alcohols mixed with sparkling water or club soda are best bets. This is because so many drinks are high in empty calories (no nutritional value), and we often don’t think about or we underestimate the number of calories we are drinking. That said, we aren’t calorie counters here at Nourish Coaches. If you are on a health and wellness journey and trying to shed some weight, paying attention to what’s exactly in your alcoholic drinks is important.
Dry red or white wines have less sugar as the fermentation process has converted most of the natural grape sugars to alcohol. The less dry, the more sugar that hasn’t converted. Red wine has antioxidants and polyphenols, which can promote heart health. White wine and rosé contain those too, just in smaller quantities. (More about wine below.)
Champagne is lower in calories than most wines, especially ultra brut champagne. “Ultra Brut” is basically the same as “no added sugar.” The grapes used to make champagne are high in phenolic compounds, an antioxidant that can boost brain health and may help reduce risk for dementia. In fact, a 2013 animal study found that champagne improved memory in aged rodents. While they haven’t studied champagne on human brains, these rodent studies matched similar results for other antioxidant-rich foods like blueberries, black beans, cranberries, dark leafy greens and many others.
Hard kombucha is fairly new on the market ever since regular kombucha has taken off in the last ten years or so. Kombucha is a beverage made from fermented tea. Normally, it has an extremely low alcohol content. However, hard kombucha, which has an alcohol content similar to beer or hard seltzer usually has no sugar, which is a benefit. Regular kombucha, as you may know, has health benefits such as reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels and aiding in digestion. We don’t know yet whether those translate into hard kombucha, though we can make an educated guess that they probably do on some level.
Ok, more about wine.
Because it’s made of fruit, wine is unstable. No grape is the same and even the same variety grown in the same general area has different characteristics, simply because each plant is unique, just like people. But, because of their volatile nature, processes have been developed to stabilize them. Of course, market-wise, wines have the potential to last longer when they are stable. Sulfites are used to kill unwanted bacteria and yeasts in the winemaking process. Another process, called chaptalization, adds sugar to grape juice in order to increase the final alcohol level in the finished wine. Adding sugar doesn’t necessarily make a wine sweeter since the sugar is consumed by the yeast when it is fermented into alcohol. Chaptalization can add up to 3% alcohol by volume (ABV) and is mostly used in areas where grapes struggle with ripeness, such as Bordeaux, France and Oregon. Adding cane sugar is not legal in California, Argentina, Australia, Southern France and South Africa.
After a wine has been freshly fermented, it goes through a period of stabilization. The chemicals added during this process are designed to pull unwanted characteristics out of the wine. Acetaldehyde is a chemical used for color stabilization (some people claim it causes severe headaches).
Dimethyl Dicarbonate (DMDC) is also used to sterilize and to stabilize wine. DMDC is poisonous, though within the hour it’s added (usually at bottling), it hydrolyzes.
These processes are how you can buy the same brand and variety of wine time after time and it always tastes the same. Think about that. When I first learned of these processes, I decided to change my wine purchases to vineyards and distributors that do not use toxic pesticides, artificial additives, and are low in sulfites and have rigorous standards on every level. If you are interested in learning more about the wines I personally buy, feel free to email me or message me.
Drinking alcoholic drinks CAN be a part of a healthy lifestyle when done in moderation, with quality products and simple ingredients. If you have recipes for your favorite drinks that follow these guidelines, please share on our Facebook page or by emailing us. Cheers!
