Do You Have a Wine Belly?
Do you participate in dry January? If you do, how’s it going? I know, from my experience as a wine store owner, dry January is a lot like the gym. A lot of people participate those first few days or week, but, as time slowly ticks down through the month, I would see more and more of my customers come back. In theory, it’s a nice idea to abstain a little bit from alcohol. But, it’s really about creating a year long balance instead of just one dry month.
My question for you today is, do you have a wine belly? Everyone’s heard the infamous beer belly. And I when I think of a beer belly, I think of some hairy, disheveled dude with a big belly. Now, one cause of beer belly is alcohol. And, yes, unfortunately, wine has alcohol in it too, right?!? So, for all the loveliness and romance and deliciousness that wine has, it can be too much of a good thing.
How do we get a wine belly?
🍷Calories. The typical glass of wine is about five ounces. That’s going to average about 125 calories a glass. And it doesn’t matter if it’s red wine or if it’s white wine. The calorie range is always between 120 to 130 calories.
🍷Nutritionally Empty. There’s really no nutritional value from consuming alcohol. Because of that, the body handles it in a much different way than when you eat food. Alcohol gets absorbed directly into the bloodstream. The body then looks and decides to metabolize it right away. So any other nutrients for food, etc. that might be in the bloodstream, are going get stored as fat because the body is metabolizing the alcohol and recognizes it as something that cannot be stored as energy. That fat gets easily stored onto the belly area.
🍷We’re Getting Older. Sorry about this but as we age our metabolism slows down and our ability to quickly metabolize alcohol also slows down.
🍷Overeating. This has happened to me too many times! When we drink, we tend to eat more. Our guard is down and we don’t make the best food choices. Sometimes, we just eat for the sake of eating. We’re not even hungry. Obviously, this adds on additional calories. And don’t forget about the next morning! Hangovers have us craving fatty, greasy comfort foods to make us feel better. It’s a double whammy of bad, high calorie, low nutrition food choices!
All of this contributes to weight gain, and, unfortunately, mostly ends up on our belly!
If you find that you are struggling with your wine belly, or perhaps just belly fat in general, I invite you join the FREE 5 day challenge, Melt Your Midlife Belly. January 24 through 28th.
Peace and Love!