I tend to be a beer drinker but hey, Valentine’s Day is
this month and your gal might appreciate sharing good bottle of wine. So go ahead and indulge, once I arm you with
some nutrition facts of course, as I have done my best to cut through all the
anecdotal, bro-science out there!
Make no
mistake - I am in no way a wine connoisseur, so brand selection is on you. And if you currently don’t drink alcohol the
medical experts all still say the health benefits associated with moderate wine
consumption are not enough reason to start drinking. Now that I got those two disclaimers out of
the way, let’s get on with it!
Wine
Wine consumed
in moderation, (1 glass a day for a woman and 2 glasses a day for a man), is widely
accepted as good for us and linked to longevity in many cultures. Alcohol in general, has LDL-cholesterol
(‘bad’-cholesterol), lowering properties, and is a vasodilator – dilates your
blood vessels, thereby lowering blood pressure – and is relaxing. This means that alcohol in moderation is
heart-healthy for a person currently in good health with no liver
problems! Wine adds in another tier of
health because it is so rich in plant-polyphenols from grapes, the most
noteworthy being resveratrol. The high
polyphenol content comes from the grape-skins, and since the grapes are
fermented longest for red wine, not only does red wine contain more resveratrol
content, but it is also lower in sugar.
(Remember, alcohol is NOT sugar.)
All polyphenols are also antioxidants as well, which mean they bind to
free-radicals and repair oxidation damage.
Oxidation is a normal
metabolic process of all oxygen breathing mammals, and it’s free-radical
byproducts are also normal. In fact, our
bodies are very much equipped to handle all oxidative damage and repair, if we
just get out of own way, and actually, consuming too many anti-oxidant
supplements will actually prohibit proper post-workout repair and
adaptation. Also, the jury is still out
in the efficacy of consuming resveratrol in supplement form, so for now you’re
better off obtaining it through whole-foods, grapes and wine. You can also drink grape juice, but your Valentine might not be as stoked if you
show up with a bottle of grape juice instead of a nice Merlot. Plus, grape juice has way more sugar content
than wine does, per serving – just sayin!
 |
| This article was originally written by me for Four EL magazine, FEB 14 issue |
I have limited editorial space as
well as your valuable time at stake here, and honestly I found so much
anecdotal, snake-oil, hype out there on the benefits of resveratrol and how it
is linked to everything from anti-aging to treating type-2 diabetes. Some of it may be true, but most probably
not. The bottom line is, you can’t
really drink enough red wine to reap the claimed benefits of resveratrol
without damaging your liver from the alcohol, and you can’t drink enough grape
juice without sky-rocketing your insulin levels from too much fructose, and the
jury is still out on taking resveratrol supplements. So instead of focusing on resveratrol, please
just enjoy your 2 glasses of wine for all the other myriad of health, social
and romance reasons, just like healthy cultures have been doing together for
centuries. And there are many of us out
there, including myself who are allergic to red wine and therefore have to
stick to white wine or beer. White wine
has nearly all the same health benefits and only slightly lower resveratrol
content and we saw a few issues back that beer is also full of anti-oxidants,
so you’re covered!
Chocolate
What’s
not to love about chocolate right? Well
pretty much I have nothing bad to say about chocolate - as long as it is real
cocoa you are eating! That means ‘dark’ chocolate is key, not milk chocolate. Dark chocolate is the only form, (other than
bitter chocolate and raw cacao of course), that has high enough pure cocoa
content to make it beneficial to your health.
Milk chocolate is simply candy,
while dark chocolate is a true super-food!
But don’t worry, dark chocolate
still tastes amazing. Go for at least
60% cocoa content or higher, for maximum heart-healthy benefits. There are several ingredients in cocoa that
make it a super food. It has high Arginine content, which is a
non-essential amino acid that is good for blood vessel health because it
increases Nitric Oxide, or NO, which
then causes the vessels to dilate or expand and makes the vessel’s endothelial
lining more slippery, thereby lowering blood pressure and shielding from plaque
accumulation. Dark chocolate also has
lots of alkaloids such as theobromine,
phenethylamine, and caffeine, which assist in thermogenesis
and fat-burning and increasing serotonin levels, improving mood. The cocoa-butter content helps increase
HDL-cholesterol, the good kind of cholesterol, because it is a plant-based
fat. And finally, cocoa is rich in
anti-oxidants, which as we already mentioned, bind to free-radicals, counteract
oxidation, and help prevent oxidation of the bad, LDL-cholesterol, so it won’t
stick to the vessel walls. Remember
again, that dark chocolate is lower in sugar content, than milk chocolate, so
that is one more reason to stick with dark.
Also, consider trying raw cacao nibs, which are even healthier because
the cacao has not been roasted yet and no sugar has been added. Raw nibs give amazing crunchy texture when
sprinkled into your granola, oatmeal, smoothie or ice cream, and you can’t even
taste their bitterness.
Natural
Blood-Thinners
Besides their high
anti-oxidant content from plant-phenols, we can see that the main heart health
benefit from red wine and chocolate is that when consumed in moderation, they
are blood thinners and vasodilators.
This is actually something to keep in mind if you are the type who also
eats raw nuts and nut butters, cold-water fish, olive oil, and takes an
essential fatty acid supplement, EFA.
Because these all combine into a cumulative, blood-thinning effect,
which is in most cases better for your health, but it also means you need to be
careful when taking aspirin or other pharmaceutical, blood-thinning drugs. You could increase your risk of hemorrhage. But for most of, us go ahead and indulge on
occasion, and the rest of the time, include moderate wine consumption and dark chocolate
as part of your every day diet.
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