The keto diet trend has been very popular over the last few years, but like all diets, sometimes it’s hard to understand what you can and cannot eat or drink.
Certain foods and beverages could take you out of the state of ketosis that you’ve worked so hard to get your body into, so it’s important to understand what types of things you should avoid.
But what about wine?
If you’re a wine lover and thinking about, or have already started, trying out the keto diet, you may be wondering whether or not a glass or two of wine is going to negate the effects of the diet.
The good news is, wine is ok to drink while you’re on the keto diet, but it can affect your progress with the diet.
Let’s take a quick look at what the keto diet is and what it can do for your body, before we dive into whether you want to have that glass of wine or not.
What is the Keto Diet?
The Ketogenic diet is based around eating low-carbs and replacing those lost carbs with high fat. By doing this, your body isn’t getting the carbs that it’s used to and begins to put your body in a state of ketosis.
Ketosis is when your body produces ketones out of fat instead of carbs. So instead of using the carbs your body intakes to produce energy, it is using fat instead. This can lead to a reducing in fat in your body, weight loss, it can also help suppress your appetite over time.
Other benefits include higher energy levels, lower blood sugar, and sometimes even reduced seizures in epileptic children.
Once your body enters a state of ketosis, where you’re burning fat for energy, instead of carbs, you need to maintain the diet in order to stay in that state.
Sticking to low carb foods can be difficult if you enjoy drinking alcohol, but what about a glass of wine every once in a while?
Is Wine Keto Friendly?
The key to maintaining the keto diet is to consumer low carb, high fat, foods so that your body begins to burn fat for energy instead of carbs. Eating 20-50 grams of carbs should be your goal for maintaining a state of ketosis, but what about drinking wine?
Wine has carbs, but carbs themselves aren’t a bad thing, you just have to be sure you consume them in moderation. A normal glass of wine has roughly between 3-4 grams of carbs in it, which means that having a glass of wine won’t pull your body out of ketosis, but that’s another 3-4 grams of carbs you’ve added to your daily total.
You also need to be aware of the sugar content of your wine as the keto diet also limits the amount of sugar intake daily.
While sweeter wines tend to have more sugar (which is what makes them sweet), even some of the dry wines can contain residual sugar left in during the winemaking process. So if you really want to have a glass of wine, but are currently doing the keto diet, it’s recommended that you stick to dry wines if possible and limit the amount you drink.
As if watching your carbs and sugar levels wasn’t enough, the alcohol found in wine can also slow down your body’s ability to produce ketones. Once your liver has finished metabolizing the alcohol, it will go back to producing ketones properly.
So while it is recommended that, if you’re on the keto diet, you refrain from alcohol consumption, a glass of wine here and there will not set you back enough in your progress to make it a concern.
If you start to consume more and more alcohol, or wine, then you may run into an issue where your body is no longer in a state of ketosis and it goes back to burning carbs to produce energy instead of fat.
What Can I Do if I Still Want to Drink Wine During Keto Diet?
As we mentioned, drinking a glass of wine here and there is not going to take you out of ketosis, or set you back too much in your diet goals. The important thing though is that you want to be aware of what you’re drinking, how much you’re drinking, and how that will affect your overall goals of staying low carb, high fat.
They do make low carb and low sugar wines, you will just have to do some research to find a company or brand that makes these types of wines. Often times wine labels will not have that sort of information on them, but if you’re searching out specific keto friendly wines, you should have no problem finding a brand that you can pick up at your local grocery store that others have tested. The key to everything is moderation, so as along as you can find that comfortable middle ground, and not go overboard with the wine, you should be able to enjoy a glass of wine during the week without worrying about it affecting your keto diet.