Wine As A Bedtime Snack Could Help With Weight Loss
Have you ever finished your dinner, but then found yourself hungry close to bedtime? You’re not alone – plenty of us feel the need to snack as the night progresses, and luckily, studies have deduced the perfect nightcap: a glass of wine.
You heard us.
Recent studies have pointed out that wine can help diabetics and improve your sex drive, but apparently, wine is also a great way to prevent midnight munchies. According to Linda Monk, a 47-year-old woman who’s lost 6 pounds in three weeks, the benefit of having a nightly glass of wine is that the treat suppresses her cravings for unhealthy snacks like “sweet, biscuits, and chocolate.” Instead, the moderate portion of wine makes her feel sated without going to town on the late night eating. Linda is gleaning advice from Tim Ferriss’s book: The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide To Rapid Weight Loss. Ferriss champions the theory that if you enjoy a little wine in the evening, you’re more likely to feel satisfied and thus less inclined to give up on dieting. Red wine is supposedly preferable to other snacks.
According to The Daily Mail, a study that took place over the course of 13 years at Harvard University found that amongst a group of 20,000 women, those who drank half a bottle of wine a day lessened their risk of obesity. As half a bottle is the equivalent of two glasses, Linda and the other women seem to be live proof of the study.
40-year-old Samantha Merrit is another woman who sings the praises of nightly wine, claiming “the calories don’t seem to have made an impact on the bathroom scales…Now, I can happily say no to a dessert and I treat myself to a glass or two around four nights a week.” Besides her appetite being satisfied, Merrit also credits the wine with helping her sleep and feeling less anxious.
As is always the case, the trick is moderation. While having a glass or two before bed is a good substitute for going crazy on chocolate snacking, drinking too much wine can leave you consuming more calories than a late night binge, and leave you feeling pretty hungover for work. Stick to 1-2 glasses if you want to curb your hunger, sleep better, and feel less deprived.
This article was originally written for Vinepair and appears here.
I think generally wine as a bedtime snack is a very poor idea. It makes many of us sleepy and so we fall asleep at the table or better yet in bed. Alas 90 minutes later we’re in central nervous system rebound which means we’re now wide awake. And if you are like me, older, returning back to sleep is very difficult indeed. Maybe it helps some with their diabetes or weight loss maybe because they are up and running because they can’t stay asleep. I love red wine but know that the best time for me to enjoy it is many hours before bedtime. A very provocative article. thanks for helping me think.