The keto diet may seem too good to be true at first, but it operates on real medical science and may help you lose more weight than you expected. It’s not uncommon for people to lose 20-50 pounds or more simply by limiting their sugar and carbohydrate intake.
But can you enjoy your favorite wines while on this diet, or are you going to have to change your appetite? Let’s do a deep dive into this subject to learn more.
The Keto Diet and Ketosis: What Is It?
The keto diet relies on a natural process known as ketosis.
This process starts when your body has no sugar or carbohydrates to process for energy.
It will draw on the fat in your body or diet, burning the fat in your body no matter how many calories you eat. Doctors often use a restricted ketosis diet in weight loss clinics, helping people to lose excess weight and avoid serious health issues.
However, many people try the keto diet on their own by eating between 25-30 grams of net carbs every day. Net carbs refer to your carbohydrate count after you subtract fiber from your gross carbs.
So, if your gross carbs are 40 grams with 15 grams of fiber, you’d end up with 25 grams of net carbs. Eating this diet helps trigger ketosis and can burn fat off of your body very quickly.
What is particularly surprising is that this diet may also be good for your brain and general health.
This is because the ketones produced during ketosis provide more energy for your body than glucose, the compound created when insulin processes sugar.
However, if you enjoy wine and are on a keto diet, you may have to make some adjustments to ensure that you stay on your dietary path.
Alcohol And Ketosis
Ketosis is a funny process: it’s something that you may fall into every day without realizing it.
For instance, you likely fall into the early stages of ketosis as you sleep because your body will naturally process sugar to keep itself healthy. That’s why you wake up so hungry in the morning every day.
As a result, it is remarkably easy to fall into ketosis and, if you have a “cheat” day, you can get right back into the swing of things by adjusting your diet back.
As a result, you can enjoy a glass of wine or two when you’re on a keto diet. Naturally, you want to limit the amount of sugar in each glass, so dry wines may be best.
However, note that dry wines may be higher in calories due to their higher alcohol content. Though this may not impact your keto diet, it is something to consider if you’re also restricting your calorie count every day.
Understand that when you drink a glass of wine, your body will immediately fall temporarily out of ketosis while your body processes the alcohol. Once the alcohol is out of your system, your body can transition back to ketosis.
Limiting how much you drink when on a keto diet will help to minimize this problem and make your life easier by making your keto diet more manageable.
Related: Sugar content in glass and bottle of wine.
Related: How many calories in a bottle of wine.
The Verdict On Wine While On a Keto Diet
Wine is one of the healthiest types of alcohol and is typically very adaptable to a keto diet.
Typically, you need to focus heavily on dry wines and avoid sweet wines whenever possible.
For example, your sweet sherry is going to go up in the cupboard until you’re off the diet. In addition, some fortified dessert wines can have over 20-30 grams of sugar per glass, making them a no-go for the keto diet.
Typically, red wines will be your best bet in this situation. They have a lot less sugar than white wines, even if they’re roughly of the same dryness.
Make sure that you pay attention to whether a wine was fortified or not.
Fortified wines may contain more sugar and can throw your keto diet into a tailspin. Remember, though, that sweeter wines may be okay for a “cheat” day if your diet has one.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy white wines, though! Instead, you’ll typically want to look for any sparkling wine with a brut nature. This term should be right on the label or may be listed as brut or extra brut.
You may be tempted to get an Extra Dry sparkling wine instead. While they are still dry, Brut is even drier.
Thankfully, we compiled a simple list of the most keto-friendly wines that we could find. Choosing among these options should make your diet smoother and more effective.
You may also be interested in checking out the healthiest red wines available, too.
Enjoying Wine On a Keto Diet
If you’re on a keto diet and you want to enjoy a glass of wine once or twice a day, you have a few different options to consider.
We carefully selected a handful of other options to ensure that you don’t pick a wine that’s far too sweet for your needs. In this way, you can avoid any complications and keep yourself healthy for as long as possible.
Even better, you can improve your weight loss attempt by keeping your ketosis mostly on track, even after a glass of wine. Just a few options to consider here include:
Red Wines and Keto
- Merlot
- Nebbiolo
- Pinot Noir
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Chianti
White Wines and Keto
- Pinot Blanc
- Chardonnay
- Pinot Grigio
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Champagne
Carbs in Pinot Grigio & Other Dry Wines
Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris tend to be a popular white wine for those on a keto diet. Remember, you want to gravitate towards dry wines because they have less residual sugar.
This handy list below details low carb wines:
White Wine Carb List
- Sauvignon Blanc – 3g for a 5oz serving.
- Pinot Gris – 3.8g for a 5oz serving.
- Pinot Blanc – 3.8g for a 5oz serving.
- Riesling – 5.5g for a 5oz serving.
- Moscato – 7.8g for a 5oz serving.
Red Wine Carb List
- Pinot Noir – 3.4g for a 5oz serving. Generally a dry wine, but you can find sweeter versions.
- Merlot – 3.7g for a 5oz serving.
- Cabernet Sauvignon – 3.8g for a 5oz serving.
- Syrah – 4g for a 5oz serving.
- Port – 9g for a 5oz serving.
- Sherry – 9g for a 5oz serving.
- Marsala – Over 10g for a 5oz serving. Marsala is a great wine to cook with.
Rosé Wines and Keto
Again, you will be better off choosing a rosé wine that is drier and has less residual sugar.
As for wines you’ll need to avoid, you usually need to cut out fortified, semi-sweet, sweet, and dessert wines from your diet.
That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them occasionally. But you definitely can’t drink a whole bottle (something you might do with a very dry wine) and consistently keep a keto diet.
So again, you may enjoy them on a cheat day or even a half glass on an average day, but you should generally avoid them. They include such delicious (and sweet) wines as:
Wines to Generally Avoid on Keto
- Gewürztraminer
- Moscato
- Pinotage
- Shiraz
- Zinfandel
- Riesling
- Madiera
- Sherry
- Grenache (Cannonau in Sardinia)
- Ice Wine
Even with the better wines listed above, you may want to minimize how much wine you drink every day. Typically, you want to have no more than two glasses per day as a man or one as a woman.
However, suppose you find that your weight loss stalls or that you feel bloated or uncomfortable drinking wine on a keto diet, you may want to adjust your intake to ensure that you maintain ketosis. Cut down to one glass per day to minimize this concern.
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