Calorie-free wine?!? Unfortunately, it only exists in our dreams… The good news: wine can be incorporated into your diet, even if you’re keeping a close eye on your daily calorie counts.

Throughout the year, and especially during the beginning of the year, we regularly field questions about calories and carbohydrates in wine through our Contact Us form and across social media. Since the questions come up so often, we thought it would be beneficial to bring the information to the masses here on our blog.

Below is a quick guide to *approximate calorie and carbohydrate counts in the most popular wine varietals: 

 *Figures above based on the USDA calorie content for an ounce of wine. 

Along with the lighter seafood recipes we shared last week, give a few of the healthy food “swaps” below a try if you’re working on lightening things up in the new year.

Also check out a few of these past New Year. New You. posts:

–          New Year. New You. Simple Portion Control Tips

–          Healthy Girlfriend Date Ideas for a New Year. New You.

–          Wine as Part of a New Year. New You. Way of Life

5 healthy food “swaps” we love:

Crackers for apple slices. Next time you’re enjoying a cheese platter, try using apple slices in place of crackers. Still crunchy and tasty, but less calories.

Swap traditional pasta noodles with “zoodles” or spaghetti squash. We’ll tell you the truth, spiralized zucchini noodles and spaghetti squash do not taste like traditional pasta noodles. BUT, they are a fun, healthier swap when you want to lighten things up and pack in more nutrients.

Swap sandwich bread with a low calorie whole wheat wrap. You get all the goodness in the middle, wrapped up in a lower-calorie package.

Swap mayo for avocado. Like true Californians, we love our avocados, so this one isn’t very tough for us. Try using avocado in all the places you’d use mayo, including chicken and egg salads.

Swap peanuts for edamame. Trade legume for legume and you’ll ditch almost half the calories and gain more protein.

Cheers to a happy and healthy new year, Wine Sisters!