What To Drink To Stay Lean This Summer
Waistline alert. We're right on the cusp of summer, and guess what? Three of the most popular adult summertime beverages are also three of the most fattening! Margaritas, piña coladas, and Long Island iced teas all contain more calories than a Big McBurger (up to 780 calories). Yikes! The good news is that wine is one of the most calorically modest beverages around, and there's an endless variety of types to try.
Most table wines clock in at 25 calories per ounce, or 125 calories per single serving (5 ounces).
That means you can enjoy six glasses of wine in place of one Long Island iced tea (not that you should)! Fortified wines, which contain more alcohol and more sugar, will naturally contain more calories, but of course, a standard pouring of a fortified wine like sherry or port is smaller than a standard pour of wine, so you come out in the same place calorie-wise. Because alcohol itself has calories, non-alcoholic wines have the least number of calories per serving, with 10 calories per 5-ounce glass. But where's the fun in that?
No surprise, the low-calorie wine marketing craze is shifting into high gear with brands like Gallo's Summer White, which boasts 25 percent fewer calories, and Skinnygirl, the brand started by reality TV star Bethenny Frankel and now owned by Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc. (100 total calories per glass). About the latter, we can't help wondering: do women really need their own brand of wine? Can't women enjoy complex, "real" wine and not just "skinny" wine?
Wherever your preferences lie, wine is clearly a winner for summer sipping.