Boost Metabolism with The Red Wine Diet

Boston based certified fitness trainer and nutritionist Art McDermott reveals that red wine can improve metabolism. By combining red wine with certain foods, McDermott has discovered that red wine can boost metabolism and when combined with certain foods your body’s natural fat burning process is kick-started and ramped up. His book and nutritional plan The Red Wine Diet is easy to read and follow.

There are things we already know about the benefits of drinking red wine, such as it

• Helps prevent artery damage caused by high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the “bad” cholesterol
• Produces positive changes in blood pressure
• Raises high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the “good” cholesterol
• Reduces the formation of blood clots

In the book, McDermott explores the studies revealing that AMPK, an essential enzyme needed to stimulate health and food assimilation within the body and which activates fat conversion, is found in red wine.  AMPK cannot work well when it is blocked by toxins, therefore eating cleansing and nutritional foods and drinking wine can create a mitochondrial environment that redirects the metabolism towards increased catabolism (fat burning) and decreased anabolism (fat storage).

Red wine also contains resveratrol, which has many health benefits. Resveratrol reduces inflammation and is anti-inflammatory, it protects the heart from damage, helps lower blood pressure, prevents platelet aggregation which could lead to a heart attack or stroke, it can prevent clots in the arteries and veins by preventing damaging clots form forming or thrombosis.

Metabolism is the chemical processes that occur to maintain human life. A person’s body needs a certain number of calories from food to maintain the body’s basic functions (i.e., breathing, heartbeat, etc.). If a person eats more calories than their body needs, this is stored as excess energy in the form of fat and is stored in fatty tissues. Traditionally, it is believed that if a person’s caloric intake is less than what they need for basic bodily function, the metabolic processes will turn stored fat back into usable energy and release it into the bloodstream where it is carried into cells where it can then be used as an energy resource, but science is discovering more and more that calories are not the only factor. The combination of foods and their chemical make up are what drives our body into storage or burn mode.

Returning from a California wine tasting trip, McDermott had discovered that he had naturally trimmed down, lost weight and felt great even though he had overindulged on food and wine during the trip.   This led him to study the foods and food combinations that he had been served during his stay. It turned out that certain natural foods, vegetables, and traditional recipes were the key to this effortless weight loss.

“One thing that people can do to increase their metabolism is to eat less-processed foods and avoid food combinations. Potatoes, for example, are often eaten with cheese. However, eating cheese reduces the efficiency of the body’s ability to process carbohydrates. It is better to eat potatoes alone or with a non-starchy vegetable such as salad or broccoli,” McDermott explains.

There are three categories when it comes to eating vegetables for metabolic health. These are dark green, light green, and non-leafy vegetables. Dark green vegetables include artichokes, broccoli, collard greens, kale and spinach. They’re very high in antioxidants and should be consumed because they’re known to be beneficial for weight management. Light green veggies such as asparagus, celery, peas and peppers can also help with weight management because they are low-calorie foods. Non-leafy vegetables like tomatoes and mushrooms have the potential to increase metabolism because they provide a good amount of Vitamin C which is an antioxidant that will raise your metabolic rate by burning fat cells.

Eating vegetables to improve health is hardly new and innovative, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to reiterate the obvious sometimes.

A typical Italian happy hour or aperitivo will have a variety of snacks and appetizers like chips, pizza bites and other salty snacks. On the contrary, it also doesn’t hurt to repeat that processed foods like potato chips, fried food and certain grains are bad for you. In the Red Wine Diet book, there is a list of the foods that can halt fat burning results almost instantly, a step-by-step plan to guide you to fat loss success, and exact meal plans based upon the proven, but little known, food-wine combination.

Enjoy a glass of red wine and not feel guilty about it! Download The Red Wine Diet and the cook book here.

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