The South Beach Diet follows many of the principles of a Mediterranean diet, the traditional diet of the coastal regions of Europe bordering the Mediterranean Sea, but one notable exception is the lack of focus on wine, though in some phases of the diet plan, a glass of wine can be a perfectly acceptable complement to a low-carbohydrate meal that is mainly focused on lean protein, vegetables and healthy fats.
South Beach Identified
The South Beach Diet focuses on teaching dieters a healthy style of eating that involves eating fewer carbohydrates and more lean meat, chicken, fish, seafood and vegetables along with a small amount of monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat in every meal. The first phase, intended to last only 14 days, is the strictest period of the diet and the one during which the most rapid and dramatic weight loss takes place. After that, healthy carbohydrates are reintroduced as a small part of each meal as the focus shifts to steady weight loss and later to maintenance.
When Is Wine Allowed
During the first phase of the South Beach Diet, most carbohydrates are restricted, including wine. This is because even a single glass of wine can raise your blood sugar to the point at which fat-burning slows and cravings for more carbohydrates kick in. Fortunately for wine-lovers, after the first phase is complete, a glass of wine can be incorporated into meals. One exception to the no-wine rule in the first phase is that participants are allowed to cook with dry wine as an ingredient even from day one of the diet. In fact, the diet website offers recipes such as Steamed Mussels with White Wine that can be used during any phase of the diet.
How to Include Wine
Because wine can affect blood sugar levels, it should be consumed along with a meal or right after eating and not separately without any food. More than one or two glasses of wine may upset your biological balance and set off carbohydrate cravings, so you should aim to keep wine consumption within a two-glass limit. One glass is 4 to 5 oz. of wine. Red wine is preferable to white wine because it contains more of the potentially beneficial components, such as the phytochemical compound resveratrol, that may boost heart health. However, white wine can be consumed in moderation or used as an ingredient as long as you continue to follow the other precepts of the diet.
Considerations
Other alcoholic beverages, such as light beer, spirits and champagne, can also be consumed occasionally and in moderation in phase 2 of the South Beach Diet. Alcohol that is high in sugar remains off-limits until phase 3 of the diet and should be used rarely even in that phase. These include wine coolers, liqueurs and port wine.
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