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Thanks for the very helpful advice! Fortunately, I drink mostly red wine already. The only white wine I drink (and not that often) happens to be chardonnay. So that is convenient that they (red wines and chardonnay) are the wines lowest in sugar. Also, I'm an after-dinner drinker. I've been having either water or Propel (sort of a Gatorade-lite, only 3 carbs per glass) at dinner and my beer or wine afterwards.

Starting with tomorrow's dinner (too late for tonight), I'll try having my wine at dinner (30 minutes after I start eating) and my second glass right after dinner.

You mention that wine is better than water for digesting food. I've heard that before. In many cultures, a jug of wine at the dinner table is mandatory and even the kids imbibe. In fact, wine used to be used for purifying drinking water up until the. Many people back then would never drink a glass of pure water. If they didn't have wine to dilute their water with, they wouldn't drink it.

I'm a wine drinker. Period. I love the stuff. Don't drink any other kind of alcohol.

But I don't drink before 7 or 8 at night now, and always, like you, red or chardonnay, or, occasionally, a sauvignon blanc. I've been experimenting with ways to have my wine and not gain weight, as I was doing before Christmas. So, I've been experimenting with different ways of drinking it, a couple of weeks at a time.

I always had a glass of wine at the stroke of 6, on an empty stomach, and would put on a pound or two a week.

Started drinking at dinner, stopped putting on the weight.

Started drinking later in the meal, lost a pound a week.

Started drinking 30 minutes after the meal, lost two pounds over about ten days.

Now, I could probably lose more weight if I stopped drinking altogether, but I'm convinced of the cardiovascular benefits of wine, and it's my only vice, so I'm not giving it up.

I'm in maintenance on Atkins, but I know how easy it is to let a pound or two turn into ten.