Thirsty Thursday
In the wake of our upcoming Tasting Room Takeover at Koi Pond Cellars this weekend I thought I should pontificate on the benefits of red wine. But first a quick plug for our upcoming event. This weekend, April 16th & 17th, The Refuge Chef is taking over the Koi Pond Cellars tasting room and pouring wine…and probably handing out some pretty amazing bites to eat. Come on down to the tasting room this weekend if you are in the area and say ‘Hi’.
But now back to my favorite fluid, fermented grape juice.
If you have read some of my past blogs or followed me on Instagram, you probably already know that I love red wine. I drink it almost every day, actually I can’t think of a day in the recent past that I haven’t had a glass of red wine (right now I'm drinking a jammy, inky 2012 Southern Oregon Syrah from Tesoaria Winery). I do have my favorite varietals, Zinfandel and Syrah being the top two currently, but I will drink them all. I especially enjoy unique varietals that we don’t often get here in the States. Dyann and I have had some amazing wines on our travels and I could get on a soapbox and talk about every one of them, but alas, this is not a wine blog… Maybe it should be? Or maybe I should start an auxiliary blog just dedicated to wine and the fabulous consumption of the elixir. Nah, I better not, I might start drinking more than my daily fair share for research.
So why would I talk about red wine on a Paleo/Primal blog? Well if you remember lasts weeks blog posting about Hard Cider you will recall that red wine was actually acceptable as well (in small quantities). I mean cavemen had to have partied and drank some form of fermented juice. They just look like really rockin’ party animals in their mammoth skin togas.
Red wine as some key elements in it that are really good for your body.
Antioxidants!
Remember those guys? Antioxidants help bind with free radicals in your body. And free radicals are bad if they go unchecked. They cause premature oxidative stress in our cells leading to a host of disease processes and premature aging. That doesn’t sound good at all. But antioxidants fight that. They bind with the free radicals neutralizing them and stopping the oxidative process.
So what are some of the benefits of drinking red wine in moderation (one glass a day)?
1) Help prevent heart disease through raising levels of HDL cholesterol
2) Lower your incidence of cardiovascular disease
3) Lower chances of developing type-2 diabetes
4) Lower mortality rate
Pretty amazing stuff. Isn’t it?
So have a glass and don’t feel guilty. Just don’t have too many glasses.
And don’t forget about our Tasting Room Take Over this weekend at Koi Pond Cellars. Hope to see you all there.
