If you’ve had a long, stressful day sometimes all you want to do is go home and put your feet up and enjoy a glass or two of wine. Research touts the benefits of a glass of red wine daily, but for women going beyond that one glass may cause more harm than good. From a caloric standpoint, two five-ounce glasses of wine bring in as many calories as a Snickers bar.
Moderate drinking is also defined differently for women than for men, due to a different metabolism process and generally smaller size. One drink a day for women (versus two for men) is a moderate amount – 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of liquor.
So what is another glass or two? Believe it or not, binge drinking habits can develop from such an innocent habit. Even casually sipping drinks with friends can fall into binge drinking territory, which is defined as four or more alcoholic drinks within two or three hours. Binge drinking has been shown to be connected to increased likelihood of STD contractions, pregnancy, and intoxication-related accidents.
Binge drinking isn’t just among young adults either. The Centers for Disease Control estimate women with household incomes of $75,000 or more are more likely to engage in binge drinking. Wine is often overlooked as a means of engaging in binge drinking, but it can have just as many bad effects as beer and hard liquor.
Liver damage and gastrointestinal tract cancer and even increased risk of breast cancer are all dangers of heavy drinking on a regular basis. On a smaller scale, raised body temperature, irritability, mood changes, and depression can all come from alcohol use. While you do not have to give up drinking all together it is important to understand how your drinking behavior can affect your health down the road.
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