I was re-watching Shameless season 2 the other night (if I'm perfectly honest, it's almost like watching it for the first time because I was under the influence when I initially saw it) and I noticed Fiona and Vi were daytime drinking and having FRANZIA out of plastic tumblers. My first thought was, hell yeah! I totally do this! My second thought: Okay, wait- You're trying to say people ONLY drink Franzia if they're poor and couldn't possibly afford anything else?
Franzia is a very decent alcoholic beverage to have while on a diet and as I said, it's dirt cheap.
From Franzia.com:
Wine - Per 5 ounce serving Carbs (gm)* Calories (gm)* Sodium (gm)* Sugar (gm)* Fat (gm)* Protein (gm)* Red Wines Cabernet Sauvignon 5 105 7 1 0 0 Merlot 5 105 7 1 0 0 Chianti 5 95 9 2 0 0 Burgundy(1) 5 100 9 2 0 0 Chillable Red(1) 10 105 8 7 0 0 Fruity Red Sangria(1) 11 110 5 8 0 0 Shiraz(1) 5 110 8 10 0 0 Blush Wines White Zinfandel 5 105 11 5 0 0 White Merlot 5 110 10 4 0 0 Sunset Blush(1) 7 95 7 5 0 0 White Grenache 8 105 12 5 0 0 White Wines Chardonnay 5 105 7 1 0 0 Chablis 5 100 8 2 0 0 Refreshing White(1) 6 90 8 3 0 0 Rhine 6 110 10 5 0 0 Crisp White(1) 8 105 8 5 0 0 (1) Table Wine with Natural Flavors *Sulfite maximum is 200 mg/L for all types © 2008 Franzia Winery, Ripon, CA
Clearly, some of the varieties have a shitload of sugar in them. Run far, far away from the Shiraz or the Fruity Red Sangria. 10 grams of sugar? Yikes.
However: The Cabernet Sauvignon, the Merlot, and the Chardonnay have only ONE gram of sugar per 5 oz. serving and just 5 carbs. The Chardonnay is also 13% alcohol by volume and the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are both 12.5%.
I used to be a beer girl, but that stuff might as well be liquid bread. A 12 oz. Red Stripe has 153 calories & 14 grams of carbs. Even the low calorie beers suck. Beck's light, for example, has just 64 calories and 3.9 g carbs, but it's also less than 3.0% alcohol. Which means you'd have to drink approximately fifty bajillion of them to get a buzz.
I really shouldn't be drinking on a diet, but since I'm going to, Franzia is a pretty decent option. Some of the boxes recommend that you chill it, but if you don't have time I definitely recommend just pouring it over ice because that's how classy bitches do it.
http://www.franzia.com/faq-nutrition.shtml
http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/red-stripe/jamaican-ale-beer
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/32/22869
