Healthy Wine + Yoga - Honestly JamieHonestly Jamie

woman pouring healthy wine in a glass

Because I’ll take any excuse to drink HEALTHY wine (and get a private yoga session)…

Today’s post is totally and completely necessary in my life right now because, if you know me/follow me on Instagram, then you know this past year has been the hardest of my life. I lost my little sister last April and have been dealing with debilitating lower back issues since September…so yeah, the idea of combining one of the things in life that brings me joy (wine) with some exercise (good endorphins!) that will help me with my back pain? I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing.

Healthy Wine + The Best Yoga Poses For Lower Back Pain

Funny story, I first learned about FitVine Wine via one of their Instagram ads (yep, those do work) and I instantly clicked over to find out how it’s possible that any brand could make wine with less calories AND less residual sugar…guys, I can’t even tell you how excited I am to tell you about this brand of wine (trust me, you will be a convert).

I reached out to them immediately because, honestly, I just had to try the wine for myself to find out if they were BS-ing us or not. If you’ve ever tried “healthier” wine and pre-mixed alcohols before then you know they’re usually FINE, but not great. Organic wine has that gross “pulp” residue (seriously, yuck) and the “low calorie” drinks taste like water to me and/or you end up drinking way more just because the alcohol levels are super low (which means you end up drinking even more calories than you would if you just had one or two of a normal drink). That said, obviously I was skeptical when I tried FitVine, but after trying out their Sauvignon Blanc first (my personal favorite), I was HOOKED. And honestly shocked at how good it tastes, especially since it has lower calories and residual sugar!

Here’s the deal on how they do it:

To create wines that are clean tasting and rich in flavor, they put their wines through malolactic fermentation and perform dry fermentation with no residual sugar levels. In doing this, both the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc have 90 calories and 3g of carbohydrates at 13.4% alcohol (per 5 oz. glass). The Cabernet and Pinot Noir have 95 calories and 3.4g of carbohydrates at 13.9% alcohol. Any remaining sugar in the wine is only what is naturally found in the alcohol, and is less than 0.2g per 5 oz. glass!

Now, just as an FYI, a normal glass of wine is about 100-125 calories per glass, so you end up saving quite a bit if you have a few glasses, like I normally do. And let’s not even talk about the sugar, especially in normal red wine…hello, hangover central.

Now, for the yoga session…originally I planned to have a few friends over for a yoga and healthy wine party by my pool, but since my lower back has been such a nightmare lately, I instead asked my friend Samantha Sumner (who is an awesome yoga instructor) to come over and show me some of the best yoga stretches specifically for lower back pain. If any of you guys have bulging disc issues, then stop what you’re doing and pay attention because, trust me, I’ve tried everything at this point and these poses really DO help.

Yoga Poses for Lower Back Pain

Cat/Cow

It’s super easy to do and both Samantha and my physical therapist have told me to do a few sets of these every day.

Warrior pose

This pose surprisingly really stretches out my thighs and back. Obviously Samantha’s legs are way more extended than mine (and I didn’t realize until after I saw these pics, lol), so clearly this is something you get better at with practice.

Pelvic Til

This is another move that’s fairly easy to do and both Sam and my physical therapist told me to do it! Every time you lift up, just remember to squeeze your glutes, which will stretch your lower back and also tone your tush.

Tree pose

This is an all-around strengthening pose, and I was surprisingly good at it since I have good balance from all my early ballet years.

Child’s pose (with closed legs)

One thing Samantha told me is that, yes, child’s pose is always a great stretch BUT if you have lower back issues, make sure to fold down with your knees touching (not open with a wide leg) so that your lower back opens up instead of constricts! Samantha is demonstrating the more classic wide leg child’s pose here but I’m doing closed leg.

Eagle Arms

Samantha told me this pose is great for people who are on their phones or laptops all day (guilty), since it really opens up your shoulder muscles, upper back and stretches your arms. It felt AMAZING on my always-tense shoulders, just saying…

By the way, I’m wearing the most amazing bralette from Behind Closed Drawers in all these pics. I wanted to mention it because all their bralettes are my new go-to…they’re all super cute and comfortable! You can see the one I’m wearing here (Samantha’s one of their models!) 🙂

Once we were done with the stretching, my back felt honest-to-god SO GOOD and it was time for the reward: low calorie and low sugar wine. We sipped FitVine’s Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I’m usually a white wine girl (Sauv Blanc is my fave), but I knew Sam (and my photographer Danny, who also joined us for a glass once we were done shooting!) were both red fans, so we had three choices to sip from.