Today’s the day to toast to your health! It’s National Wine Day! That’s right…if you’re a wine lover, enjoy these reasons to feel good about it! 

Drinking wine can boost your health!! It’s true. The American Heart Association states that health benefits of drinking wine come from moderate wine consumption, which is said to be one to two four- ounce glasses per day. (Well, one serving for women, two for men).

Red-wine tannins contain procyanidins, which do a great job at protecting us against heart disease! Moderate wine drinkers have a 30 percent less chance of having a heart attack and a 30 percent less chance of developing type 2 diabetes than non-drinkers.

The antioxidants found in red wine help prevent heart disease by increasing “good” cholesterol levels and resveratrol, a main ingredient in red wine, helps protect against artery damage and blood clotting. Drinking wine moderately, especially red wine, may also decrease your risk of getting colon cancer by up to 45 percent.

So next time you come home from a long day at work and are dying for a glass of wine, know it’s OK to have it. As long as you drink moderately in the appropriate portions, go for it and enjoy!

One word of caution… if you’re not a drinker, this doesn’t mean to start taking it up; and if you are a drinker, this is a great reminder that moderation is the key (one 4-ounce drink daily for women; two daily four-ounce drinks for men) as research shows that drinking more than this amount daily has negative health implications.