Health & Family Quitting alcohol and social life

That's interesting. My 19 year old son says he isn't going to drink because he's seen what alcohol does to me. So far it has worked for him, I tell people I drink so my kids won't........ I'm a happy drunk but alcohol transforms people.

 

Vexed issue. I'm sure my tendency to over indulge may have impacted on my children. As far as I am aware none of them either smoke or drink.

Then again none of them drink coffee and I can down multiple cups of it with ease. My eyes are still spinning from the Turkish brew this afternoon.

 

Be interesting to see if anyone doesnt drink alcohol and any form of caffeine
That includes tea, green tea, coffee, energy drinks, coke

Im currently minimal alcohol, one coffee week and dont do energy drinks, no teas

 

Green tea at home, black tea at work, Soy Flat white coffee take away's and I don't smoke (never have) nor do any energy drinks, or any type of soft drink, Just plain water or Diet Tonic Water. Can't stand the sugary taste of soft drinks. I'll occasionally have a Gatroaide after a very long run or tough ride but more for the electrolytes.

Weirdly though, since stopping the drink so far I've some how gone from Flat White's to Long Blacks and increased from 1 to 3 per day. I think that probably says something about my personality type, with one thing going (booze) something else needs to step into it's place.

 

Likewise here with wine, I only drink good wines(very subjective matter) and prefer quality over quantity.
I rarely feel like a drink when i'm by myself so opening a bottle means i have to finish the it and that was my problem years ago. We had an amazing stock of wine at home and couldn't get myself to down the leftover wine into the sink after a few drinks so every sitting was at least a bottle.

My solution for the problem was simply to not open a bottle unless i know there will be people around to finish the bottle after i have a taste. Otherwise, it will go to the sink.
Other than coravin style options, i've never seen any syphoning tools that could work unfortunately. Some wineries have been producing canned wine if that is an option for you ...

 

don't worry about a few extra bits of caffeine


so much better than too much booze, keep up the good work

 

Thanks @TMNT (I've only just twigged what TMNT stands for, maybe I need a 4th coffee?).

17 days without a drink today, this is the second longest I've gone in years and so far no inclination to reach for one so feeling pretty good. Having said that, I went 26 days in January without any inclination until the inclination came with a vengeance on day 27 and I was right back into it.

I am determined to go this whole month dry then see how I go from there.

 

Ah maybe not. Seems according to current medical research long-term it doesn't too well for blokes in the waterworks department.

Can't bloody win!

 

I was going to also say watch out for those people that die because theyve had like 12 energy drinks in a few hours and their heart stops due to too much caffeine or something along those lines

 

Canned wine sounds interesting, however, larger volumes of wine age better - magnums > standard > half bottle. I can't imagine wine aging well in a bite size can to be at the level of quality vintage wine.

Bit I'll definitely give it a shot. Young whites and quaffer types are probably perfect.

 

Just wondering how is everyone going with the no drinking..

Myself just near six months now,election night was the hard one but just drank tea..

Good luck to everyone trying ...

 

Nice one @willair

28 days for me today, a new record by 2 days! Was going great until about 25/26 and got a super strong urge to reach for something, so I grabbed a jar of picked onions instead, that seemed to do the trick.

Been a tough week last week with partner losing her job out of the blue, thankfully I didn't feel the need to reach for anything, though she had a couple of brandy's to steady her nerves at the shock and I have to say, it smelled amazing, I had to walk away.

I'm feeling so much better too, not that I used to wake up daily with a hangover but I definitely wake up less foggy and I'm a little less tired generally through the day. It's showing up in my training too now, I'm running faster and harder than I was before, helped by fueling recovery better afterward rather than floating a couple of beers straight on the top of a workout I guess, plus I've dropped almost 2kg (not that I needed to but the upshot of that is I need to eat even more now, good bonus, I do love food ;-) )

Hope everyone else is doing well.

 

That's what i'm working towards Geoff ,where I no longer want to drink may take a bit more time to get to that stage ,but I know one item health wise the sugar levels are a lot lower ..

 

That's good,i found the first month very hard ,but once I went past 3 months it starts to get easy day by day..

It will work out with your partner,life is full of change most times for the good..

 

I’m very happy to be exactly where I want to be with alcohol now. That is, able to occasionally enjoy one or two drinks without any desire to have more and easily able to say no. Best of both worlds in that I can have a couple of light strength beers with mates on infrequent occasions, have none or stop at one when my wife likes to have a couple of drinks. No problem watching her have a drink now and not feeling the urge for one myself.

Importantly I’ve completely eliminated spirits. This was the bad one for me as after I’d felt I’d had enough beer and / or wine (which I drink slowly) on top of that I could seem to drink any number of spirits. Because the spirits usually had Diet Coke with it I drank it quick like soft drink but without ever feeling like I was full. I could easily drink near half a bottle of spirits on top of the rest.

My wine intake is pretty much nil also. This was easy as I’ve never been much of a wine drinker anyhow.

What has helped is that I’ve become keen on getting fitter, stronger and healthier. Getting cholesterol, blood pressure, heart rate, body fat lower lower are my goals. Aiming for set numbers is my motivation. My blood pressure has generally been normal but with a heart aneurysm the lower the better even down to 90 / 60.

Finally I’ve reduced our expenditure by a noticeable amount. Craft beer, decent quality wine and in particular spirits was an expensive habit. More to buy shares with and spend on healthier pursuits.

 

After 12 months it seems quite natural to be a non drinker

 

Haven't listened to it yet, but I'm a fan of Rich Roll's podcasts generally and his latest one to drop just now is very apt time-wise, just read the synopsis.

Andy Ramage On Creating An Alcohol-Free Movement | Rich Roll