The benefits of giving up alcohol

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22 contributors in last 30 days

Captain Malcolm Reynolds Jun 2020 11:02am, 4 Jun 2020 1,011 posts	0 Captain Malcolm Reynolds It was 21 units for men and 14 units for women per week. Initially that worked out at 1 unit = 0.5 pints/1 pub measure spirits/1 pub measure fortified wine/1 small pub glass of wine. But that was in the 70s when beer was around 3.5% & wine around 11%. It became effectively useless for monitoring beer & wine units as the strength increased around 5% for beer & 13% for wine.
Derby Tup Jun 2020 11:10am, 4 Jun 2020 42,654 posts	0 Derby Tup Aye and wine served in a third of a bottle measures
McGoohan Jun 2020 11:17am, 4 Jun 2020 45,619 posts	0 McGoohan Doing my daily/weekly totals was probably hideously underestimating my intake
Oscar the Grouch Jun 2020 12:52pm, 4 Jun 2020 1,613 posts	0 Oscar the Grouch I was doing the same. I thought at one time it was 14-21 units and 21-28 units. I was always over. Always... and I thought it ridiculously low as a measure at the time.
Captain Malcolm Reynolds Jun 2020 1:04pm, 4 Jun 2020 1,012 posts	0 Captain Malcolm Reynolds The 28/21 units per week came from the UK Govt 1995 Safe Drinking report, which said men should drink no more than 3-4 units per day and women no more than 2-3, there was separate guidance for pregnant women & couples trying to conceive. It also said that after a heavy session alcohol should be avoided for 48 hours. It was only a U.K. change in guidance, WHO guidance stayed unchanged at 21/14.
Winniefree Jun 2020 1:26pm, 4 Jun 2020 1,680 posts	0 Winniefree waves Hi all, I’ve been lurking for a bit. I’m not trying to stop completely but having realised a few weeks ago that I had had a drink every night since lockdown began I thought I ought to cut down. It’s harder than I thought, which is a bit of a worry in itself. I’m using the drinkless app which I like, but as McGoohan noted a few posts back I do find myself saving units for the weekend. Go to substitute is a nice tonic water with ice and lime juice but that six o’clock craving is very strong!
HappyG(rrr) Jun 2020 1:37pm, 4 Jun 2020 35,082 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) Hi Winniefree, welcome on board. Keep us posted with your goals and use this forum as a place to state your goals (if useful), track your progress, share stories, ask for help, whatever you need! Gobi, perfectly reasonable question. My answer (and we're all different) is that my problem is quantity of alcohol, not the flavour of the drinks or the smell or anything else. So if you like the flavour of a certain drink, but don't want the alcohol, then a low or zero alcohol version is great. There are people who find the smell or taste horrible. Either because they've never liked it or because it reminds them, in a bad way, of their former drinking. However, in terms of actual alcoholic effect, a zero alc (obviously) or a low or dealcoholized drink (remember the terms are used differently in different areas but I mean 0.5% or less) then you cannot get an "alcohol effect" i.e. drunk with them. I can't say if there is some potential physical damage on liver, cells, brain or anything else. But in terms of "feeling the effect" zero and low alc (<0.5%) I would assert that you couldn't get drunk. And as the thing I want to avoid is "being drunk" zero alc drinks are fine for me. As to why would you like the flavour vs. coca cola or water? Why do some people like bananas and others apples? That's just personal taste, I'd say. I like water, coca cola and IPA beer flavours. But I can't stand diet coke, sweet wine-ish stuff or tea (I know, sacrilege!). Just personal taste. Well done all our TBOGUAers! G
mrs shanksi Jun 2020 1:42pm, 4 Jun 2020 10,702 posts	0 mrs shanksi Welcome Winniefree 😀 I think I was drinking about 18 - 27 units of alcohol a week on average. That is a bottle of wine on 2-3 nights a week. I think a bottle was 9 units? Since I gave up I've had my liver function tested for a work medical and it was normal so hopefully I've not suffered any long term effects.
Derby Tup Jun 2020 3:12pm, 4 Jun 2020 42,660 posts	0 Derby Tup I have very occasional taken a gulp of a 0.5% beer and felt something akin to the buzz associated with a pint or two of beer. I’ve also very occasionally had maybe three bottles of similar and felt completely and utterly clear-headed and sober. I never thought I’d say it but I am slightly cautious of drinking them even though I know in my heart I’ll never drink again (for anyone that doesn’t know I had several secondary cancers removed from my liver early 2019)
Sigh Jun 2020 3:38pm, 4 Jun 2020 6,521 posts	0 Sigh I tried my first 0.5% beer a couple of days ago, it was Old Speckled Hen. Tasted okay, but didn't fancy another one or buying any more of it. The daft thing is, I have some 0% lager in the fridge, and yet it would feel wrong to drink it during the day while at work, which supports Gobi's observation a few pages back - beer is beer

About This Thread

Maintained by Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr)

Looks as though this thread has become popular again, here in 2010 (it's now 2024, and it started in 2008, so I think "ever popular" might be more apt! :-)

G )

Good Luck everyone.

A recent plea for those struggling to "reach out" as they say in US of A!

"Anyone not feeling strong and confident, please shout out. Or fmail. Or any other comms that works. Don't drink alcohol when you don't want to, for lack of someone to talk to. Pick up the phone, not the bottle."

Some acronyms, in case people use them:
JFT - Just for today
ODAAT - One day at a time
KIS - Keep it simple
TBOGUA - The Benefits Of Giving Up Alcohol (the title of this thread!)

New feature: article/blog of the month (period may change randomly!) Swittle's wonderful 14,611 days blog: (see links below)

Linking Joopsy's 17 year blog too, cos it's awesome!

There is a GREAT article summarising some of the benefits, to save you having to trawl through the thread (includes links to helpful apps and other resources).

And a great list of Alternative Drinks started by the lovely LindsD:

Please add to these articles and make them as valuable as possible! Thanks! :-)

G

And one from way back when...
Dirt Monkey's brilliant blog on TBOGUA too - go try this...

Rebel has recommended a couple of good books:
The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
by Catherine Gray

The Alcohol Experiment: 30 Days to Take Control, Cut Down or Give Up For Good
by Annie Grace

A great response from a health professional in Ireland responding to a question from a Guardian reader about why the warnings on alcoholic drinks that are coming in:

theguardian.com

"Alcohol is responsible for at least 1,000 cancer cases every year in Ireland, with one in eight breast cancer cases arising from alcohol use. Even one to two drinks per day increases the risk of developing cancer, and that risk is the same whether those drinks are wine, spirits or beer. Unfortunately, there is a very low level of public awareness that alcohol has been classed as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning it is carcinogenic to humans. That is why Ireland has passed legislation that provides for health information labels on alcohol products, including warnings about cancer, liver disease and the danger of drinking in pregnancy. It is unsurprising that the alcohol industry, which promotes its products with carefully crafted myths of good times for all, is objecting to the mandatory provision of facts (Anger brews in Italy over Ireland’s plans for alcohol health warnings, 12 January).
Dr Sheila Gilheany
CEO, Alcohol Action Ireland
"

And the all important fabulous services:
Alcoholics Anonymous
National Helpline (FREE) 0800 9177 650
help@aamail.org

Al Anon
020 7403 0888

medal

Contact TBOGUA medal

We're adding in our own Fetch offer of one to one contact too, for anyone who doesn't want to post in the thread for whatever reason. Please feel free to fmail ANY of the names listed below.

- - - -
HappyG(rrr)
( Oscar the grouch RIP )
mrs shanksi
Derby Tup
iaincr
Love Lettuce
DocM
LindsD
GeneHunt59
GregP