To Drink or Not to Drink

Alcohol - I am no stranger to this fun-fuel. I have enjoyed a few boogie nights, long lunches, debouched dinners and pub crawls over the years.  Let’s face it, the drinking culture in the South African youth was alive and well where I was growing up – pretty much like everywhere else I suppose? 

Drinking alcohol has never been a huge focus in my life but it has always been lurking around and has never been too far away. The longest I have not had ‘the booze’ was during my pregnancies and breast feeding days. It was not really and issue to give it up (My morning sickness was of such a nature that even a whiff had me gagging!) 

I had agreed to give up alcohol in the last 4 weeks of Round 4 2012 of the 12wbt, as part of the nutrition challenge. 

pic from polyvore.com

I knew I had a few red flag days – dinner at my Uncles house, 26^th Jan 2013 -Australia Day, I was going to become a citizen, book club dinner and some kiddies parties to attend all in the same month.

But it was quite simple; I did not even entertain the idea that I could have a drink, so I never wanted one. The hardest part was explaining to my friends why I was not having a drink. None seemed to mind and all were happy with the concept of a dry month. Quite a few were confused as to why I was doing this in the beginning of year and not in ‘Dry July’. I did not know that was a thing so when I first heard that expression, I was a bit confused, but it seems to be renown amongst the South Coast Aussies. 

So the month came and went and I have never ever felt better, better in every single way.

Hugo also did the no-booze with me (it was his own decision to do this) He had two pre-arranged evenings he knew he would have a drink or 10, so they were his drink passes for the month.  He too found it remarkable how great he felt after the alcohol reduced time.

So I did a bit of google-ing. 

The general consensus is that alcohol is not good for you, except for making you boogie like  a diva on the dance floor, there are lots and lots of horrible things it can do to your body. The interesting things I found out were mostly related to how reducing it positively impacted my life. I was not imagining these improvements I had experienced, it is all hard fact.

I woke up each day feeling more refreshed, vital and ready to go! (Alcohol increases wakefulness, especially in the 2^nd half of sleep, thus disturbing the quality of sleep)

I trained better. (probably due to my better sleep) and recovered from my session better (Alcohol stalls the recovery process)

I dropped body fat. (Alcohol increases stress hormone levels (cortisol) which encourages fat storage on the mid section. It is high in calories, giving your body a surplus to burn off and on top of that, your body metabolises the alcohol over fats and carbs. )

My skin looked better. (Alcohol dehydrates you)

Thinking clearly and positively. (Alcohol is a depressive)

Abstaining from alcohol had a pos-O-tive impact in the bed room too. (Contrary to popular belief, alcohol actually lowers the physiological signs of arousal and decreases the intensity of an orgasm. This is not to be confused with the effect that alcohol has psychologically which is known to lower inhibitions and increase sexual desire :) )

from themetapicture.com

 

So to sum it up, although the month has come and gone and I can now drink all I like, I still have not quite got my drinking mojo back. My new priority is my daily workout and I really don’t like anything to mess with that time and space.