Alcohol free January

not 'spectacular'. bloody ipad

Can't remember what it should have been now,

I'm off. Biscuits to eat.

Can't quite understand why anyone should be spectacular to re-word someone else's post. Bit like one of those questions in primary schools English lessons.

Fewer calories than beer though, jingl. And better for you than gin

well said MaggieMay now can we be a bit more supportive as was the point of this post? Jings I do like the taste of wine, love a cold G and T or Aperol spritzer on a hot summers day ( roll on summer) and I wouldn't drink it if I didnt like the taste. So good luck to all of us who are having a month off, and good luck to those who are not.

Oi Monica!! I've been judgemental.

I have nothing against anyone having a 'dry month'. Just shouldn't need it in the first place. Wine drinking has become far too 'fashionable'. I suppose it is down to middle class affluence. And social media.

Nobody has denigrated anyone for wanting to give up alcohol for a month, nor has anyone expressed any judgemental attitudes. All that has happened is that some of us have sought elucidation as to why, as thatbags says, that as one only needs to have a dry month if one feels one has drunk too much for a while and since those that do this complain about the negative effects alcohol has on them why do they do it. It strikes me as a quite reasonable question.

Anya, why are you so defensive and uncomfortable with this question? Oh and why won't your reword my query in what you perceive as a non smug way?

Might I say, you Dry January gang, don't jump ship! I look forward to watching your progress through the coming month and hope you get lots of support and a well-deserved sense of achievement from your challenge.

As a moderate drinker, I am not participating as I find January bleak enough, especially when the Christmas lights go out, and would not want to depress myself by denying myself any of my pleasures.

I'll try to answer a couple of your questions, M0nica, from my perspective:

genuinely puzzled why people want to drink alcohol frequently and enough to feel a month without drinking is really difficult
I drink alcohol frequently (typically, over a week, a bottle of wine and a couple of G & Ts, ie around 12 units) because it's one of life's pleasures. I would not relish giving up altogether for a month, any more than I would want to give up fish, or bacon, or cheese, or chocolate, or my many daily cuppas.

I would be interested to hear from people who do drink more regularly why they enjoy the taste and effects alcohol has on them when they are so unpleasant
Unpleasant? Not to me, M0nica! Or to anyone else who appreciates a glass of decent wine or a cold G & T, a glass of craft beer or a good cognac, etc (sorry for putting those images in your mind, Dry January people ) As for unpleasant effects, that surely only applies to over-indulgence?

What amazes me is that so many regular drinkers, I do NOT mean problem drinkers, say how much better they feel, physically and mentally after doing a dry month, in which case why on earth do they drink in the first place or return to it afterwards?
Apparently people have the same feeling of well-being after a month of clean eating, or cutting out red meat or caffeine. It gives the body a break and boosts well-being. For most of us though, it's not something we want to stick to for the rest of our lives.

Hope this helps

jingle, I love the taste of good red wine, and I'd rather have a glass of Merlot than a greasy doughnut any day !

But jings it is better than NOT having a dry month. And the study mentioned earlier found that -
" . . .72% of participants had maintained lower levels of harmful drinking and 4% were still not drinking after six months.

They were also more likely to say no to a drink in social situations, when feeling worried or upset, and in situations where they would normally have had a drink.

After going for a month without alcohol, people also reported a number of other benefits:

• 82% felt a sense of achievement
• 79% saved money
• 62% had better sleep
• 62% had more energy
• 49% lost weight "

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/27612

PS that only applies to doughnuts with holes in them rather than big gooey ones with strawberry jam jingl cos air has no calories in it!

And as this thread is turning into anything but supportive then I too will jump ship as others gave done

Who is talking about drinking to excess bags ? And what is excess?

One glass of wine a day is now considered 'excessive' unless it's a tidily little one. If some people choose to give up alcohol for a month then good luck to them and us, and if all that some others can do is denigrate that decision then I suppose we just have to live with their judgemental attitudes.

Ridiculous, having to have a 'dry' month.

Oh yes. I am being smug and judgemental. So many women drink far too much. It's bad for your health.

I think most women drink a lot simply because they think it the 'in' thing to do. And then they get hooked on it. I don't believe anyone really enjoys the taste of wine.

Heard on the radio this morning there is as many calories in a glass of wine as in a doughnut.

But one can still enjoy an alcoholic drink (or several) without overdoing it. It's the tendency to excess (excluding that caused by addiction, which is a separate thing altogether), that I don't get.

Anya Why not? And thank you thatbags I am glad some one else understand where my query comes from.

I had mineral water with my lunch, as I usually do. Apart from the odd glass of Pinot G now and then.

Greyduster we had lunch in a fairly upmarket pub today, and the bar area was pretty noisy. You get a bunch of men together round a pub bar, put a glass or two in their hands, and see how quiet, or otherwise, they get! It's in the very nature of pubs and their drinkers. Eateries they be, but a pub is still a pub! Quite rightly.

No Monica I will not.

I won't be having a dry January or any other dry month. I had fizzy leg syndrome and got up at 0100 on 1 January, made some tea and also had a wee slug of raspberry liqueur that DD had sent me in a hamper in November.

But I think one only needs to have a dry month if one feels one has drunk too much for a while. Why would people do it except to make themselves feel better (either physically or mentally/psychologically) and why would anyone want to do it to make themselves feel better if they hadn't made themselves feel bad in the first place by over-indulgence? It's the same with food dieting after the xmas/new year period: if you don't eat too much to begin with you won't have anything to deal with later. I truly find the feasting/overeating/overdrinking attitude that seems to prevail very odd. If that sounds smug, so be it; it's not meant to sound smug, only baffled because over-indulging is so bloody uncomfortable!

Anya this thread , like many, meanders around the subject. Of course I support those wanting to go a whole month without drinking alcohol, but it doesn't stop me also wanting to understand why people drink when so many complain about the side effects and acknowledge they feel so much better, physically and mentally when they have a good break from it.

*GillT57 I am not judgemental. I have said nothing to criticise anyone who drirnks more than I do. As I have said I enjoy a glass of wine/cider/beer with a meal when we eat out and an occasional night cap, not much different to your drinking pattern. What I do not understand is why every one is getting so defensive and edgy simply because I ask why some, well quite a lot of people, drink enough to feel the negative affects of alcohol, both at the time and later, yet keep drinking. That doesn't seem an unreasonable question.

As I said in my last email, Anya please would you rewrite and post my queries in a way that you do not consider smug.

Jogginggirl - thanks! I'm encouraged ☺️
DD has just made sure 3xDGS and friend also respect me. Just going to get another drink of what my DGF called 'Adam's Ale', Eve's Elixir too of course!

Well it's day 2 and all is going well. However when 5.00 pm comes I know that is when my mind goes to having a drink and oat cake whilst preparing supper. I think it is a habit, which I want to break.

I don't drink much but I do like a glass of (strong) cider in the evenings.

I think I'll go for the dry January thing.