Alcohol free January

How can I ask the questions I am asking without appearing smug? Could someone rewrite my post in an appropriate unsmug style? Anya, why don't you try to do it?

I do not smoke, but I can understand why other people smoke because many smokers, despite the potential health problems, talk of the enjoyment they get from smoking, (why they smoke once the health problems kick in is a separate question) but with alcohol, that period when alcohol is a pleasurable feeling with no immediate side effects doesn't exist hence my curiosity.

Monica this is was a thread started by someone who wants wanted to go alcohol free in January and was asking for support - so I will just ask you, and others (as you were not alone in this but at least you were the only one to consider what you wrote) do you consider your posts offered that support?

Just asking?

One thing that always strikes me with threads like these - why are there so many non-drinkers who are convinced that their particular position is the only correct one?

I have never come across a (moderate, as I don't know any alcoholics) drinker who does his or her utmost to convince the teetotal that they should indulge occasionally.

Whatever happened to live and let live?

And so many of those non-drinkers or abstemious drinkers seem drawn to asking why we moderate drinkers do it!

M0nica asks why we continue 'when the side effects are so unpleasant'. What side-effects? Unless you drink enough to ensure a hangover the next day, I can't think of any unpleasant side-effects a couple of glasses of your drink of choice causes...

Im not being smug or self satisfied, anyone can get drunk any time as far as Im concerned, we are all adults and know the harm we are doing ot our bodies. My problem is that vIe seen the harm it has done to families, deaths it has caused, I had a half brother who was killed by a drink driver, ive known families driven apart due to alcohol. It scares me.

As ive said before people just giggle and act silly when inebriated, I hate to be like that, Ive tried it and I was so scared I would make a fool of myself or insult anyone. Yes I think that sums it up Im scared of drink.

ethelbags you say you hate to go into a pub where people are laughing like idiots - presumably because they have drunk too much. I can't remember the last time i went into a pub like that. Most pubs these days are also eateries (they don't stay in business long if they aren't) and people go for the food, accompanied by a glass of wine or beer, not to get hammered and make fools of themselves. Perhaps you are frequenting the wrong pubs?

I think a few people on here need to be a bit less smug and judgemental, it may surprise you, but most of us enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, a crisp cold G and T, etc., without getting hung over, boring or daft. I enjoy a glass or two of wine when out for dinner with friends, none of us get drunk or noisy. I shall however, be going alcohol free in January as it is part of no chocolate/alcohol/give my digestion a break, and i wish everyone else success. Lets keep up to date with how we all feel at the end of the month.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

No Monica I will not.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Ridiculous, having to have a 'dry' month.

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.

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

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!

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

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 !