Alcohol free January

Happy birthday Anya. Have a good one.

Happy Birthday Anya have a lovely birthday and enjoy your tipple

Happy Birthday Anya Enjoy the wine !

Well done everyone, especially those surrounded by others imbibing.

I did declare at the beginning of this that I'd have a drink this weekend as it's my birthday so tonight and tomorrow I will have a glass. Then back on track till the end.

Gin, wine and all sorts have been consumed around me tonight - I had a quick sniff of the gin because it was a gift from DS's GF to DH but I can't can wait to taste it

Seriously, I'm not really missing it - but I think all the cordials we have experimented with in the mocktails aren't doing my waistline any good

Well done everyone - aren't we doing well ...?

Dry day 22

I'm still in and, oddly, not missing it at all now. I can't say i've lost any weight or that i feel any better, but the wellbeing effect has probably been subsumed by the fact that i've had a heavy cold for most of the month (which i'm sure a few Oban malts or home made sloe gins would have seen off promptly!). I will be pleased to see the month out though!

Well done everybody, I'm hanging on in there too... and to my amazement find I've started to actually look forward to my tomato juice and Worcester sauce 'tipple' in the evening. (Nobody could me more surprised than I am!) Pleased to have lost a few pounds and can now sit down in my fave jeans without feeling as if they'll burst at the seams, so that's a bonus. Onwards and sideways...

Result NanKate
????

Yes congratulations to all. At last I am finding it easier and am losing a small amount of weight. Hurray !

Dry day 21...!!!

No

Congratulations to everyone still on the wagon - too many names to mention but you all know who you are Just keep on keeping on

Ignore the if

baNana I have the light ginger beer of Fever Tree, they do a sweeter more calorific one as well.

I think I am about right with my estimate Suzied as I have on average 3 small glasses of sherry a week with a lump of ice in it. A Bacardi and half a coke on a Friday and a 175 ml glass of wine on a Saturday and Sunday. I wouldn't have thought that was above 10 units but if I may be wrong.

Good post NanKate, agree with everything you say, except my tipple while cooking is usually a glass of red or white depending on mood. Will try the Fever Tree ginger, as said before do like their tonic, not tried the ginger (& I'll forget about the wee dram I have with ginger when feeling a cold coming on - just for medicinal reasons you understand......)
Keep going smiling everyone! x

NanKate remember everyone always underestimates how much they drink!

Although I have found this dry month tricky it's made me realise that although I don't drink above the old recommended units, that perhaps. I should consider cutting back.

I was with my WI friends yesterday and I boldly said 'I only drink about 9 or 10 units a week' at that each one said they drank far less than that and I realised I was the biggest drinker there.

It's when I am preparing the supper I often have a glass of sherry which I really enjoy and now miss.

My conclusion to this dry month is that it has raised my awareness of my regular but smallish drinking habit and my need to cut back, which I intend to do.

Happy to say I love the Fever Tree light ginger beer which has become my drink of choice.

OK having read both, I tend to think that Gilmore won that debate, no question, if only by his use of statistics to back up his arguement, whereas the other merely surmised.

Oh no! Reasoned debate always leaves me feeling I agree with both

I'll read it now Jane

www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i143

I think this is the article Annsixty was referring to, Anya.
Not evidence as such, but reasoned debate between two academics with opposing viewpoints.

Well done to all my fellow dry January pals! Must say I'm just bored of it now and starting to take a sneaky peek at the calendar...not that I'm missing it much you understand!

Yes onwards.....good word jogging, lovely support on here. Fever Tree tonic makes a big difference by the way. Upwards and .......

Can you believe ......?

... we are on dry day 20

Onwards.....

Still going strong, but I must admit I am looking forward to my birthday glass of wine

We are definitely getting close now

My weekend will be a test as we have DS and his girlfriend and they do like a bit of gin-cocktail-mixing - mine will of course be alcohol free

You can buy alcohol free mulled wine GillT57 - it's not bad either - I think we got it from Sainsburys'. It's Belvoir Fruit Farms but of course they may have replaced such things with Easter eggs

I'm not convinced BaNANAGran3 ...

Still hanging on in here, couple of near misses though. I would have loved a mug of mulled wine after a cold brisk walk late on Sunday......but resisted.

Well done to everybody who is staying dry - perhaps all the more so if you have had a wobble and then got back on the straight and narrow. That is really impressive!

Whilst I haven't joined in this time round, lots of these posts have made me reflect on the benefits of , at the very least, cutting down on alcohol all year round.

I posted earlier that I only have a couple of glasses on a Friday night and one on a Saturday as a rule - which is true, but then they are rather large glasses so I am hiding from the truth a bit really! I think I should still try to cut down ... The temptation is to put it off. My DH has 2 days leave starting tomorrow so a lovely long weekend in prospect and I expect he will come home with a celebrational bottle to kick things off so I will probably be resolving to start being good next Monday ...

One change I am making at the moment is to herbal or decaf teas. We have always drunk 'proper' filter coffee first thing and then I have had decaf instant coffee for the rest of the day. Still not ready to give up my caffeine fix first thing, but as I have been suffering from bad sleep recently (stress related) I have changed to drinking peppermint / camomile tea or just water at other times. Too early to tell if it is going to make a substantive difference, but I feel better for it.