Yeah, when your body has a chemical addiction then going off & back on & back off the substance can be worse than just staying on it. I notice this with caffeine, for sure. I’d not heard the specific term “kindling effect” but was familiar with the concept.
In my mind I imagine it’s a similar idea with medication. I know when my soon-to-be-former SIL goes off her meds and then goes back on them it’s very hard on her body.
I think that’s different and just normal withdrawal.
Sedative hypnotic drugs like alcohol have a progressive severity to withdrawal that sounds very frightening.
Wow, glad you made it through it. Hadn’t heard of that effect before.
Glad you made that decision @The_President . Doesn’t need to be everybody’s absolute choice but it is the healthiest.
I just exceeded 40 pounds lost since June. 199 > 158.6. I’m really not trying to lose as much weight as possible - I would have been happy if I naturally drifted to about 170-175.
I’m nearing a point where I’ll intentionally increase my caloric intake, but right now I just eat when my body is hungry, ensuring I get at least 1600, and might burn 150 calories a day exercising on average.
Feels like less of a choice now, but that’s fine. Looking back at the couple of times I did have drinks pre-holidays…the drink really didn’t add anything. Mid drink #2 I just felt a bit slow and tired and probably less chatty than otherwise.
The one thing I am finding interesting now that I am inundated with ads on Facebook is there really seems to be a pretty good NA beer market. I am actually more excited by the options there than I was going to the local grocery store looking at normal beer, so I have that to look forward to. The problem with craft beer in the last decade is that everything went to super hoppy NE IPAs which are just boring to me after a while. It was nice to see stouts, brown ales, and many of the styles I like that no one actually makes.
I’m still dropping about 2lbs a week.
the NA options are way more interesting than the old ages w Kaliber and ODouls.
Had an NA happy hour at home yesterday with the SO. We went to the nearby liquor store together to check out the options, maybe about 30 or so to pick from. They had a few NA spirits, but the ads i have seen on Facebook have been more appealing, so i may check them out at some point.
Midway through the first beer, i felt like i was missing something. After#2, not so much. That bit of brain haze that i observed not liking back in December at this point with real beer was not there. That was a nice plus.
The NA selections were hit or miss. Guinness 0 is good, Blue Moon NA with an orange was great. The Athletic Oktoberfest was meh, the local brewery NA was not very good, but i don’t care for the alcoholic version of the same beer. This was my SO’s pick and a poorly thought out decision. It’s a $10 loss on the way to a healthier life.
grabbing a sampler of the NA options is fun. helps you survey what’s out there and also lets you try different flavors 9which may distract you from whats missing, if that is helpful).
guiness 0 is solid IMO
I could see myself drinking a “mocktail” (virgin drink), but I cannot fathom drinking an N/A beer. I like a good beer but part of the appeal includes the alcohol. During the times that I’ve “not drank”, I’ve had no desire to substitute. I think I can accept not drinking because I’m still a competitive athlete and need every edge I can get as I age.
Additionally, don’t many N/A beers actually have alcohol? Is 0.4% still too much for some who are avoiding alcohol?
I like both regular and NA beers but for my taste, any beer where the alcohol is obvious is not a well-made beer. Same goes for wine. Of course, the alcohol gives it that extra oomph in the mouth and works well if it’s balanced with the other flavors.
Meanwhile, I bought my first Stella NA and was impressed. The bottle has a handsome design and I’ll be buying more. I can now cycle between Stella, Heineken and Becks if I’m looking for variety in NA lagers.
Sprite with grenadine and maraschino cherry be hitting
As for for NA beers that are less than 1% abv - you would need to drink about 10 of them in rapid succession to feel a buzz
Orange juice has more alcohol than Heineken 0.0 (which has by my research at most 0.05% alcohol, far lower than the 0.5% maximum to be labeled non-alcoholic).
I meant not that I could explicitly taste the alcohol, but more the effect of the alcohol.
One of my questions, better phrased, is wouldn’t some NA beers be inappropriate for some with alcohol problems?
Interesting question. Alcohol is present in small quantities in some regular food items, such as bananas, bread and soy sauce. So if trace amounts of alcohol is bad for the problem, there would be quite a list to avoid -
I think it depends on the person.
I had a NA wine recently. It was served in a wine glass, and tasted more or less like wine. I didn’t enjoy it at all, I personally at this stage, don’t want things trying to imitate alcohol. Hard to describe succinctly why, but I just don’t want to be reminded of it.
I think for a lot of people, especially if starting their journey of drinking less alcohol, NA versions of alcohol work well to help them drink less alcohol.
Waiting for ST:TNG’s synthehol?
Depends on the person. I’ll still have a drink of what my partner is drinking if it’s something interesting, or just something I really miss like a good bourbon drink or something that used a smoker. But I only take a sip, perhaps 2. I also drink kombucha which is in the same range.
But I’m not drinking 1500 ml of N/A beer. Once when I was really tempted to drink I went on a bender of 4 N/A beers over about 90 minutes. All told that’s equivalent to 1 beer of 2.0% ABV enjoyed across 1.5 hours. No big deal.
If that causes another person to stumble, they should avoid it.
which compares to having sipped 6oz of a bud light in that same 90 minutes. Half a can of light american beer in 1.5 hrs. all but the “0 means 0” abstinence folks would say that isn’t “using” IMO
stopdrinking.reddit.com frequently has people posting like “I was served an alcoholic drink when I asked for N/A and took a sip, does this reset my counter???”
Like my dude. There isn’t a law about this. You’re good.
I haven’t been trying to lose weight anymore (so no worries I have a disorder), but lost a little more much more slowly. All told, down from 199 to 156 pounds. Nearly 8 months today. 213 was my heaviest in 2019, this is my lightest as an adult ever.
My partner is joining me for a Dry February. I’ve always weighed more than them but neither of us were obese. I gained a little bit over the years, they gained a fair bit more to be pretty close to my weight. They were happy when I began dropping weight… and they are still happy, but also clearly a bit jealous. They now weigh a moderate amount more. So they’re cutting out the alcohol, and it appears dinner tonight is quite healthy.
I’m slightly joining Dry February by cutting down my cannabis usage. I’m not quitting because my spouse (+therapist) wholeheartedly agrees I don’t have a problem and said I don’t have to do this to support them, but I think it’s a good idea. I’m going to ensure I’m not toking up just out of boredom the moment I’m done with important tasks for the day. Used to be work, study, exercise, if anything complex like taxes needed done do it, then - few tokes off the weed pen while I make dinner.
I’m still smoking but breaking the habit of it being my go-to “done with hard stuff” habit, which used to be a drink.