Improved health and lifestyle from quitting drinking

Noticed that Becks NA has 60 calories per 330ml bottle. Deschutes Kernza has slightly less calories per volume, with 64 calories for 355ml. Sadly, black butte has 110 calories.

Athletics brewing run wild, which I can get at Costco, has 65 calories per 355ml.

Interesting how you defined ā€œless,ā€ although I get how you got there.

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Fixed

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So, this is the opposite of the thread titleā€¦

Declining Health and Lifestyle from Continued Drinking

From The Actuary Magazine, A Post-Pandemic View of Alcohol Consumption - The Actuary Magazine

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Related, but not alcohol. Iā€™m on week two of no smoking.
I grew up in an area where everyone smoked. And they still do, my mother, sister, and brother in law live together and buy cigarettes by the case. Not the carton, the case.
I managed to quit for many years, but went moose hunting, had some cigars and it deteriorated since then.
It sucks from a couple reasons. I love smoking. smoke+coffee. smoke+driving. etc. But I hate being a smoker. The smell doesnā€™t bother me but smelling does. And I donā€™t like the control it has over me. I donā€™t want to smoke right now, but I really need to. No thanks. Iā€™m running the show here not nicotine.

With alcohol, I can drink. Or, I can never drink. Neither alternative causes me a whit of concern. OTOH. I have one smoke and Iā€™m puffing away like itā€™s a harmonica. Itā€™d be nice to have one once in a while, but thatā€™ll never be me.

So nice that Iā€™m not smelly anymore, other than due to natural causes (hey, you guys smell popcorn?). And I can already feel it in my workouts. When Iā€™m on the treadmill, I can take a deep breath and it goes right to the bottom. And I donā€™t have that damn smokers cough that was starting to become persistant.

I donā€™t get embarrassed easily, but I certainly do notice that nobody in my social circle smokes. Iā€™m the only one that has to step outside, or they have to find a makeshift ashtray. Itā€™ll be nice to going back to that not being a consideration either.

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link:Reality Check by Dave Whamond for January 31, 2025 - GoComics

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How You Can Join the Ranks of the Part-Time Sober
Lots of people are cutting back on drinking but not stopping entirely. Here are some tips they say can help.

link to archive: https://archive.ph/USV1j

cut&paste

How You Can Join the Ranks of the Part-Time Sober

Lots of people are cutting back on drinking but not stopping entirely. Here are some tips they say can help.

By

Andrea Petersen

Feb. 1, 2025 7:00 am ET

Kim Hoeckele

It can take a lot of rules to be a successful member of the growing ranks of the part-time sober. No wine after 8 p.m. No drinking during the workweek. No hard liquor. Only hard liquor.

Dry January may be over. But many people are cutting back on alcohol, spurred by increasing concern about the health impacts of even minimal drinking, the popularity of nonalcoholic beers and fancy mocktails and the rise of sober-curious influencers, among other reasons.

A scientific report released in January found that having one drink a day was linked to an increased risk of liver cirrhosis, esophageal cancer and oral cancer. The risk of developing some cancers, including breast and colorectal cancer, starts with any alcohol use.

Almost half of Americans, and 65% of Gen Zers, said they plan to drink less alcohol in 2025, according to a survey by research firm NCSolutions that included 1,131 adults ages 21 and over.

But boozeā€”and the temptation to drink itā€”can feel like itā€™s everywhere when youā€™re trying to imbibe less. Making rules for yourself can help you resist, many of the part-time sober say.

Picking your day(s)

Some people limit their drinking to certain days of the weekā€”and have to get creative to stick to it. Tina Cornell, 56 years old, loves wine and used to have it pretty much daily. But, starting around two years ago, she started drinking only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. (She does have the occasional slip-up, she admits.) She cut down after a few friends had health scares, after she started hearing more about alcohol and cancer risk and because she noticed that, as she got older, drinking made it hard to get uninterrupted sleep.

The problem is that sometimes Sunday or Monday night rolls around and thereā€™s still an open bottle of wine in the fridge. Cornell canā€™t bring herself to dump it. So sheā€™ll sautĆ© vegetables with it. Or sheā€™ll encourage her husband to drink it. ā€œHeā€™s better about breaking the rules and forgiving himself,ā€ says Cornell, who lives in Northampton, Mass., and works in the jewelry industry.

About 53% of American adults 18 and older regularly consume alcohol, meaning they had at least 12 drinks in the past year, according to 2018 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A smaller but still significant number of people are heavy drinkers. About 5.8% of those 12 and older, or about 16.4 million people, reported heavy alcohol use during the prior month, according to 2023 federal survey data. For men, that is defined as having five or more drinks in any single day or 15 or more per week. For women, itā€™s four or more drinks in one day or eight or more per week.

Picking your drink

Patrick Martin skips big meetups to avoid alcohol.

Some of the part-time sober say the drink they choose is critical to keeping to their self-imposed limits. When Hope Traficanti cut back on drinking as she neared 50, she stopped keeping wine and liquor at home. When out with friends, she avoids the mixed drinks she used to go for because with sweet cocktails, ā€œyou donā€™t taste the alcohol,ā€ and, in the past, sheā€™d imbibe more than she had planned. Now, when she does drink, she sticks to straight whiskey on the rocks. ā€œYou kind of know how much alcohol youā€™re consuming,ā€ says Traficanti, now 50, who works in international development and lives in Queens, N.Y. This makes it easier to keep to her one-drink-maximum rule, she says.

Patrick Martin, 33, reserves alcohol for special occasions, like to mark a business success or when lingering over dinner at a bucket-list restaurant. He skips the industry parties and big meetups, situations where he gets anxious and previously would reach for alcohol to cope. ā€œI told myself, ā€˜Patrick, if you say yes to this, youā€™ll end up drinking,ā€™ā€ said Martin, who works in digital advertising and video production in New York.

Dr. Shannon Dowler advises patients who want to cut back on drinking to choose a photo that encapsulates why theyā€™re making the change and use it as their phone lock screen or computer screen saver. A photo of them skiing, if improving fitness is their motivator, for example. Or of themselves looking fabulous in a bathing suit, if weight loss is the goal. ā€œItā€™s a visual reminder of whatā€™s inspiring you to make a change for your health,ā€ says Dowler, a member of the board of directors for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Thinking of the morning after

Johnny Goudie abides by a two-drink limit.

Scheduling a morning bike ride or run keeps Ian Andersen, 40, from going beyond his usual limit of three light beers during nights out with friends. Knowing how miserable it feels to exercise with a hangover is a powerful motivator, he says. It also gives him a ready excuse to turn down friendsā€™ offers of a fourth beer. Andersen, who co-founded an app to help people cut down or eventually quit drinking alcohol, also drinks a glass of water between beers, whatā€™s known as Zebra striping on social media.

Johnny Goudie instituted a two-drink limit this January, after a particularly boozy holiday season. ā€œI wonā€™t have that, ā€˜Man, if this feels good, one more will feel great,ā€™ā€ that he says happens with a third, which then often leads to a fourth. And he makes it a rule to drink a glass of water between his alcoholic drinks. Then heā€™ll switch to Diet Coke. ā€œI donā€™t like crazy mocktails because I think itā€™s just weird to pay like, $15, for something without booze in it,ā€ says Goudie, a 56-year-old musician and podcast host in Austin, Texas.

The biggest problems with sticking to his limitā€”or staying away from alcohol on some nights altogetherā€”is the easy access to booze at work. (He often plays at bars and clubs, where fans buy him drinks, and private parties, where thereā€™s freeā€”and free-flowingā€”alcohol.)

And then thereā€™s the boredom during the several hours of downtime he usually has between setting up for a gig and performing. Instead of sitting around the venueā€”with the alcohol close at handā€”he leaves. He has gone home to walk his dog, Rosie, and to his grandmotherā€™s house to chop vegetables. To fill the downtime at gigs that are farther afield, he brings a notebook and a set of watercolors.

ā€œIā€™ll just try and make something as opposed to destroying my physical health,ā€ he said.

Write to Andrea Petersen at andrea.petersen@wsj.com

chatgpt summary

How to Embrace Part-Time Sobriety

Many people are cutting back on alcohol without quitting entirely, driven by health concerns, the rise of nonalcoholic drinks, and sober-curious trends. A January study linked even minimal drinking to increased cancer risks, prompting more Americansā€”especially Gen Zā€”to reduce alcohol consumption.

Strategies for Part-Time Sobriety:

  • Set Rules: Many establish personal limits, such as drinking only on certain days or avoiding specific types of alcohol.
  • Choose Drinks Wisely: Opting for spirits over cocktails or limiting alcohol at home helps manage intake.
  • Plan for the Morning After: Scheduling exercise or work commitments discourages excessive drinking.
  • Avoid Triggers: Skipping social events where drinking feels obligatory or engaging in alternative activities can help.

Ultimately, part-time sobriety is about mindful drinking and finding ways to maintain social and professional lives without overindulging.

I made Dry January to the end. Glad to say it was easy. proliferation of NA beers at bars/restaurants helps make it easy. I also donā€™t want to have 20 diet cokes when i am out.

I did buy some NA ā€œrumā€. wasnā€™t worth buying.

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I bought a handful of NA spirits last year, the fake gins and campari were ok to mix in with a carbonated water, but the others were pretty bad. I should try them again to see if my tastes have change enough to appreciate them more now.

i would think gin should be something that can be approximated. but even then maybe iā€™d end out dashing some bitters (which contains alcohol, so 3 dashes of that is still likele NA overall but I get not all feel that it would comply). mainly, lowish cal mocktails that arenā€™t sweetness overload - what are they?

We got some N/A whiskey recently and alone, it was horrendous. But in a drink, it did a good job approximating the flavor of added whiskey.

i canā€™t imagine it straight. itā€™s a mixer I assume