NRR - Thinking of completely giving up alcohol

Coming from a family full of drinkers and seeing this situation a lot over the years, I've never known anyone who completely gave up alcohol and regretted it. For someone who is used to drinking regularly, there will be an adjustment period that could be pretty rough at times. However, in the long run, the people I know that have given up drinking are much happier.

At one point I was a pretty moderate drinker and totally quit for about 10 years. After that I resumed having an occasional drink, like a couple of drinks per week total. I doubt there are many negatives to very moderate drinking, but in this day and age you can socialize without alcohol and no one bats an eye.

Totally agree with Distance to Spirits. Alcohol is a poison. Alleged cardiac benefits of red wine are way overstated and dwarfed by the association of even moderate amounts of alcohol with multiple different cancers. When I drink it screws up my thinking and judgement and productivity. Not a heavy drinker and never had legal consequences but I still find it very difficult to stop entirely although I sure would like to.

OP, how old are you?

brofest2016 wrote:

Beer is pretty detrimental to your health, I think this is pretty well documented.

Where is this documented?

I never started drinking. My dad was an alcoholic who literally drank himself into an early grave and left emotional scars on his family in the process. I swore as a teenager that I wouldn't go down that route, and I'm happy to say I've kept that promise.

As for work functions, I've never had a problem just having tea or water. I've never felt pressured to drink because clients or coworkers were. As to social settings, if someone won't be my friend or date me because I don't drink, that's not the type of person I want in my life anyway.

It does my heart good to see posts like this. Alcoholism is an epidemic in our country and no one wants to talk about it. I will never understand why drinking is so glorified in our culture. It makes no sense.

a 12 oz beer usually has 150 calories from wheat. If you drink 5 on a night out that is a lot. Obviously 1 or 2 isn't that detrimental

gohawkeyes wrote:

a 12 oz beer usually has 150 calories from wheat. If you drink 5 on a night out that is a lot. Obviously 1 or 2 isn't that detrimental

Zero calories from wheat. 150 calories from barley. Most beer doesn't contain wheat, unless it's specifically a wheat beer :-)

Anyway, having some calories if consumed in excess is not an argument for something being detrimental to your health. I could make the same argument for bananas. The alcohol itself, in excess, is of course a real issue, but from what I've read consumption of beer in moderation actually carries some health benefits.

I'm 32 for someone who asked how old I am. I have many coworkers and friends from college and high school who are married and even have kids who still drink a lot and get quite drunk when going out.

brofest2016 wrote:

I'm 32 for someone who asked how old I am. I have many coworkers and friends from college and high school who are married and even have kids who still drink a lot and get quite drunk when going out.

Yeah, many people enjoy getting drunk when they go out. Even people with kids. Especially people with kids, actually. Kids are a pain in the ass!

If you don't like to drink, don't. If you're not comfortable hanging out with people who are drinking, don't. If you feel pressured to do either against your will, you need to find some different people to hang out with. Simple as that.

I'm old as dirt and I don't drink much anymore. The only time I drink is after we have a party. I don't drink more than one at parties thrown by us or our friends. After the party is over, we have leftover beer because I like to have a variety and none of our friends drink much, so I end up drinking the leftovers the week or two after. For a while, I didn't drink the leftovers and they piled up and my wife wanted me to serve year old beer... I love her but there are limits.

I like red wine too much to ever give up drinking completely, but I would be perfectly content never having more than 2-3 drinks at a time for the rest of my life. The idea of getting drunk is so unappealing to me at this point but it still seems to happen every now and then.

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brofest2016 wrote:

I'm 32 for someone who asked how old I am. I have many coworkers and friends from college and high school who are married and even have kids who still drink a lot and get quite drunk when going out.

Yeah, many people enjoy getting drunk when they go out. Even people with kids. Especially people with kids, actually. Kids are a pain in the ass!

If you don't like to drink, don't. If you're not comfortable hanging out with people who are drinking, don't. If you feel pressured to do either against your will, you need to find some different people to hang out with. Simple as that.

Well this is what I wanted people to opine on. Having seen my aunt, what starts out as pretty harmless behavior, conditions you to slowly become dependent on substances for a good time. One of my friends has a very very good job and makes a lot of money and is 31. He will put himself in settings where is completely acceptable to drink and drink in excess (say a rowdy bar or somewhere crowded). He will frequently drink so much where he will black out, not remember what he did, slur his words, pick fights, etc - just generally nasty behavior. He wasn't always like this, it has gotten noticeably worse and when he is not working he is usually drinking. I would say I know 3 or 4 other friends like this where their drinking habits have gotten worse as they got older. Also when you are around them they pressure you to drink. Now I know some of you might say well just don't hang out with them but it isn't that easy. Some of them you do business with, some are at the same work events, parties, friends with girlfriend's friends, etc. I would have no problem just going to a party or work event and not drinking but it seems almost impossible in some instances (maybe I am just a mental midget? but I am sure some of you must get the drift).

Again having seen my aunt, I just wonder if the substance is too powerful, or many people do not have the mental fortitude to handle alcohol appropriately. What starts out as 2 - 3 drinks after work goes to 4 -5, then 6 - 8, etc etc. The effects had up over the years as well.

Also there is no way anyone can argue with a straight face having more than 2 drinks is not bad for you. That is why I am just thinking about giving it up completely to just avoid a bunch of these situations.

I enjoy the taste too much to completely give it up. If someone would create a drink that tasted like decent Scotch but was alcohol/calorie free, I'd buy it by the gallon.

Bigfoot wrote:

I enjoy the taste too much to completely give it up. If someone would create a drink that tasted like decent Scotch but was alcohol/calorie free, I'd buy it by the gallon.

I don't think you actually would. People have done studies on that -- turns out the taste may be nice but without alcohol your brain will start asking "why the hell are you drinking this?"

Source: "Proof - The Science of Booze" -- which goes into detail on this and many other aspects of drinking, both from a positive and contrary perspective. Fascinating book in my opinion, and highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a drink or two.

brofest2016 wrote:

Again having seen my aunt, I just wonder if the substance is too powerful, or many people do not have the mental fortitude to handle alcohol appropriately. What starts out as 2 - 3 drinks after work goes to 4 -5, then 6 - 8, etc etc. The effects had up over the years as well.

Also there is no way anyone can argue with a straight face having more than 2 drinks is not bad for you. That is why I am just thinking about giving it up completely to just avoid a bunch of these situations.

I will say that vigilance is required. I have personally gone through at least two stressful periods where I amped up the drinking as a coping mechanism and after a few weeks I looked at myself and realized that I'd graduated to four drinks an evening. I immediately stopped in both cases and went dry for a couple of months. I don't have a very addictive personality so I can do this. If you do have an addictive personality then drinking will kill you. It killed people in my family, too, so I know exactly where you're coming from.

Having more than 2 drinks on occasion -- say no more than once a month? I don't think that's bad for you. Or at least not bad enough to worry about. Every night? Yeah, that's bad for you.

You are wise, Mr. Miyagi.

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brofest2016 wrote:

Beer is pretty detrimental to your health, I think this is pretty well documented.

Where is this documented?

Ummmm...... on the front page of most every friggin newspaper in the world. Look in your paper today & tell me how many seconds before you read of an alcohol related death.

Seems like raging alcoholism was a founding principle of this republic.

https://www.amazon.com/Alcoholic-Republic-American-Tradition/dp/0195029909

OP, your 32. That's way too old to succumb to peer pressure or spend any amount of appreciable time with peers who would pressure you. If you don't want to drink then don't drink. If someone is hassling you about it you can walk away.