The interesting thing about being 60 days alcohol-free is that it's the longest period I've gone without a drink since I started drinking at 16. Back then, 16-year-olds could easily get away with a night in the pub without an identity check.
Why am I doing this 90-day challenge? Giving up alcohol is tricky socially, but surprisingly, it's been pretty easy for me. I've been to pubs many times in these 60 days and even completed a dry 3-day festival, but I still had a fantastic time. I'm probably like many others. I've never had a drinking problem, but it's always been there from a social aspect, during times of stress and during work events. Over the past five years, drinking was just a Friday and Saturday thing with the occasional Sunday. The after-effects of those 2 or 3 days of drinking were massive hangxiety and fatigue from Monday to Wednesday. I'll talk more about why perhaps it impacted me more than others later in this blog.
Andy Ramage inspired me to give up for 90 days. Andy spoke about the health/wellness industry's need to lead the way in the alcohol debate, and as a health coach, I need to understand the impact that being AF can have on our health & wellness; I thought this was absolutely the right thing to do. Andy brings to light all the things we already know about how bad alcohol is for us, so why do we happily ignore the facts? Why did we give up smoking??? Alcohol is listed as a number one carcinogen and can lead to an increased risk of throat, neck, head, breast, oesophagus, liver, and bowel cancer.
A recent DNA test with YourGut Map advised me that a genetic snip impacted my body's ability to detoxify alcohol. So, I started to understand why even 1 or 2 beers would have me feeling anxiety and fatigue and lead to poor sleep. It's important to say that we are all different, and the ability to detoxify alcohol is unique to you. However, even if you can detoxify better, it’s still bad for our overall health. Taking a break from alcohol is excellent for enabling our DNA and cells to repair, and you may change your view on alcohol consumption in the long term.
Benefits of taking a longer-term break from Alcohol:
1. Improved clarity of thinking: A break from alcohol can help the mind and body heal from the damage of addiction and help restore clarity of thinking.
2. Improved relationships and work: A break from alcohol can help increase self-esteem and confidence, leading to more fulfilment in relationships and work.
3. Improved eye clarity: A break from alcohol can help the eyes gain clarity and gleam back, appearing brighter and lighter.
4. Better concentration: A break from alcohol can help reduce hangovers and improve concentration on workday tasks.
5. Better boundaries: A break from alcohol can give people time to re-examine their relationship with alcohol and attempt to have better boundaries around it.
6. Improved sleep: My periods of being awake between 3 and 5 a.m. have pretty much gone. I find myself getting +7 hours of sleep every night.
7. The belly: I'm generally lean, but that little bit of belly fat has always stuck around. I have seen the little paunch reduce over the last 60 days.
In addition, being alcohol-free has its upsides, such as exploring the growing alcohol-free drinks market worth £18.2 billion in the UK. Alcohol-free beers, spirits and wine are available everywhere in supermarkets and pubs. We are even starting to see more alcohol-free beers on draught in some UK pubs, and hopefully, it will be adopted across more pubs. For anyone interested, my favourite alcohol-free beers so far are Freedamm, Guinness, and Firebrand Shorebreak. I understand that some of these are 0.5% alcohol, so some will say I’m not 100% alcohol-free, but did you know foods such as bread or ripe bananas can contain 0.5% ABV or higher."
It's also suitable to say that I'm all for moderation. I am sure that I will have an alcoholic drink again, but the long-term regular breaks will become a more frequent occurrence, and the hit of one cold AF beer on Friday has the same refreshing impact.
Give yourself a break for 30,60 or 90 days, and see how you feel.
If you need additional inspiration, follow andyramageofficial
The Gut-Father, a Health Coach, is on a mission to inspire others to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.
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