Why You Should Consider Limiting or Avoiding Drinking
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By this point in life, you all know that alcohol is not a friend to your body. Whether it’s dry January, sober October, or just a regular ol’ break from alcohol, here’s how you will benefit.
Yes, there are studies that red wine can benefit your heart, but that research is showing up to be spotty at best. This benefit is courtesy of resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red grapes that is definitely something you should include in your diet. However, you can get it from red grape juice (surprisingly, from peanuts and pistachios too!) and avoid alcohol entirely.
If you have considered cutting down on drinking or stopping altogether, here's why that’s a good idea, and some tasty (and pretty) alcohol-free alternatives!
Be it for dry January or just in the middle of the summer, there are legitimate benefits to your body to limiting or entirely avoiding alcohol.
Here are the things you most certainly will not miss if you stop drinking:
Weight gain.
I can’t tell you how many health articles I have read that have said that gaining weight from drinking is due to the lowered inhibition and added calories from excess midnight Taco Bell runs. I am not arguing with this. However, from personal experience, this is not the biggest source of weight gain from alcohol because I rarely throw all nutrition out the window even after a few glasses of wine.
So even if you are cautious about not eating an entire Domino’s pizza at 2 AM, there are other factors that affect weight gain. First of all, you already know that the liver is what metabolizes alcohol from your body. However, when it is busy taking out that garbage, it cannot do other things.
You cannot burn fat for 36 hours after you drink.
The major job of the liver is to be one of the body’s primary filters. It takes in your blood, separates out the nutrients to store to nourish your body, and sends the junk on its way to be ultimately removed from your body. However, it also produces enzymes that break down fats. This is a lot of work to begin with (especially if you are also eating a lot of sugar and salt, also junk), so when you add alcohol to the mix, it overloads the poor guy.
Ultimately, when your underappreciated liver is busy processing alcohol, it cannot process fats.
In addition, the more alcohol you pump through it, the more likely it is for fat deposits to accumulate. Fatty liver is exactly as it sounds and slows down fat burning further (not to mention, when ignored, this can escalate into more serious issues.
If you want to learn more about how the liver works to supercharge your weight loss and health, read my post here.)
So your system is slowed down and inefficient overall with alcohol in it, which makes it even worse if you have that 2 AM pizza…
Bloating and puffiness.
From a physical perspective, this goes along with the first point. Since alcohol dehydrates the body and causes inflammation, you’ll notice bloating and puffiness everywhere (though most apparent in the stomach and face). It’s just a bad look all around, and it doesn’t feel great either.
Hangxiety.
As much as I hate any portmanteaux, this one just works. The day after you drink, you quite often have a hangover and anxiety, each of which terrible on its own but taken together exponentially worse. (And this does not even take into account any texts you regret sending…)
Alcohol is a depressant. That means that when you drink, your system is depressed.
As a result, your brain pumps out chemicals to counteract the depressive effect and return your system to its initial chemical balance.
The process of rebalancing your body’s chemicals takes time so unfortunately continues after your last drink. Since you have less alcohol in your system, those extra hormones meant to stimulate you are now the predominate ones, leading to anxiety. It takes some time for those to slow down and bring you back to the state you were in before your first drink.
As to how long hangxiety lasts, well, it depends on how much you drank, for how long, and a myriad of other factors.
Inflammation.
Remember I mentioned inflammation that is part of the bloating and puffiness? Well it occurs because as your liver filters out liquor, its output is a toxic substance that the body is trying to remove.
That toxic substance causes inflammation around your organs, plus it causes inflammation in your gut.
Since we hear more and more about gut health these days, you know how important it is to keep the stomach lining, etc. healthy and filled with good bacteria. Alcohol undoes all the good you try to do with intermittent fasting, probiotics, and eating fiber.
And while that good guy by the name of resveratrol helps control inflammation in the body, having more than one glass can easily have the opposite effect and counteract its anti-inflammatory property.
Hormone Imbalance.
Hormones that affect everything from hair growth to Mr. Monthly Visitor get thrown out of whack when your liver is off doing things like metabolizing booze. Are you going to go bald? Probably not, but hey, don’t we all want thicker, shinier, healthier hair?
Dull, Dry Skin.
Everyone wants better skin! A very basic thing you already know about booze (especially since we covered it in the bloating/puffiness note) is that it dehydrates your skin.
However, it also throws off your electrolyte and vitamin balances, so all around it is damaging for your pretty face.
By decreasing your alcohol intake, you will also likely increase your water intake, which is a double hydration benefit to your skin.
Another skin note is that while you are drinking you will notice that your face may get red. See, alcohol also dilates capillaries, which gives you that familiar flush. Over time, this becomes more permanent. No one wants that!
I hope this list has made you rethink the glass of wine you have while cooking dinner, or the bottomless mimosas at brunch.
So then what can I substitute for alcohol during happy hour?
Good question! Just because you are passing on the booze does not mean you are stuck with plain old water!
These days, alcohol-free alternatives taste really good and come in pretty packaging that looks like their boozy counterparts.
One of my favorite options is is Moment, which is filled with adaptogens that naturally calm you.
It comes in a variety of yummy flavors, and it has yoga-like natural ingredients to help your body deal with stress and provide a natural calming feeling. Click here to take a look at the flavors and benefits - Tulsi Lemon tastes like lemonade (without all the junky stuff)!
In terms of alcohol-free spirits and wines, you have lots of options!
Non-alcoholic drinks have gone way beyond O’Douls, and you should give it a shot for your next party.
If you want to read more about the next generation of faux cocktails, read my post here. I’d be willing to bet you’ll prefer it because you get the experience that comes with having cocktails with friends without the hangover and anxiety.
If you are in on cutting back on drinking, why not give your liver some extra love and try my FREE 3 day liver reset, which includes a full meal plan of liver boosting foods that will also benefit your entire body!
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