Alcohol - my experiences and the effects on healthy living.

Alchohol, at one time or another has been most people's best friend and worst enemy and often these roles can be played within 12hrs of each other. I certainly, have many stories to prove this theory right in my case, but overall I felt that the occassional tipple, or the weekend get-together (with alcohol) was getting the best of me.

After weighing up the benefits and detriments I came to the conclusion that even though I did enjoy a beer (and not at a rate of a local bar fly or a typical NRL player) 1-2 times a week, I could do with out it and it really wouldn't kill me. The internal argument went something like:

I can give it up because:

• I was still trying to lose weight and it wasn't helping (It wasn't just the extra energy consumed from the alcohol, but the way it made me crave bad food for days after)
• My life isn't that bad that I need to partially escape from it twice a week
• Saving money is never a bad thing for someone who is looking to get a mortgage and pay off a Uni debt in the upcoming years.

I can't give it up because:

• *Sounds of crickets chirping in the backyard*

So, I made a decision after my new years getaway, that for the benefit of my physical health, alcohol wasn't going to have the same involvement in my life that it previously had and I couldn't be happier with the results. I've lost around 10kg, (almost 30kg in total since a couple of years ago) I feel like I've gained a whole lot more control over my life, and am loving the compliments on the slimmed down body from friends and acquaintances. I can't exactly put all 10kg down to reducing my beer intake, although I think it's been a big part of it.

I've had a few drinks since, very occassionally, and usually never at a binge level (except for a party on the weekend and my Uni graduation) but I'm definitely happy with the changes I've made over the last 5-6 months.
 
Another good thing is that my girlfriend, Elle, has also decided to drink less and along with some other healthy changes she's made, she's lost almost 5kg in the last few months.

And if my experience retold isn't enough to make you think twice before ordering the schooner or dropping into the bottle-o on the way home, here are my top 5 facts about alcohol that will hopefully lead to healthier changes for you in the future.

1. Excess drinking can cause diseases which lead to things such as Liver Failure, Brain Damage and Kidney Damage
2. As well as being addictive, alcohol consumption also clearly increases the risk of some cancers (including lip, tongue, throat, oesophagus, liver, and breast cancer
3. Six out of every Ten drowning incidents are caused by Alcohol
4. Alcohol is ranked second to tobacco as the most preventable cause of health-related problems and death. Alcohol costs our Australian community about $7.5 billion every year!
5. A standard drink is defined as one that contains 10 grams of pure alcohol.
10 grams of pure alcohol = 70 Calories = 280 kilojoules

Which means, energy consumed in alcohol in:

• 6 stubbies of  regular strength beer = 550 Calories (2300kJ)
• 6 glasses of wine (150ml) = 630 Calories (2650kJ)
• 6 standard spririts = 420 Calories (1764kJ)

To put this into perspective, an average, healthy adult requires around 1800 Calories per day.

And by the way, these numbers don't even take into account the energy from Protein, Fat and Carbohydrate that are found in beverages!

Lastly, I've always told everyone I'm a trendsetter and I read something last night that either proves me right about setting trends or proves me wrong about saying that I didn't drink that much early on in this post.

Take a look: Beer drinking at an all time low.

Thanks for reading and I hope you got something out of this blog.

For more on health and exercise, check out my other blogs on Exercise Your Potential - Blogspot.