Healthy drinking

[Pennine]

I really enjoy beer, especially variety. Mostly no more than 2 a night, but a couple nights a week I will drink 3 or 4. Usually sleep is affected and I wake up with a small hangover. I am trying to limit my drinking to 1-2 per night but sometimes struggle with this even though the enjoyment of the 3rd beer is significantly less than the first or second. It seems more like habitual drinking as I really do not like being drunk or even having a buzz. I have also been focusing on having a healthy gut by eating whole plant foods primarily, excersing and sleeping well.

To prevent over drinking I have been trying a couple of counter habits like drinking a glass of water before each beer, sprinkling in a non-alcoholic beer before and refraining from eating salty foods. These work sometimes but was curious if anyone has other little habits they do to help minimize reaching for another beer? I think it would be helpful to have a couple extra tools in the toolkit to fall back on.


also came across this article about the benefits of beer on the guy biome. its an interesting read and definitely supportive of using more hops which is never a bad thing.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6918268/

 

[terrym]

1. If you are getting hangovers however slight on a fairly regular basis thats a sign you should be cutting back
2. Select at least two days alcohol free. And stick to it.
3. Exercise some self discipline, if you drink less that becomes easier. That's probably the only thing you really need in your 'toolkit'

 

[aamcle]

I control it by drinking only twice a week and not more than three bottles on each day. The only exception is it I go out for a meal.



Aamcle

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

My last two pints of the night are always water or squash, as is my first pint of the day. This does at least mean the last two pints are not beer so it’s limiting in that sense. I never get properly drunk so a couple of pints of water before bed also means I don’t get hangovers and, in my mind at least, helps to flush the system.

You could also try brewing lower alcohol beers? I’m sure 1% lower ABV would make a difference. I’ve started doing this so my 5%-7% is now 4%-6%. Maybe I’ll drop it again after a while by another 0.5%.

 

[strange-steve]

You could also try brewing lower alcohol beers? I’m sure 1% lower ABV would make a difference. I’ve started doing this so my 5%-7% is now 4%-6%. Maybe I’ll drop it again after a while by another 0.5%.

This is an interesting point because I've found the opposite, I tend to brew stronger beers (probably 6 - 7% on average) and find that after 1 bottle I'm pretty satisfied and rarely inclined to have another (except weekends where I might have two). Whereas with a lower abv beer I'm much more likely to have several.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

This is an interesting point because I've found the opposite, I tend to brew stronger beers (probably 6 - 7% on average) and find that after 1 bottle I'm pretty satisfied and rarely inclined to have another (except weekends where I might have two). Whereas with a lower abv beer I'm much more likely to have a several.

This might depend on the individual then. If you drink more as a result of lower ABV maybe this option isn’t for you!

 

[LED_ZEP]

I wanted to halve what I was drinking so I prepared by increasing my normal daily consumption by 100% for a week I then found cutting back by half easy. It worked so well I might try it again.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

This is an interesting point because I've found the opposite, I tend to brew stronger beers (probably 6 - 7% on average) and find that after 1 bottle I'm pretty satisfied and rarely inclined to have another (except weekends where I might have two). Whereas with a lower abv beer I'm much more likely to have several.

...my “beer brain” is playing games with me now:

Most of a pint is water therefore five pints of 4% must be better for you than four pints of 5% because for the same alcohol you’ve drunk 25% more water!

Healthy drinking explained

 

[dad_of_jon]

1. If you are getting hangovers however slight on a fairly regular basis thats a sign you should be cutting back
2. Select at least two days alcohol free. And stick to it.
3. Exercise some self discipline, if you drink less that becomes easier. That's probably the only thing you really need in your 'toolkit'

1. I never get hangovers
2. February 10th & August 23rd
3. I have none. I have set my limit at 6 but that's because I usually don't fancy more than 6 anyways.

I'm doomed.

 

[strange-steve]

...my “beer brain” is playing games with me now:

Most of a pint is water therefore five pints of 4% must be better for you than four pints of 5% because for the same alcohol you’ve drunk 25% more water!

Healthy drinking explained

I know you're being a bit facetious here, but for argument's sake which is the more healthy option, 1 pint at 6% or 2 pints at 3%? I would say the single pint at 6% because there's more to beer than just alcohol and water, there's a ton of calories in there too which most people definitely don't need. That's my justification for brewing big beers anyway

 

[samale]

I definitely have started to drink more than normal. Usually I pick one night a week and have 6 or 7 beer. The plan is to get back to that.
I got injured running last year and it's had an effect. Normally I would train 5/6 days a week and reward myself with one night of having a beer. If I was training for a race I would cut it out all together.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I know you're being a bit facetious here, but for argument's sake which is the more healthy option, 1 pint at 6% or 2 pints at 3%? I would say the single pint at 6% because there's more to beer than just alcohol and water, there's a ton of calories in there too which most people definitely don't need. That's my justification for brewing big beers anyway

I honestly don’t know but I love that it’s got you thinking! I even started to convince myself as I was writing it!

 

[Druss]

Maybe the trick is, to widen the parameters of what exactly defines 'a beer', I only drink on Fridays so if I were to say that a 5 litre mini keg comprises of 1 beer (it is essentially just a big can of beer...right?) maybe I would look like a sensible drinker rather than such a raging alcoholic...well, that's what I'm going with anyway, only one beer a week for me

 

[Clint]

I work 4 on/4off...the past few blocks I've not had a beer in the middle so my drinking is now 4on/4off...

 

[pms67]

I only drink on nights ending in y
No idea why my gut is getting bigger though

 

[Pennine]

1. If you are getting hangovers however slight on a fairly regular basis thats a sign you should be cutting back
2. Select at least two days alcohol free. And stick to it.
3. Exercise some self discipline, if you drink less that becomes easier. That's probably the only thing you really need in your 'toolkit'

the self discipline concept is an interesting one for me. i have plenty of it in the morning and it slowly dwindles away as the day progresses. i usually run, lift or bike daily and have a very clean diet. so by time the evening comes around after a long day of work the self control bucket is pretty low. i also immensely enjoy brewing, reading about it and drinking the spoils. i really look forward to tasting a beer in the evening, and to be honest reading about it here and listening to beer brewing podcasts really adds to that desire.

i like the idea of beer free days and will need to ponder that, it really shouldn't be that difficult eh? also it's not really a hangover, i just notice it more in the morning with a higher resting heart rate or a bit more groggy of a feeling. its gone after a cup of coffee. its been a while since i had an actual hangover.

 

[BeerCat]

I drink everyday whatever i feel like. Sours have reduced my input though.

 

[pms67]

Life’s too short mate, if your enjoying it and it’s not having too much of a detrimental effect then carry on I say
But if your determined to have beer free days just do it, I only need to tell swmbo once that I’m planning to not drink mon-thur and that’s it set in stone!

 

[Pennine]

My last two pints of the night are always water or squash, as is my first pint of the day. This does at least mean the last two pints are not beer so it’s limiting in that sense. I never get properly drunk so a couple of pints of water before bed also means I don’t get hangovers and, in my mind at least, helps to flush the system.

You could also try brewing lower alcohol beers? I’m sure 1% lower ABV would make a difference. I’ve started doing this so my 5%-7% is now 4%-6%. Maybe I’ll drop it again after a while by another 0.5%.

Yeah this is one I have been considering, being quite the nerd i actually track this and overall there is a downward trend in the last few months. its very slight you really need glasses to notice... although once i drop below 1.055 the enjoyment factor is also lower.

 

[Galena]

Since starting home brewing my beer intake has gone up 100% I actually wasn't drinking any beer, though I was drinking wine but always had 2 or 3 days off a week. With the homebrew I started drinking every night to save the bottles, and as I got hooked on brewing I am now drinking so that I can brew more. I started out always having Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday without drink but this has slowly gone by the wayside although I intend to get back on track with that.

I never drink before 6pm and really enjoy that first pint when you are thirsty, it's a bit like the days when I would go straight to the pub after a hard days graft, the first one was always the best. The second is sometimes as good, the third less so. If ever I have a fourth which is rare, I don't really enjoy it and always feel guilty afterwards. The calories don't bother me I get more than enough exercise to keep slim but I do worry a bit about other damage being done. Three pints tonight and then 3 night off (well at least two anyway).