A couple of months ago I stopped drinking wine; or indeed any alcohol.
I did this because I felt that I was becoming too dependant on my daily bottle of Rouge, and thought that some time-off would be a good idea.
Firstly I should mention that, after a lifetime of drinking some alcohol every day, I found stopping just as easy as I did when I quit smoking over 16 years ago. Maybe I have more willpower than others, but it was certainly not the struggle one is always hearing about. One day I was drinking; the next not.
But one side of my decision has puzzled me. I believe that a bottle of red wine contains between 650 and 700 calories; about a third of a man's recommended daily intake. I weighed 15 stone when I stopped my drinking, and amazingly I still weigh 15 stone today. Not that my aim was to lose weight (I'm perfectly happy as I am), but I would have thought that after 2 months it would have shown-up on the scales.
I have given myself a year to see how I cope with the idea of no longer enjoying my daily consumption; maybe that will be extended to 'permanent'..... we'll see.
Most days I have a glass of red or a glass of cider, I don't feel that I need a drink but I do enjoy it with my evening meal so unless things change I will continue with my tipple
ReplyDeleteIf I had a whole bottle I would be under the table. I wish you well with your abstinence.
Now when I've given up I've lost weight. I found habitual drinking hard to give up myself. It might have been that I was using it to self medicate for anxiety though. I drink much more occasionally now for enjoyment. It's a better place to be.
ReplyDeleteI quit smoking 3 years ago and every day i want to start again, but i don't,
ReplyDeleteWe cut back, I only drink red wine and normally only once a week on a Saturday night, even now I have weeks where I go without drinking. I do enjoy a glass of wine so I won't stop all together. Then again if we should have a nice meal in the week and wine would go nicely I would not say we can't have it. It's just a case of not drinking every time.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to give the bondage sessions up as well?
ReplyDeleteIt was the bondage that worried me.
DeleteWe have more or less given up cheese, which wasn't difficult, although I thought I would crave it.
ReplyDeleteWe would like to give up alcohol, or at least drink less of it. Losing some weight and saving money appeals, but it is indeed curious about your non loss of weight. Have you replaced the alcohol with other calories - coffee with a sugar cube or fruit juice perhaps?
I've recently had a craving for dried Figs....maybe that's the cause.
DeleteWhen I developed diabetes the doctor queried my drinking habits, and actually recommended 2 glasses of red wine every day as being more beneficial than complete abstinence.
ReplyDeleteA considerable reduction on my previous drinking habits but one I find easy to follow.
My doctor has never mentioned the subject.
DeleteThat's interesting. I gave up alcohol about 6 weeks ago, as an experiment and just to see if I could. Like you I felt I was becoming too dependent on my daily glass or two of red. But unlike you I am not finding it easy! But I have lost a few pounds, which is a plus which almost makes up for it.
ReplyDeleteKeith did need to lose weight and has followed a diet quite strictly - lots of salad, no processed foods etc. After 3 months, he has managed to lose 10lb, which puzzles me as, previously he has been able to lose weight quite easily when he put his mind to it. However, his doctor also recommended continuing to have a couple of glasses of red wine each evening. Glad that giving up the wine is beneficial for you, though, Cro.
ReplyDeleteI am with you in thinking that giving up the booze doesn't lead to weight loss……never seems to for me, but then I only probably manage to give up for a few days!! I read something a while ago ( or maybe TV) saying that the way they originally calculated the calorific value of foods etc was flawed….no fat in wine is there? Also alcohol creates heat in the body, which uses up the calories rather than making fat! Who knows? They keep changing their minds on so many things these days. I thought about you a few times last week as we were on a River Cruise down the Rhone…..Lyons to Arles- Avignon ( came back yesterday from Marseilles airport…it's cold here !) and I kept seeing your knife that you often feature on a plate of food! Mainly in the markets that we visited. Ardeche Gorge was fantastic. ( obviously, that was by coach !!)
ReplyDeleteYes, the Ardeche Gorge is spectacular; I hope there weren't too many people there when you visited.
DeleteMy knife gets everywhere!
You live in France, you are just about to hit 70 and you have given up red wine? Are you mad?
ReplyDeleteI was waiting for someone to ask that! I haven't yet carved my 'Milliband Stone', but I don't see myself going back; at least until Christmas.
DeleteSo...
ReplyDeletenot full-frontal Tayberries, but full-on teetotal...
but, Cro, it is recognised that a couple of glasses of wine a day are benificial...
not just red...
but not a whole bottle...
same benefits for a couple of pints of beer or French Cidre...
English Cider is way too strong to drink in pints nowadays.
BUT that is where it gets difficult...
that opened bottle beckoning!!
Tricky!
Alcohol is dangerous... a couple of glasses can lift your spirits...
but so can good company...
after those two glasses, it becomes a depressant...
so drinking alone, when troubled, can lead to a downhill state quite rapidly...
and gets worse!!
A relative is a recovering alcoholic...
and I have seen that person both happy...
and in the alcoholic doldrums...
and I know who I prefer to be with!!
Food calories are measured in a thing called a bomb-calorimeter...
it burns all the substance in an enclosed chamber and measures the heat produced...
smooth peanut butter, however, is more fattening than an equivalent weight of crunchy... or of whole peanuts...
The last two have chunks of nut left after you've eaten them...
and much of these pass through the gut and out the other end... undigested...
and therefore, do not add calories to the body...
however, in a calorimetric measurement, they read the same!
So, most old calorie measures are way out...
for certain substances...
and alcohol is probably one of them...
real measurements should be done with a large range of volunteers, rather than a machine...
but that is expensive and slow... very slow...
so the potential energy of the food is always going to win out as cheaper and quicker...
But... those dried figs...
high in sugar, readily digestible...
hmm?!
I wonder.....
As a diabetic, I'm not really allowed the dried Figs, but the body is weak, and I occasionally surrender to the forces of evil.
DeleteMy wine consunption really goes up when we are in France. I am very partial to ice cold rose from provence served in frosted glasses! My downfall is having a glass while cooking -- goes down much too pleasurably not to mention fast! As for red wine, i cannot drink it any more as it immediately gives me a terrible headache. Your abstinence is very commendable considering wher you live and how delicious the wine is with cheese.
ReplyDeleteYou can't not drink wine when you're on holiday in France; it's illegal.
DeleteMaybe you are eating more and not aware of it Cro. Although your diet seems to hold so many wonderful vegetables that it must be a healthy one.
ReplyDeleteCould be. We've been eating lots of raw vegs in salads recently.... probably over compensating.
DeleteNever been much of a wine drinker, quitting that would be no problem. Quit smoking over 30 years ago and it wasn't nearly as hard as people said it would be. Now if I could only quit biting my nails.
ReplyDeleteGloves?
DeleteThe wine I could live without, no problem - but cheese - never !
ReplyDeleteGive up cheese? NEVER.
DeleteAs a semi expert in drinking; family and friends, the body craves sweets when the alcohol is gone. Also, I cannot believe how hard that must be to give it up after such a long time. When my husband had cancer treatment, the oncologist said, 'too bad you're not a drinker as the chemo would be easier". After smoking for all his adult life, he never wanted another with the throat cancer diagnosis. Don't know why I threw that in, but I do believe all those kind of addictions are rooted in the same place in the brain (though I don't mean to imply you were an alcoholic). I hope those handcuffs were the grandkid's. Mine have some lying about.
ReplyDeleteThe word 'alcoholic' is loaded with images, but if I was honest I'd probably admit to being not far off. I was never one of those people who drank whenever possible; I reserved my drinking to the evenings. But I did drink every day, and I suppose quite a lot (a whole bottle of wine a day).
DeleteYes, the cuffs are plastic.
Just wondering whether Lady M is still having her tipple - which makes me wonder whether you had a bottle each. I would think sitting watching her drink her bottle while you abstain would be the hard part.
ReplyDeleteI could easily stop drinking the small amount that I have but cheese - now that would be VERY HARD to give up.
She drinks a tiny amount, in fact I've been amazed that she's managed to make a bottle of wine last for a week.
Delete-living in a part of California where finding good cheese is a slog, I think I could give what we normally sell in the shops up in a heart beat. As for wine, I've been concerned a bit about my consumption since returning stateside. When drinking begins to feel like a crutch, then I wonder what's going on with me.
ReplyDeleteThere is a game here which involves watching old episodes of Dallas, and the idea is that whenever they have a drink, you have a drink with them. The show is only about half an hour long, but by the end, everyone is pie-eyed drunk.
DeleteI tried to stop smoking for years, then I read the Allan Carr book and stopped immediately, then thought if it was that simple I must have done something wrong (doh!) so promptly started again and couldn't stop for a further two years, go figure! I have tried to apply the same principles to my daily tipple of red and no matter how hard I try I cannot make the same connections. I have to say though whilst I hated smoking and how desperate it made me feel I do not feel the same way about drinking red wine... and maybe that's the difference.
ReplyDeleteJo in Auckland, NZ
Also; red wine is good for you, cigs aren't.
DeleteGood for you. As we age, we have to be careful about our health and habits.
ReplyDeleteI
I drink a glass of fine white wine in the evening with dinner to celebrate the day. That is what I tell myself anyway. Hubby has retired now, and I think I might be doubling that in the near future.
My friend gave me two bottles of white wine for looking after her cats. I drank one last weekend over four days, and the same again this weekend. Enough's enough, that was far too much. I don't need to lose weight, but I don't want to become dependent on booze either. I shall ask for chocolates next time ;o)
ReplyDeleteDon't do it to yourself Cro, you only live once!
ReplyDeleteI never cared very much about drinking alcohol. As a result I seldom drink, and when I do, it's usually not much, maybe one or two drinks.
ReplyDeleteI loved smoking and after many unsuccessful attempts finally succeeded quitting in 1989. I missed smoking every day for seven years afterward.
If you felt it was controlling you rather than other way around, probably best that you walked away for a bit.