30 days alcohol free

Do you know how many units of alcohol you drink per week? I was recently asked by a Doctor. It wasn't something I have really considered lately. I never go out. I share a bottle of wine with DD if he's here, or if one of my sisters visits. As a quick estimate I said about 5 units a week.

On the way home though I got thinking about it. Occasionally I have a bottle of wine myself over 2-3 nights. The week that I was actually asked the question I had been to Blogfest (2 cocktails and 2 gins), had dinner with DD (half a bottle of wine) and dinner with my sister twice (another 2 x half a bottle of wine). Thats more like 20 units!

OK so it was an extra ordinary week, but it got me thinking. I do have lots of extra ordinary weeks. Our holiday in France for example, wine every day. A few weeks ago when my other sister was visiting, I noticed that if I drink for a couple of days, the following day I am actually thinking about drinking again. That can't be a good sign. It worried me a bit. I have a close friend who is an alcoholic, and really, I don't want to go there!

Image from here
I did some googling and found out about the stages of alcoholism. This made me laugh a little - according to this I have been in the second phase of alcoholism for about 26 years. That is, my first alcohol related black out was when I was about 16 (courtesy of a friend's mum's homemade rhubarb wine), but I haven't yet started sneaking alcohol into my coffee!

Having been pregnant a couple of times, and done the elimination diet and the whole 30 I have had a few spells of spells of being completely alcohol free in the last few years. As a result I have become much more aware of how alcohol effects me when I started drinking it again. Just a small glass for wine makes me feel a little rough the next day. Half a bottle, which is generally what I have if I am drinking, actually affects my sleep.

I have thought many times that I should just give it up completely, along with the grains that I have recently removed from my life, but I haven't - that's no fun is it!

On Monday my parents were over and I gave Mum a bottle of wine that I had promised her for taking care of BB for me the week before. My Dad announced that he wouldn't drink it - he had watched a program on TV about how much we are drinking in the UK right now. Apparently we drink 40% more alcohol that we admit (based on how much is sold and how much we say we drink when researchers ask!). Yep - I more than contributed to that discrepancy in the data.

On Monday night I thought I might do 30 days alcohol free. It would follow on nicely from the fitness30 and it would really give me the opportunity to identify what effect it has on me. It occurred to me that if I counted the Monday that had already passed as day 1, 30 days would take me nicely up to Christmas.

Yesterday I thought I might as well go the whole hog and do a full on detox. This is something I have done quite intensely prior to getting pregnant both times, perhaps I should do it again anyway, just in case? So here I am, day 3 of no alcohol and day 2 of taking this new detox liquid which I haven't tried before, and feeling already like my liver and kidneys are being purged.

The lady in the shop where I bought it pointed out that the lead up to Christmas is a tricky time to give up alcohol. She's probably right, I hadn't thought of that, but I do like a challenge. I'll let you know how  I go.

Hello, and thanks for stopping by. My name is Emma and I am a lifestyle entrepreneur, writer, teacher, coach and mentor. I am passionate about eating real food, learning, travel and health. I get to spend my days with my amazing son who has chosen to learn from the world rather than at school. We write to share the life we love and to help others create a life they love too.

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