95 replies to this topic

[Alder Logs]

Well, I just never want to find myself standing at the pearly gates (or the gates of Hell) realizing I did something really stupid to get there early.  And I know this: I have almost made it from voluntary chemically induced stupid.  Exercising some level of caution, I try to make sure I don't get to that stage. 

[riseabovethought]

With the help of Iboga, I been off the sauce now one full month.  And thank God!  Strange how it becomes so important when one is accustomed to it, but once its left alone a month, it becomes far less valuable.  Im focussing on my health more, thinking more about life and death and in between and after..  I think I drank my lifetime supply already.  I might vape my ass off, but I gave up drinkin.  For now anyway, and I feel physically much better in general.  Trying to make it a year (again).  One twelfth of the way there...

Edited by riseabovethought, 13 September 2014 - 11:29 AM.

[TastyBeverage]

Congrats, Rise! That's so awesome and i support you 100%!!!!!

 

[nomadicAI]

Congrats and best wishes for your continuing success!

 

[riseabovethought]

Now its been 3 straight months with no booze. Thank God.  I feel better.  Its weird how it gets ahold of you, makes you have that urge for more and more and more.  I do long for a nice glass of really good home made red wine, but I'd rather wait it out and let my liver fully recover with a year off.  I almost did it once before, but started drinking at about 8 months so this time I have to beat my record and make it the full year so I know my liver has more than regenerated itself, like a new born baby liver.  Anyway, Im not rubbing it in or anything, I just think it might help someone around here whose gripped by the beast, to see me do it and maybe consider doing it too.  Its really not that bad.  Its rewarding actually just to make it to this 3 month mark and now I see if I can make it another month and so on.  Vaping helps replace that escape aspect after work, and good food helps too, just to look forward to something.  If you're considering doing it, you CAN!  At least I don't wake up with that damn guilty feeling anymore.  Waking up is better in the morning I promise ya! 

[TastyBeverage]

Congrats!!!! I've finally gotten to the same place with cigarettes. Boy howdy, it does feel incredibly rewarding and satisfying to suddenly realize that i haven't had a smoke all day, nor have i wanted one.

 

Yay for beating addiction!

[riseabovethought]

I've been abstaining alcohol now for almost 11 months.  In 2 and a half months I'll have a brand spankin new fully regenerated liver.  I even went to the beach on vacation and didnt drink. I cant wait for some home -made red wine, but i am also proud that I almost made it 57 weeks.  Im counting the days down but I do plan to keep the monky off my back this time I start drinking again, by not drinking daily... Maybe more like weekends only or even better - saved for special occasions mostly, but not really any set rules about it since I do have a brand spankin new liver!  Well not yet, but I will in about 6 weeks.  

[Heirloom]

congats on abstaining from alcohol.

I have been struggling with alcohol, sometimes I can go 10 days then drink again other times 30 days
some times only 1 day. I know I have a choice and that helps when I think about that and how much better I
feel when I choose to abstain.

I was a very heavy drinker , didn't start until I was 35 years old. I plan on doing mushrooms and cannabis

TastyBeverage that's good on quitting smoking its on of the hardest habits to break.

I hope that anybody trying to improve their life is able to find a way to get it done.

the guy at the liquor store might cry if I make the best choice for my health, but he sells bongs so i'll still stop in from time to time.

[SteampunkScientist]

It's funny how the things that turn you first into a mundane, then a useless, then wormfood are legal... But the things that open consciousness, make you smarter, and reconnect with all creation, are illegal.

Very....very...funny...

[niemandgeist]

Well, I know for sure that binge drinking is certainly not safe. There are different definitions for adult men and women

 

 

Moderate alcohol consumption:

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, moderate drinking is up to 1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men.

 

Binge Drinking:

• NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men—in about 2 hours.

 

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which conducts the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), defines binge drinking as drinking 5 or more alcoholic drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the past 30 days.

 

Heavy Drinking:

SAMHSA defines heavy drinking as drinking 5 or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days.
 

http://www.niaaa.nih...-binge-drinking

 

My father is a binge drinker and a heavy drinker. One bottle or more of wine every day for years now. He thinks he hides it. I need to write him a short note expressing my concern and how I know he's drinking, explain exactly how I see him try to sneak in and hide his drinking, and tell him what binge drinking and heavy drinking are and that it can lead to an increased risk of dementia and cancer. Maybe then he'll stop and think. One bottle of wine should be 5 or 6 drinks. Not to mention all of the empty calories in alcohol that lead to weight gain, increased risk of diabetes, etc.

 

I sometimes like to drink 3 to 5 drinks. My sweet spot is 2 to 3. I do drink regularly, but usually within the 2 to 3 drinks and I mainly do beer and malt liquor.

[riseabovethought]

Damnit!  Well, I made it 3 weeks shy of  a year and found myself at a party where I never shoulda been... being offered and insisted on drinking some not to be passed up special moonshine and a coupla jello shots.  i couldnt pass it up.  shouldnt have been there in the first place, but I am disappointed in myself.  Anyway Ive managed to stay on the wagon ever since and I also noticed there are a lot of things bad for the liver besides alcohol... that one should abstain from if they are trying to heal up and regenerate a healthy liver such as fast food, greasy shit, animal products of all kinds, sweets, sugarly everything, and especially refined carbohydrates which are pretty much everything besides veggies and fruit.  Back to the drawing board.  But I dont want to give up.

 

I fasted 3 days to regenerate my immune system and it seemed to make it cleaner in there so now Im just trying t o eat as good as possible, as much veggies as possible, and no alcohol until i reach my 57 week mark (which is 6 weeks away) even though I already fell off the wagon once.  Ima let myself off teh hook this time and try to still make it anyway.

[riseabovethought]

I just had to reboot this old thread

when I kept hearing about this new research findings reaching the same conclusion

...and tell you guys (and gals) 'I told you so!'

 

From Bloomberg

Drinking alcoholic beverages is linked to some 2.8 million deaths each year, according to researchers who concluded that there is no safe level of alcohol use.

 

 

The chemical in beer, wine and hard liquor is associated with nearly one in 10 deaths in people ages 15 to 49 around the world, making it the leading risk factor for people in that age range, according to an analysis of earlier studies, published in the Lancet medical journal.

 

 

The combined health risks associated with alcohol outweigh any possible benefits, said the University of Washington’s Max Griswold, an author of the analysis, in a statement. Although the study found that alcohol offered some protection against coronary-artery disease in women, “the strong association between alcohol consumption and the risk of cancer, injuries and infectious diseases” offset that.

 

 

Off the Wagon

Men in the world's heaviest-drinking countries average a big daily binge

Source: The Lancet

Note: Data is for 2016, defines drink as 10 grams of pure alcohol

“The conclusions of the study are clear and unambiguous: alcohol is a colossal global health issue,” said Robyn Burton of King’s College London, another author. “The solutions are straightforward: Increasing taxation creates income for hard-pressed health ministries, and reducing the exposure of children to alcohol marketing has no downsides.”

 

 

 

The article is the latest salvo to hit alcoholic-beverage companies in a long-running debate over the safety of their products. In April, another large analysis of earlier studies, also published in the Lancet, found some reduction in heart attacks among drinkers but concluded that alcohol use increased the risk of premature death from several other ailments.

The world’s largest liquor producers, such as Smirnoff vodka owner Diageo Plc and Chivas Regal whisky maker Pernod Ricard SA, have long promoted moderation to address health concerns. They’ve adopted a drink-less-but-better mantra that seeks to appease critics while boosting the bottom line by selling more expensive products. Diageo has also acquired a minority stake in Seedlip, an alcohol-free drink that aims to deliver the depth of flavor and mouthfeel of a high-end spirit.

The main causes of alcohol-related deaths in the 15-to-49 age group were tuberculosis, road injuries and self-harm, the study found. For those older than 50, the leading alcohol-related cause of death was cancer.

The authors took data from nearly 700 previous studies to estimate the prevalence of alcohol in different countries, finding that the biggest drinkers were in European countries. The average Romanian man drank the equivalent of 8.2 bottles of beer a day in 2016, the most in the world. The countries that drink the least alcohol have mostly Muslim populations.

 

https://www.bloomber...f-studies-finds

[425nm]

I know this keeps getting framed as "new" but its more of an additional confirmation. Biologists/Pharmacologists have been pretty sure that no amount of alcohol is good for you for years. Minimally since 2012, when I took an undergrad pharmacology course where the professor was certain enough of the signal in the literature at that time was "no amount is good for you". No as bad as cigarettes certainly but few things are.

 

Mushrooms on the other hands probably one of the safest drugs from a physiological point of view.

[Alder Logs]

Pretty much all the alcohol I get to taste these days is in my homeopathic remedy tinctures.    Would that level be considered unsafe?   I have to admit, I like the taste of even that tiny ration.   It's my current binge level.

[425nm]

Pretty much all the alcohol I get to taste these days is in my homeopathic remedy tinctures.    Would that level be considered unsafe?   I have to admit, I like the taste of even that tiny ration.   It's my current binge level.

 

What percentage alcohol and how much are you consuming in a day? If you're only consuming in the mL range its probably not a big deal even if we're talking white lighting levels of ABV. Its really if you're consuming enough to get a buzz its bad for you and certainly if you do so frequently.

[Alder Logs]

Tinctures, as I was taught to make them, are done in about 50 proof.   I take a few drops each of a maximum of three or four per day.   Nothing like the fatal glass of beer.

 

[Direct Link]

[jkdeth]

Personally its about excess. Most consumables deemed 100 percent bad for you, are usually consumed to excess before negatives begin. Tough part is once an excess has been consumed for an extended duration, the organ damage is often irreversible.

My Uncle was an extreme example, he wasn't a daily 5, 6 beers drinker or a weekend drunk, and even went months without drinking sometimes. But when he drank, he pulled an 8 to 12 week drunk and did not stop till he was so sick he had to be hospitalized.

He quit drinking in his 40s, died in his late 50s when his organs started failing from the alcohol abuse.

[riseabovethought]

Some thoughts on the liver...

 

 It seems as if in terms of emergency medicine the order of value is brain and heart, then the other organs down the list..but in prevention terms, the liver is number one most important organ to address.  Reminds me of the value of changing the car's filter for its longevity.  It might be that the same applies to us, but cleaning out the liver is more complicated than changing a car's filter out.  Imagine if the car could regenerate its own filter every 3000 miles.  Our liver is the most regenerative organ in the body.  It completely regenerates itself in 57 weeks.  Lay off all liver- toxic substances for one year and viola!  I think if everyone did this, there'd be a hell of a lot fewer liver transplants and a lot less preventable illness & death. 

 

Ima eat some spinach and chicken livers.. and lay off the sauce.  I have to really keep in mind whats good for the liver and what isnt.  Basically though, whatever the liver has to work at filtering out foreign chems, isnt good for the liver, while plants in general- fruits and veggies are easily digested and need little to no filtering.  I assume meat and veggies would need the least amount of help from the liver while everything else works the hell out of it.

 

One more thaing I've noticed is that kidney disease seems to be the thing that takes many of our elderly at the moment of death.  If the liver isnt damaged as much as the kidneys, its generally the kidneys dysfunction that takes us.  Liver filters food and kidneys filter liquids.  If one could hypothetically eat clean food, that burns cleanest and easiest to digest through our liver, flushing the liver while it regenerates for that 57 weeks it takes to do so, it might be equally as helpful to drink only water and steer clear from all other fluids besides water, especially in our older years might give the kidneys the same sort of flushing cleanse while the kidneys regenerate simultaneously might also be worthwhile.  Hmm, just thinking out loud, but its worth considering for sure if any of the above resonates and you have some will power.  

[Alder Logs]

Since the liver you might buy at a store would have been doing the same filtering job for some animal being fed God knows what to add to its liver load, I think I will stick to eating collards and kale. 

[Alder Logs]

Also, though it's too late for this old fart, but what if when we're younger we don't hammer our livers and other organs?   I mean, what if I had lived as I am now back then?   But I had years to eat shit-food, smoke, and get wasted, to get out of the way.    But then, I never had no better larnin'.