good for you, Ginger. I too had been drinking vast amounts of alcohol for a long time before I quit completely. I don't miss those hangovers! .
good for you, Ginger. I too had been drinking vast amounts of alcohol for a long time before I quit completely. I don't miss those hangovers! .
Hi Cobweb, do you mind me asking if you stopped suddenly or was it a gradual thing? Do you find it difficult to stay away from now?
here comes the sun
Hi, i had cut down a bit from every single night to weekends only, then I got VERY drunk at a friend's house and made a decision not to put myself in that place ever again, so i stopped there and then. Since then I have had a glass of wine a couple of times and it was horrible (believe me! ) so for well over a year haven't had a drop.
Sometimes i get an urge so powerful, i can 'see' drink, smell it, taste it - but it soon passes. I make 'cocktails' now out of fruits such as mangoes and strawberries, or as a 'naughty' drink occasionally i have a 'Roy Rogers' - just coke with pomegranite juice and ice .
I haven't made a fool of myself for a long time and it feels good, plus my liver thanks me for it daily .
That's great Cobweb, very inspiring to me. I can almost hear my liver thanking me right now I'm just worried that if I say I'm not going to drink anymore I will feel under a lot of pressure.
here comes the sun
I know what you mean, I really do, Ginger. Why don't you just drink at the weekends and give your body time to clean out during the week? . I'd probably still be doing that but my husband has a half-sister who is a recovering alcoholic and it has turned him very anti-drink so it just doesn't feel right in our home now anyway.
i have no experience of hard drinking, just the usual 'youthful' drinking when younger, now i don't drink at all and haven't for about 25yrs.
i have heard on the news etc that it can be just, if not more, dangerous for your body to binge at weekends and have nothing the rest of the time.
again, i have no experience of heavy drinking really, so these are just polite observations...
true, but any binge drinking is bad, moderation is key but if you 'depend' on alcohol then that is hard
Wow Frank Language, thanks for that
here comes the sun
I've been away from vegan forum for a while. After about a year of veganism I maybe didn't feel I needed the forum for support so much as I had become quite settled with my new lifestyle. However, it's great to come back and see this thread still alive.
I didn't touch alcohol for about a year after starting this thread, but the past couple of months I have had a couple of drinks. It was an interesting experience. After not having alcohol in my system for so long I was very aware of its effects. Just the slightest drop made me feel drunk and tired. Wine brought on heyfever symptoms and when reading Skinny Bitch I discovered that the reason could be an additive in it. Just as cutting out dairy greatly reduced my allergies cutting out alcohol also helped.
So all in all, I'm quite happy with not drinking, and trying it again was reassuring because I didn't like it all that much anyway.
I didn't notice any benefits from cutting it out, but I did notice negative effects of consuming it again.
It's also nice not worring about if alcoholic drinks are vegetarian/vegan.
I'm still here, and I'm still supportive of any decision you or others might make to try to live more responsibly. I'm happy to hear you've had great success! That's wonderful. I wish you the best, and you know you can come to these forums for continued support.
Sounds great!
I stopped drinking when I was 19.
Alcohol has tons of bad effects. Listening to friends who are sober alcoholics have even strenghtened my opinion even more. Some have lived with alcohol abuse for 40 years or more. I'm really glad I took the decision to stop drinking.
I am still not drinking alcohol and have no desire to drink.
However, I see most social activities seem to focus on drinking either at parties or in pubs.
What do people do to socialise which does not involve drinking, when not with family and partners?
I do volunteeer work, go to the gym and spend time with teetotal friends. What else is there in the social sphere?
See my local diary ... http://herbwormwood.blogspot.com/
i've recently started a new job where there seems to be quite a culture of drinking, and i've been under a bit of pressure to go and get drunk with my colleagues. i haven't come right out and said i don't drink (partly because i haven't decided i won't ever drink again, i just choose not to for the time being) but they go to the pub quite a lot and it's important to me to socialise with them, so i've just been going along and drinking soft drinks. not so much fun being the only sober one in a large group, but better than getting drunk and maudlin anyway.
a couple of my friends are teetotal; we hang out at each others' houses, go out for food, go to the cinema, go for walks together... stuff like that.
a lot of VF meets seem to revolve around pubs but they're still fun if you're not drunk
'The word gorilla was derived from the Greek word Gorillai (a "tribe of hairy women")'
I'm teetotal by choice (I don't like the smell of most alcoholic beverages anyway--and smell is one of my senses that I trust most ). However, if others choose to drink, I don't mind (to each their own). My choice on that has usually been respected.
Well, when I was a bit younger, as a Straight Edge kid, it was easy for me to socialize because our idea of socializing was local gigs. Underground punk music...that entire atmosphere was fun. Now that I'm a little older, most of the kids who were teetotal with me have moved on in their lives and most have moved away from abstinence. Now I am a gamer who plays video games socially at LAN parties and online, and I am involving myself with positive, goal oriented people such as Food Not Bombs, recycling efforts and the cuddle party culture where drinking is not part of the norm.
Hi everyone!
I made the descision last night that I was going to go straight edge for the following reasons:
1) I spent a whole week off my face on drugs and alcohol and it was the worst thing ever.....the come down yesterday that is.
2) I feel like an insensitive peace of shit when I wake up the next morning and the woman I love tells me I was a complete and toatl bitch to her, which of course I remember nothing about.
3) I want kids some day and I want to be alive long enough to see them grow up.
4) I was able to drink almost 20 cans of beer in a day by the end...which cannot be good. I usually drank at least four cans of beer a day anyway.
5) All the drugs, smoking and beer was fucking with my mental health.
So guys please help me out here...I'm kinda finding it okish but it is so tempting to go outside and smoke a fag and have a beer. I know I'm not gonna but encouragement is key.
The taste of anything in my mouth for 5 seconds does not equate to the beauty and complexity of life.
You can do it Emzy, you're a strong woman who takes no shit. So, take no shit
absolutely!
i reckon sometimes it's easier to be all or nothing..maybe it depends on what kind of person you are. but your reasons cannot be faulted..so you have my support in whatever way you need it. association breaking is a good thing to do apparently??
you go guuurrrr!
ahronli sed ah dunit so thid tek thuh cheyus graytuh offa mi nihbles
Emzy - encouragement is not the key - determination is - determination to keep your lover should be enough to sway you when you feel yourself wavering if she is the one. I wish you well with it. It is cool to be clean.
Thanks for your posts guys and those are some wise words there vavavegan.
I'll keep you posted on my progress!
The taste of anything in my mouth for 5 seconds does not equate to the beauty and complexity of life.
1.Alcohol is a useful and expensive solvent...
2.Quit using other folks' medicine.
3.Wherever the craving or suggestion might come from, you get to live in your body....don't let others **** in your blood. [pardon my anglo saxon]....er poison your blood.
4. Maybe get wrecked on exercise....plenty of dopamine [which you might be missing] and endorphins. You still get dizzy, with thumping heart, and head, and get to feel battered the next day...only you get stronger and fitter until you're out of time.
5. See drunken people, and consider alternatives.
Problematic is waking someone whom pretends to sleep.
Good luck emzy
I've been considering the amount of alcohol I consume. It's scared me. So I decided this afternoon to go teetotal. For at least a year. I can't do things in moderation, addictive personality like emma p so giving up is the only way for me. At least at this point in life. Plus I have 4 stone excess weight to shift...I'm sure it will help with that too
Vegan Forum: keeping me sane in the world of the ignorant.
good for you emzy, it is the right thing to do. it will, over time, make you a stronger person and you CAN still have fun
Good luck to you Emzy and Philfox. I know you're amazingly strongwilled girl, Emz...
I admire you!!
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” ~ Alcott
I gave up all alcohol about 10 years ago for a while (6 months perhaps). I had a very active social life at the time and it was quite nice to go out clubbing and stuff on a regular basis completely sober (probably the only person there who was).
I started again because I learnt *some* moderation and only drank when I was out with friends at somewhee that I'd want to be if I was sober (i.e. I wasn't trying to compensate for the fact that the club sucked by buying grossly overpriced drinks).
These days with a job my social life isn't exactly what it used to be, so more often than not I drink at home (which I didn't do at all at uni unless i had friends over). I keep it to a few units a week. I don't drink at all if i drive (which we we go out is usually by car) and other than the odd bit of caffeine (very rarely as I boycott coke/pepsi and don't regularly drink tea/coffee) don't use any drugs.
Everyone's reactions to alcohol differs, so for personally it's about finding a balance between mental clarity (which I really appreciate) and the odd bit of (semi) controlled excess. I know that for some people it's all or nothing, and I admire the efforts of anyone to cut down on alcohol consumption (be that all or part), if the current consumption of it is a problem for them/others around.
i had some beer yesterday was a celebration that my ratties were fine after their castrations. I'm actually concerned about why I needed to celebrate with alcohol. But at least I can see that and address that next time. I didn't get drunk, but that is besides the point :/
Vegan Forum: keeping me sane in the world of the ignorant.
I probably dropped alcohol drinks completely largely because moderate use just gave me headaches and I didn't have any reason to "get used to" it - assuming this was something that could be overcome. So I don't know about that getting wasted bit and don't care, either.
It has been nearly 2 months since I have had a alcoholic drink
*waits for applause*
I am feeling lots better, I am sleeping much more deeply and feeling more rested afterwards and I feel a lot more positive and my moods are a lot more stable. Quite a few people have commented on how much more happy I seem.
*much applause*
well done!
it's been a couple of years for me now, and about 10 years since i stopped binge drinking............i really miss it occasionally but mostly i feel so much better without it. Evil stuff gets a grip on you
Awesome, Blackcats! Did you find it hard?
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” ~ Alcott
Thanks Ella. I have found it hard occasionally but I have done a fair bit of research and I am taking various vitamins and minerals which are making me feel great so I wouldn't want to undo that hard work by drinking again.
Didn't you cut down on drinking as well? How is it going?
Awesome, that reminds me to get some vitamins at the store tonight.
So yeah....I gave up alcohol for a bit, but couldn't stick with it...
I thought I'd be sXe for my health, but I dont really care anymore.
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” ~ Alcott
oh, tsk and tutt-tutt, naughty ella, why if i get a hold of you.............
hehe I know...
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” ~ Alcott
I've been alcohol free for about a month, in the hope that it'll help with weight loss.
I don't miss it especially.
i stopped drinking too..i don't miss it..it just makes me feel crap on several levels. my family history is steeped in disaster through boozing..so best avoided for me
ahronli sed ah dunit so thid tek thuh cheyus graytuh offa mi nihbles
excellent (*said Mr Burns style*)
heh..it's no big deal cobweb
ahronli sed ah dunit so thid tek thuh cheyus graytuh offa mi nihbles
it is!
i'm recruiting for the teetotallers club
For those of you who are cutting down on alcohol partly for weight loss - you may know/wish to know that alcohol is 7kcal per gram as compared with Carbohydrate 4kcal per gram and protein 4 kcal per gram. Fat comes in highest at 9kcal per gram. Alcohol has little to no nutritional value and dieticians agree that despite the suposed health benefits, if you don't drink you shouldn't start.
Hope this spurs you on a little.
Well done to those of you who have continued with your abstinence.
My experience is that true happiness doesn't come from the use of alcohol or drugs but real life experiences.
Maybe we should have a teetotal meet up?
I'm 21 and have always been teetotal. I don't like the taste of it (except when masked in drinks like Bacardi Breezers) and I certainly don't like the calorie value of it!
Because of my age, my peers always think I'm crazy/boring. But I think I'm original in not wanting to be falling out of clubs, puking and having a hangover like everyone else my age!
vegan and proud.
i don't see any problems with spirits from a calorie perspective - 4 shots is less than a piece of cake
I'm avoiding it because it supposidly slows your metabolism (whilst your body concentrates on removing the alcohol), which I'm trying to speed up.
That would be a good idea Cookey.:smile:
At the moment I am having to focus on social activities that do not centre around the pub. Luckily my closest friends and my husband don't drink hardly at all but I know I will have to be around very drunk people at some point socially and I am dreading it.
check this site out
http://www.alcoholfree.co.uk/?gl=low1
HOO! RA!
Well done BlackCats, EmmaP, and Mr.Flibble [I wasn't expecting that Mr.F, you seemed pretty pinned once or twice].
Problematic is waking someone whom pretends to sleep.
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