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Why give up completely and not just limit yourself to say 3 drinks per week?

Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 12:47:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Kinda like giving up smoking by only having 3 fags a day. All you're doing is prolonging the agony.

Sides, for me a drink is anything between 5 - 7 pints. Not part of any calorie controlled diet I've ever seen.

Sorry. you'll just have to accept that Helen has taken Scrooge and Blackadder into her heart

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 12:50:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Giving up smoking is a different thing imo.  I personally don't see the harm in giving up alcohol but it is a difficult thing to do that makes you miserable knowing you can't even have one drink every so often.  How long will it last anyway, until you've lost the weight you want?  Then you fall back into bad habits?  Is it not better to create good habits that don't remove all nice things but help bring a balance in?

Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 12:57:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Don't know myself. I tried not drinking for two weeks last year and it worked out pretty well in reducing my consumption on the long run. I'd say try out different things and see what works.

You also have to understand that the (non-scientific) literature on doing this stuff has a vested interest in not working.

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 01:12:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'd agree but aside from anything else I think my liver needs a thorough rest. I've unknowingly been taking a dangerous form of oral oestrogen for the past 6 years. You can do that when you're young but only for 4 - 5 years. However it causes problems past the age of 35, especially if you take it for long periods at the doses I have.

Even tho' I've now changed medication so ease the problem, this will have strained my liver considerably and so it needs a rest. Giving up booze is something of a no-brainer decision. I've done it before and know the ropes; I feel grumpy for a couple of weeks and then I get used to it.

But i do need to lose weight as well, I've got a serious beer belly growing down below and I really don't like the look


keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 01:15:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Then you have other reasons for stopping drinking/cutting it right down.  Which is different than just trying to lose weight.  It was the same for me when I had to completely cut out dairy which was incredibly hard at the time because the cravings for it were so strong and it required a big change in lifestyle and habits to be able to cut it out and not keep giving into wanting to binge. It is hard.  Good luck with it.  I'm sure you'll begin to feel lots better in yourself once you get past being grumpy.

Ad astra per aspera
by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 01:25:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Helen, You must do it. And you can. The weight will go down proportionally. Anything we can do to help - like forgiving grumpiness - just say the word ;-)

It's a Learned Behaviour Disorder. The trick is finding ways to unlearn. Unlearning takes time. Be patient.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 02:06:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
thank you. I really only want ot give up for a month, but I suspect that it would be best not to drink until my weight is more reasonable and that may be some months away.

Still, whilst I'm unemployed not wasting what little cash I have on booze will be a good thing.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 02:11:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Unca Sven speaks true. Do it, Helen, you can.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 02:34:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Helen, you know i stand behind you here.  The liver is not to be trifled with, though as you know i often do.  But a good cleanout works wonders, especially if you eat really healthy over the next months.  All my best.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
by Crazy Horse on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 07:04:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

So what are your cunning plans?

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 01:00:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Drink is the urine from the last leper in hell

I thought we'd agreed to stop slagging off budweiser.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 01:05:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Actually, no.

But we could say Kronenbourg instead (the standard pig wee, I mean).

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 02:37:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think Kronenburg is preferable to St louis rice beer. Grievous global abominations in the name of beer include skol, anything polish, anything chinese and Castlemaine XXXX

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 02:48:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I find Tyskie and Zywiec quite drinkable, but you're the expert. What do you think about Foster's?
by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 03:13:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, the Foster's made in Sheffield, UK is not a nice product, that much I can say without fear of contradiction.

Tsingtao seemed relatively ok in Shenzhen.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 03:16:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I confess to doing the voiceover for Foster's TV ads in Finland - spoken in Strine, of course. One of the few occasions when I have advertised something I wouldn't use myself.

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 03:54:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Those two polish beers are really not nice : you live in berlin, what are you doing drinking polish beer when you've got the good stuff all round ?

fosters ? There is a railway station at the Northern end of the Piccadilly tube line in london that adequatley captures my feeling : Cockfosters. A friend of mine really likes it so I've often persuaded myself that I can try it and the sheer nastiness of it never ceases to amaze me.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 03:23:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I saw a US beer called Old Skratch on Wednesday, brought by one of our guests. Has a Ralph Steadman etiquette. Supposed to be good. I know nothing as you well know...

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 03:43:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Soon as you said Ralph Steadman I was thinking Flying dog, but this is the one you mean

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 03:52:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Exactly!

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 03:55:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
When I was living in Berlin, 30 odd years ago, the local beer was Schultheiss.
Still remember their slogan (Was trinken wir? Schultheiss Bier!) plastered all over the sides of the double decker buses. At this time, I was too young to drink beer anyway, so I can't tell whether it is any good.

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
by Bernard on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 05:41:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It isn't, but it's cheap. Of the local beers I prefer Berliner (which has to be kept separate from Berliner Kindl). Decent beer and still cheaper than a Becks (bad) or Warsteiner.
by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 05:50:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Anyway, I was a kid back then.
BTW, do you live in Wedding? That's where my family was living, not far from the French cultural center on Muellerstrasse...

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
by Bernard on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 05:59:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, in Wedding, about 2 kilometres east of the French cultural centre. I've walked past it quite a few times on a Sunday stroll. With the mini Eiffel tower. Funny.
by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Fri Jan 2nd, 2009 at 06:18:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Mini Eiffel tower? I guess Berlin has changed a lot since the mid-70s... (duh!)

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
by Bernard on Sat Jan 3rd, 2009 at 09:56:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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