How to give up booze..... a serious question

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AndyRM

XOXO
Location
North Shields
Well yes obviously.
Big difference between bottle of water/party fizz/weak wine (lots of it around) , beer (all sorts of strengths in different sized bottles , sherry, spirits, very high alcohol stuff (plus 90 per cent?) Which at least until recently you could buy cheaply in Italy for your home concoctions.
If you aren't aware of the variety of bottle temptations, I fear for you.
Drink aware/wise.
Enjoy but be careful out there.

My point, poorly made admittedly, is that a bottle of beer can be just as damaging as a bottle of spirits.
 
Location
London
My point, poorly made admittedly, is that a bottle of beer can be just as damaging as a bottle of spirits.
I wouldn't say someone drinking a bottle of beer a day had an alcohol problem.
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
What I did:

Found a soft drink that I liked (sugar free) and drink that instead.
Get over the myth that having a few drinks tonight is going to vastly improve my enjoyment of the evening.
Don't buy alcohol in the weekly shop (i.e. don't keep it in the house).
I wouldn't think cutting down is any good. It still gives you the idea that you need (half as much) alcohol, when in fact you don't need any.

Best of luck
 

Sniper68

It'll be Reyt.
Location
Sheffield
I quit Xmas day......after waking up in a cell.I went out for a pint with the dog xmas eve and the rest is history.First time in 19 years I’ve been out Xmas Eve and probably the last.The “off” switch I thought I’d developed as I’ve gotten older didn’t work.
We were generally drinking a three bottles of wine a night 4-5 times a week but last year I was “calling for a pint” with the dog which was actually 4or5 then going home and starting on the wine.
The bender at Xmas was the straw that broke the camels back.I ended up living with friends through January as my wife and kids didn’t want me in the house.
I quit Xmas day.
I am home now and drink Alcohol free beer a couple of nights a week.I usually only have 3 or 4 bottles.
I’m not saying I’ll never drink again but I need to be 120% sure I can just have a couple then switch off before I do.
Another bonus is getting up for Sunday CC rides hangover free!
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Having gone cold turkey about 10 years ago, my advice is be prepared to feel worse before you feel better.

I reckon that may also apply to cutting back significantly because my non-qualified view is the body becomes dependent on whatever quantity it is shipping.

Currently, I have literally a single bottle of beer or a double scotch about once or twice a month.

I've been helped by the availability of a wider range of soft drinks.

For example, I rather like some of the energy drinks such as Monster.

Not for any energy reasons, but because I find the flavours interesting.

Stupid thing is at about £1.30 a tin, they cost more than some beer.
 

Eziemnaik

Über Member
The most effective method would be becoming a Muslim and moving to a dry country such as Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.
With very high risk/reward ratio I can guarantee most people would rather quickly stop drinking.
(Not that it does perfectly, hence casualties of perfume poisoning in SA (trying to get drunk on no5:laugh: or victims of illicit distilleries in Pakistan or Iran - methanol poisoning seems to be quite common there) - this method was employed by Lawrence Osbourne in his fantastic travelogue "The wet and the dry" which I recommend to everyone interested in the subjet.

To all who may not know it - cutting alcohol completely out of your diet will decrease your life expectancy:okay:
 
Learned a lot from the Allen Carr approach, busts the myths around alcohol really well - there are no positives to alcohol and he 'proves' it. Read his, and a few other books, and went cold turkey, as the message is, simply, there is no good to it. That was probably this time last year - managed to stop really easily, didnt miss it in the slightest, wallet and health thanked me profusely. Unfortunately a change of circumstances in June led me to start again, and have drank pretty much every other day until last week, where re-reading the books has given me a new motivation and not touched anything since ...
He is quite scathing about the AA (although he admits it has helped a lot of people), where its always a 'struggle' and you are always an alcoholic, taking each day at a time, and you must resit the temptation of a drink...he tends to focus on why drink it, never does any one any good, and once you understand this you do not miss it, therefore no day is a 'struggle', in fact every day is freedom and one to be enjoyed.
 
I’ve been drinking 8+ pints a day for the last 3 years sometimes much more sometimes loads more I could say this is down to my failed family life but to be honest I don’t think that’s the only reason I think I have an addictive personality when I was younger it was drugs it’s also been exercise too

I sometimes have a hangover and feel sick but more often than not nothing and I don’t know if that’s good or bad, what I do know is I have very high tolerance for everything food drink spice pain and suffering included.
 

keithmac

Guru
I did 3 months off at start of year, slipped back into the habbit again though. Knocked it on the head again and haven't had a drink for over a month now.

Both times "cold turkey", if you've decided in yourself to do it then it's relatively easy.

For me drinking was habbit and stress relief, nothing good came of it so I decided not to carry on doing it!.

Each to their own, some can have just a pint, I liked a good drink so best off with none.

Don't miss hangovers one bit.

Refusing a drink will always be hard work though.
 
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