Is Alcohol Keeping You From Getting Well?
Whether you drink or not — that’s your personal choice and I’m not here to judge you for either decision.
However, I have found that my life seems better the less alcohol I add to it.
I know there are ‘clean’ wines and ‘lite’ beers, and ‘skinny’ cocktails out there to enjoy … but they still contain alcohol.
Alcohol affects your sleep, weakens your immune system, and can cause digestive problems, along with heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. It can also be the cause of various cancers … and it depletes calcium, magnesium and B-vitamins in the body.
Alcohol contains sugars that feed candida, yeast and bacteria. If you have an overgrowth of any of these in your gut, drinking alcohol definitely will not help in the healing process … actually, it could very well make things worse.
There’s no nice way to put it, but alcohol is a poison and is toxic to the body. Our liver’s main job is to detox the body. Our liver goes through a hard enough time detoxing anyway with all the toxins we are exposed to, and then has to spend more time trying to detox the poison we’ve added to it. If you are enjoying a nightly glass of wine, your liver and detox pathways are having a hard time keeping up!
It’s also more challenging to get enough REM sleep with alcohol in your system. Anyone with a data or fitness tracker that monitors your sleep and heart rate variability can tell you that from the data collected.
Lastly, inhibitions lower while drinking and your hunger kicks in, causing you to maybe eat more than you would at a regular meal or crave the processed food that you don’t normally eat. Multiple evenings like this can lead to weight gain.
If you’re drinking for the ‘escape’, try another solution! This could be a trip to the beach, infrared sauna, walk in the park, epsom salt bath, or reading a good book.
Thinking about it more, what needs to change in your life to not need the ‘escape’ of alcohol? The stress of your days might be causing damage as well, and adding alcohol to the mix makes things worse.
If your days are so stressful that you feel you need the escape of alcohol in the evening, think of what your days would be like if you went without the alcohol, went to bed earlier, and got up the following morning feeling rested, energized to tackle the day, and headache free!? Think of what you could accomplish!
If you’re meeting up with friends, there’s nothing wrong with ordering a sparkling water with lime … adding a splash of cranberry or another fruit juice. To make it more special, order this drink only when going out so it’s something you look forward to.
If your health is deteriorating at the moment, it very well could be the alcohol use. It could be making more of a negative impact on your health than you think. If you know you’re in need of a change, I challenge you to give up alcohol for 21 days. Who knows?! You might be sleeping better, feeling more alert and recovering better, and down some pounds!
If you’re not ready for that challenge, try cutting back. The main thing to remember, all peer pressure aside, is that you’re in control. Whether you choose not to drink, or just have one glass … it’s up to you!
This could be the beginning of a new relationship with alcohol and you just don’t know it yet.