Alcohol - who really needs it?

Originally posted by ElizaAshdene
It'd be great if all humans cared enough about themselves to really listen to their bodies, really pay attention.

Why do that when someone else will tell you it's ok? No need to be responsible for ourselves. That's what the government's for, right?

I agree! Thats why it's up to us and parents to teach their children to become self reliant and teach them more about the real facts of life. I don't ever listen to what the government says unless its a good point. It's all about the money in the end, they could careless when they go home at night that thousands of people each day are crying over the death of a loved one while the ones telling us it's ok sits in their mansion kicking back with a Cuban, paid for by the death of others. But at least the cigarette manufacturers are putting the truth on the pack, thats a start, but the public needs more warnings on others things to that extreme.

reply to post by James1982


I'm not judging anyone but the head dawgs of this country that fails and fails and fails to give us the correct info that leads to death, thats just a fact. The numbers speak for themselves.

Also, I said I drink myself in my first post on this thread, just not often, I have nothing against beer or drinking, I have a problem with the lack of truth that is being given to us.

Nothing wrong with brewing your own home brew thats probably the safer way to go, so I'm sorry if you took my words in a way that was attacking regular people, my attack is on the corps. and government.

reply to post by ExCommando
I am surprised to see how many people drink this way. I thought I was in a vast minority. Actually, I probably drink a little more than most of you. My preference is beer, or I should say I only drink beer. I am a brewer also, so I can produce it for very cheap. I brew in 10 gal. batches and grow my own hops so I only spend around 15-20 bucks a batch for ingredients.

Unfortunately, I can't brew often enough to keep up with my habit. So I end up mostly drinking the cheapest (well close to it) beer the local store carries.

I never have any life problems because of drinking, I have a good job, I'm an electronics engineer. And I go to work every day. The trouble is, I think I make my life more stressful from the drinking than it has to be. I end up drinking to calm down from the stressful day that drinking most likely caused. Or at least exacerbated.

Every day at work I run a few miles at lunch to recover from getting all wound up all morning long. I'm lucky enough to have a shower at work and time to do it. In the mid morning my blood pressure is up to around 140 or 150 over 80 but by afternoon after my run it's down around 120 over 70, and I'm 52 years old so that's not bad.

I've been trying lately to taper down little by little so I can eventually dry out for a while. I think life would be better. I have the same problem, when I try not to drink I can't sleep and when I do get to sleep I wake up every couple hours drenched with sweat. I never try to go that route any more. So I'm down to around 5 beers a night right now and hoping I can keep whittling that number down.

Also, I am not one that is uninterested in life because of drinking. I've played guitar and sang in bands for close to 40 years and I picked up the cello a few years ago. And I started building model airplanes as a hobby when everyone else is in bed. I do lots of other things too but I'm so busy with a 29 YO wife and a 17 month old boy and work around the house that my time is really tight. Well, enough rambling, sorry.

How do you guys brew beer? I would not mind trying. Especially dark ale. Can you post something on that? I do have hops in my garden.

One sort of substitute for those that want to drink less alcohol (especially beer or wine with mineral water the way it is drunk in Europe) is water kephyr or Tibi. This is a kephyr that you grow in sugar water with some lemon slices and the fungi (kind of transparent) digest the sugar and ferment it in a couple of days. Sometimes I found that this was a really great substitue for beer or the wine with mineral water when I have to drive for example.

I gues for those that drink all the time it is a welcome change to try being dry as the OP says. I don't think wine or beer - "alcohol" - is particularly dangerous for me. Pot used to be, because I could not really control it. I thought I could but - not really. But I quit that over a decade ago. (Now that was a good feeling - even though I would never criminalize it.) I immediately started to have more colorful dreams.

Now the countryside where I live everyone makes a little wine on the side. I usually get one that is not high in alcohol but has some taste.

Hope this post is not against the T&C.

reply to post by Kokatsi
It's late for me, but I'll get back on and tell you a little about brewing beer. The other stuff you spoke about sounds interesting. I'll have to hear more from you on that.

reply to post by ExCommando


I have only read your opening post...
I was a member of a baptist church for over 5 years.
Baptists don't drink any alcoholic beverages,period!
When we first joined, I had poured around $400.00
worth of alcohol down my kitchen sink.
When I recently quit the baptist church,I started to
drink again.BUT,I only use capfuls of whiskey in my
mixed drinks and I don't allow myself to get drunk or
even get a buzz.I make myself a nice relaxing drink.

reply to post by The Old American


You are so right. Alcohol or any man made chemical will have cause major changes in the brain. Both cause dependance and then addiction. That is the reason they are available for the people. The Gov makes their poisons available in every neighborhood across the country while demonizing real medicine that comes from nature. I traded nine poisons for natural medicines I was not getting in my diet of chemicals from Big Gov.

I was living in that quicksand for years until I found natural cures for things I was told could not be cured by the Docs. The cures are out there but one must search and investigate.

reply to post by ExCommando


I suggest you put down the bottle/can my friend. I was the same as you. Always a drinker. Never thought about it much just always drank on the golf course, ballgames, after work, at friends house, at the track just part of my life. Then I started out of the blue feeling like crap and a month later went to the doc and was diagnosed with end stage liver disease. I was absolutely shocked. Told me I'd need a liver transplant or I'd die in six months. Its been two years now and no transplant and all is well. I'm a "miracle" according to the docs but my liver is still damaged. I watch these intervention shows and these folks chug a gallon of booze a day and I say good Lord I was never even close to drinking that heavily. Apparently some folks it effects and some it doesn't. Luck of the draw. Not worth the chance. I never had a problem stopping guess it had just become part of my daily ritual that I changed. I do miss a cold one every once in a while but not worth going down that road ever again.

reply to post by HoldTheBeans


Good for you friend. Have you researched any natural plants that can reverse the liver damage? I would stay away from any poison they tempted you with until you can find out about natural cures.

My Cousin was in the same boat as you although he choose to continue drinking. He had the Liver damage for almost five years before the booze and pills finally released his soul.

Alcohol is just one of many tools used to oppress the masses. The garbage has no place in my life.

By the way, has anyone ever wondered why alcohol is perfectly legal, heavily promoted and readily available, while marijuana - which is irrefutably much more benign - is outlawed? In case you're wondering, I don't do that stuff either; it's just an observation.

Originally posted by Buford2
reply to post by HoldTheBeans

 

Good for you friend. Have you researched any natural plants that can reverse the liver damage? I would stay away from any poison they tempted you with until you can find out about natural cures.

My Cousin was in the same boat as you although he choose to continue drinking. He had the Liver damage for almost five years before the booze and pills finally released his soul.

No I just stick to a good diet and they basically have me on only two meds that keep my fluids in order. I'm down to seeing the doc now every six months to get a scan to make sure no cancer. Stuff catches up to you when your not expecting it I'll tell you that. There's all kinds of "cures" out there from buttermilk to dandelion pedals to artichoke extract and tons of others I've read about. I just try and stick to a good diet, lot of salads and leafy stuff and vitamins. Seems to be working for now.

reply to post by ExCommando


hey guys i am proud to say i am an aussie beer recepticle i love my beer try and take it away from me and there will be trouble in fact i am consuming a longneck of carlton draught right now and it feels good after working my but off all bloody day . i read some of those stats and its realy scary how children are subjected to that kind of binge drinking i have a son who is 7 and a half moths old and he sits on my lap while i watch footy, v8 supercars , fishing shows and whatever else and i usualy have a beer in my hand . i havent paid much attention but i will have a think about what he sees in the future.
i think alcohol is a good thing to those who use it responsibly either as a relaxant or socialy it is when it is abused thats when it becomes a nightmare for those who abuse and thier families just like every thing else
the key is moderation and controll if you can controll it you cant go wrong thats what i say anyway

on another subject
excomando i want to say a big thank you to all australian servicemen and women who have served our county in all past and current wars you have done our country proud
my grandfather was a comando back in the day , he was also part of the DIRTY THIRTY ( first australian army advisors in vietnam ) so i have a healthy respect for what you do and what you sacrifice on a daily basis
THANK YOU

Hey everyone - just wanted to give you an update.

Still haven't had a drink, and to be completely honest I don't miss it at all.

It's interesting to see how it's changed my social life - there are certain friends who I just don't hang out with anymore (those that I used to drink with all the time), as I don't feel like being around them.

I feel much more alert during the day, and I have heaps more energy for training - I'm finding it easier to stay in shape, and I have more energy.

I think this will be a long term thing for me, as I can't really see any benefits to picking up a drink again.

I am a binge drinker and a smoker myself. Doing both since I was like 12. When I drink I don't stop until I crawl into bed. No money for beer now, oh well, it is what it is I guess. I am hoping to try a month without drinking, and see how it goes. Pretty sad when you can't say you have gone a month without drinking for over half your life

Smoking is my next demon to slay. Such a stupid habit to have forced upon myself. Smoking always sucks at first, yet we try to "man up" passed the period our bodies reject the poison to become addicts...

Ive quit all habits, and am in control

Everybody around me uses hard/soft drugs and ore alcohol. I do not understand any more why people need external things to relax. Whats wrong with us?

Being a slave is hard for the body and mind, they have problems submitting. Need drugs to relax....ah lives good

I think this really falls into the category of the individual learning discipline. For example, when the cardiovascular benefits of wine are restricted to MODERATE CONSUMPTION, many people don't hear that latter part of the statement - they just delude themselves into thinking their already troublesome behaviour is good for them. But hell, anything can be destructive in excess. You can actually kill yourself by drinking too much water, or consuming a truckload of bananas. Anything in consumed in excess can be harmful, because you are forcing your body to process something, and our organs have limitations.

As a whole, it's just helpful, much as a previous poster stated, to LISTEN to you body. Did you just wake up from a night of getting wasted with your friends? Go for a run, drink some water, take a wheatgrass juice shot (GOD I love that stuff), and lay off the toxins for a while. Similarly, there are instances when you're so god damned stressed from work, life, debating on forum sites ( ) that it's good to knock a couple back after work with some friends.

And if you're planning on quitting the drink, and you have a long history of boozing, please, take a note from Amy Winehouse - DO NOT QUIT COLD TURKEY! Find yourself a hospital, or use your own discipline to slowly reduce your consumption to nil. Quitting cold turkey, for some extreme cases, can actually kill you.

Booze is just like food or anything else - just be smart about it.

let me see beer looks like pee taste like pee and is created because yeast eat sugar a well pee .
Nasty the hard stuff looks like something that could run a truck smells like something that could run a truck taste like something that could run a truck .And guess what can run a truck!
Wine well now The only bubbles i like are blond and in coke .lolololo
Don't drink alcohol never have never will .ill just sit back and enjoy the shows the drinking fools put on for me .
Stupid woman flashing every one .I like that .Stupid guy who starts thinking hes Bruce lee managing to destroy the lights tables never hitting his intended target .
Plz don't stop drinking what would i do for entertainment??
Misfit says you thank god I am says I .If being like you is what it takes to fit in ill stick to the isl of misfit toys .

a great man once said,

"Consume sake, don't let sake consume you"

This is all

I worry about alcohol consumption a lot. Everyone on my mothers side was alcoholic eventually. There's native American in that side, perhaps it is that vulnerability....

I probably have a glass or two of wine about two to three times a week, which seems a lot. I'm thinking of not drinking any at all because I notice that once I start I get the desire or urge to keep on drinking (even if I don't follow it).

But what bothers me is the social pressure, actually! I'm in France, people don't even consider wine alcohol (sadly). When you are a guest, a different wine if offered with each course and it is considered rude not to try it.


I'm afraid if I really insist and refuse to drink at all, people will suddenly assume that I must be an alcoholic!
Stupid irony there- if I want to not drink to avoid becoming an alcoholic, it looks like I am an abstaining alcoholic!

I love beer..Sometimes I drink far too much of it some weeks, other times I get bored of it and don't bother at all for months on end or just treat myself to one bottle of wine a month.
It's never been a massive issue, and I know far too many alky's to get sucked into that abyss.

I do find it a little unfair though just how people can end up branded with a major problem just because they like to relax with a beer or a glass or two of wine after a hard days work. Surely that's a persons prerogative.

If you do like a drink, get yourselves some Milk Thistle, your livers will thank you for it..

As for someone who wanted to know about brewing their own dark real ales..You might want to start off just buying a simple kit that makes a huge amount. They are dirt cheap in the UK and as I recall the only ingredients you have to add are your own sugar, water, malt extract and/or black treacle.