What is "heavy drinking" to you? Do you have boundaries around alcohol?
Maybe you don't drink at all. Or maybe you drink a maximum amount of drinks per week / month. Or mayyyybe you never considered setting boundaries around alcohol (yet).
I shared THIS REEL on Instagram last week about what I consider "heavy drinking" for myself and so many reasons it can be messing up our health and body goals. Psst ... none of the reasons was "calories" because there are so many bigger things happening that deserve our attention.
The most current research might make you wanna avoid alcohol entirely or at least consider indulging a lot less often + with less drinks per sesh.
That being said, what if you want to still drink occasionally? Anything to do that can help?
Kinda no — your body still has to process and remove the poison itself over time, and kinda yes — you can support your body so it’s in a slightly better position to do so.
Consider these:
1️⃣Eat protein, fat, and fiber-rich meals. Keep your blood sugar as steady as possible. Avoid alcohol and sugar or processed carbs at the same time. I know, right?? But just sharing the info.
2️⃣Discuss with a trusted healthcare provider whether or not NAC, milk thistle, and / or dandelion root tea would be good for you. And avoid Tylenol!! These are liver + methylation things.
3️⃣Sleep! If you will be short on sleep the night of the ‘event’, make it your job to sleep well the night before and the night after.
4️⃣Hydration + electrolytes
5️⃣Try to avoid additional toxins in that drink to avoid an even bigger blow. Choose organic wine or liquor + water or club soda + low sugar mix-ins like lemon, lime, mint, cinnamon sticks.
6️⃣Expect all the signs + symptoms of blood sugar imbalance for at least 24 hours or so: hunger + fullness cues off, cravings up, energy dips.
7️⃣Exercise, walk, dance, sauna or hot bath, dry brush … think about supporting healthy lymphatic circulation.
Some things I do in case it helps you:
🍷 Drink of choice: gin + club soda + muddled lemon. When the bartenders don’t wanna muddle a lemon for me 😆, I just get A BUNCH of lemons.
🍷I am ok not finishing a drink. I can order one and drink half. It’s a waste whether I make my body deal with it or leave it, so no guilt.
🍷I’m a 1 drink MAX person these days. Smart? Boring? Probably both. If I DO want a drink that night, I’ll decide if it’s 1 with dinner or 1 at the concert or whatever, but not both.
🍷I am perfectly fine being the only one not drinking. It’s an intentional choice and one I make often.
🍷I want a really FULL + FUN life. I also wanna feel great. This means drinking at every social event isn’t a good idea for me.
I figured now might be a fun time to share a couple of mocktail recipes with ya. Hope you enjoyyyy!
XO,
Tara
P.S. We dive much deeper into alcohol and all things indulgences in TRANSFORM: Body + Mind so you can make informed choices regardless and not feel as though the social or fun times are derailing your progress at all. The next round starts in March. Are you on the waitlist yet??