Reasons for drinking very responsibly
Especially when you are stressed! For one thing, you might get very ill.
The 5 regular readers of this blog may have noticed that the confident start to the ‘count down to Christmas’ entries ran aground rather dramatically mid December and there has not been a posting since. That is because something really awful happened on December 21st and I am only just starting to get back to something slightly approaching normality.
JudeLordship Lane
Looked at objectively though, the necessary ingredients for this particular souffle of horror were there.Jude smoked. He did not eat particularly healthily despite my best efforts. He had been incredibly stressed with the on-going adventure that is Green & Blue for literally years now and he drank too much.
By the standards of many, many drinkers,Jude did not drink excessively but the fact is that he still drank far too much for someone operating under the kind of stress that he was. This is a subject incredibly close to my heart and while it may be a bizarre contradiction for someone who’s life revolves around the sale of alcohol, I am profoundly concerned about the often dangerous consumption of it.
There is no getting away from the fact that alcohol is essentially a toxic substance. You can ‘train’ your body to process it so effectively that you barely notice this if you drink regularly (although not necessarily excessively) but it is not and never will be on anything like a par with truly nutritious, energy and health giving foods or drink. The use of alcohol as a means to de-stress when times are especially tough, is an absolute nonsense. Real, deep seated, long-term stress (( am not talking about the frisson which gets you to an important deadline or through a big meeting) is poison, also wreaking havoc on the body and its functions and defences. The very last thing you should do to yourself if you are going through something like that is to compound the problem by desperately gulping down a glass, or possibly more, of wine to take the edge off the situation.
That is an utterly short term approach. You may indeed feel fuzzier and so more ‘relaxed’ for an hour or an evening, but you will feel worse for it the next day, even less able to cope with what ever bought on the need for a drink and so often even more desperate for one. It is a vicious, pointless, potentially destructive cycle. I know that this is not a popular view or indeed one that many people will agree with but based on personal experience and the extensive information on health and nutrition I have been lucky enough to have access to over the years thanks to people close to me who work in this field, I believe it completely.
It rarely is when one is really struggling to cope and going through something seriously difficult, no matter how much it may feel like it is when the first few sips start to blur the nightmare somewhat. I am also passionate about organic, biodynamic and natural wines as apart from all the other great things about them, at least with these, your body is only having to cope with the alcohol and not a host of residues and other additives as well. They also taste so much better and if you are using a glass of wine as a treat, why not treat yourself properly? Everything though, in moderation, always. Drink better, not more.
Jude
He is on the road to recovery though and very much wants to be back at work in about six weeks. We don’t know yet if that is realistic or not but for those of you who live nearEast Dulwich , I have no doubt that you will be seeing him before too long. Given how much I loathe and detest smoking (as only an ex-smoker can), to put a very positive spin on this, I am now, finally, married to a non-smoker which I am delighted about. I would not recommend this as an effective quitting method – it is rather convoluted, long winded and not a little distressing. However when given the choice between a wife and tobacco, I am very pleased to report the Jude chose marital bliss. Things are looking up.
Jude
Looked at objectively though, the necessary ingredients for this particular souffle of horror were there.
By the standards of many, many drinkers,
There is no getting away from the fact that alcohol is essentially a toxic substance. You can ‘train’ your body to process it so effectively that you barely notice this if you drink regularly (although not necessarily excessively) but it is not and never will be on anything like a par with truly nutritious, energy and health giving foods or drink.
That is an utterly short term approach. You may indeed feel fuzzier and so more ‘relaxed’ for an hour or an evening, but you will feel worse for it the next day, even less able to cope with what ever bought on the need for a drink and so often even more desperate for one. It is a vicious, pointless, potentially destructive cycle.
It rarely is when one is really struggling to cope and going through something seriously difficult, no matter how much it may feel like it is when the first few sips start to blur the nightmare somewhat.
Jude
He is on the road to recovery though and very much wants to be back at work in about six weeks. We don’t know yet if that is realistic or not but for those of you who live near
