I really want to get drunk

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #22

This is offered without judgement, condescension or condemnation. Please take it in a spirit of honest care for a stranger asking for help.

I don’t think I need to tell you that your prior level of consumption would be considered a drinking problem.

I probably don’t need to tell you that you know the answer to “can you get wasted just one time,” but just in case I do, I don’t think that you can get wasted just one time. Forget the ketosis and fat burning. I suspect that you are not capable of stopping at one session. When the single session becomes a monthly and then a weekly and then a daily, then what concern will ketosis hold for you?

You can get wasted. But you will probably waste the previous two months of sobriety. For what? What value will getting drunk produce for you? If it’s a reward for success, you should find less destructive rewards. If it’s a release from cares, I’d recommend other avenues.

(Mike W.) #23

Thank you.

#24

Ooooooooooo Andrew, I promise you, I can drink 18 beers in a sitting without batting an eyelid, and I don’t have alcoholism. Also I know of many people who can do the same and much more. Though I do agree with you, when you say, we shouldn’t. It can’t be doing us much good. :disappointed_relieved:

(Frank) #25

“Beer is shit”. Thems be fightin words my friend. :wink:

(Doug) #26

:smile:

(Natasha) #27

Just my two cents but if I were you, I’d get drunk on something keto friendly. Gin, couple splashes of soda water, twist of fresh lime…

(Doug) #29

There’s definitely a cost to it, from several perspectives; not trying to minimize that. I’ve wondered about it - the definitions of alcoholism or " Alcohol Use Disorder" are pretty broad, really does not take much to qualify. “Binge drinking” = 5 drinks for men, 4 for women, within 2 hours. “Heck, that’s not even drinking…”

I don’t know if there are just excessive people, period, rather than actual alcoholics. Always have felt that way myself.

(Brian) #30

Maybe you “COULD” at one point in time. I think you need to be careful about thinking you still can. You may not be as able as you think.

I used to be able to eat an incredible amount of ice cream at a sitting. Last time I tried to eat some, I had about 2 tablespoons and really didn’t even want to finish that. (It was my birthday party and they’d have been hurt if I hadn’t had at least a taste.) Mentally, I’d have loved to have eaten a quart of it. Physically, I think I would have puked less than half way through.

Stuff does change over time. I’m farther in to the low-carb / keto thing, just over a year. My tastes have changed significantly. What I used to eat, I can’t anymore. I suspect if I tried to drink a quart of sweet tea (something I did regularly a few years ago), I’d end up just like the ice cream, a little in and seriously not wanting any more, like “I’m gonna be sick if I keep going.”

Good luck. If you decide to have an event, I hope it’ll just be a single event and you’ll be back on track with your keto experience. Single negative events are usually non-events. Negative events that repeat often are a concern.

(Frank) #31

I could never put that much beer down in a day even in my prime. Growing up in a small town in northern Minnesota where drinking is a sport, cracking the first cold one in the am is not uncommon. Craft beer has changed the formulas for sure. Typically much higher abv and body. I will say that I’ve had way shittier wines than beer over the years. :beer:

(KetoQ) #33

Hi Jennie –

I can understand the need to unwind and have a drink or two. However, you might want to change your drink of choice, as someone suggested, to a good martini, instead of beers. It will help you keep the carbs down. I’d hate to see you undo some of the good work you’ve done so far.

I picked up a four pack of a saki/wine cooler this past weekend that had 4 carbs. I thought I’d try it if I felt I wanted to unwind with a drink. Have not tried them yet.

My advice, if you feel you need a drink, look for low carb substitutes, so that way if you do end up binging, its not too carby.

Good luck,
Q

(Brian) #34

I’ve wondered about that myself, Alex.

I’ve never been much of a drinker. I could count the number of drinks I’ve had in the last few decades on the fingers of one hand and have fingers left over.

I read the news articles that say no amount of alcohol is healthy, ever, not even the glass of wine they used to say was good. But there are people like you mention, like the French, that eat the high fat, drink the wine, eat the eggs, and are remarkably healthy.

It makes me wonder if there is more to it. Are there factors that aren’t really being looked at? Does the wine being consumed become better for a person when it’s local to them? or made like your grandfather would have (as opposed to a commercial production)? Are other factors like what else is or isn’t in the diet key to how that wine affects the overall person?

There are even Biblical suggestions that small amounts of wine can be beneficial or medicinal. (But getting drunk is not considered good by Biblical standards.)

I don’t know. I’m not really convinced that I need to start drinking but I’m also not really convinced that a small amount even on a regular basis is a problem.

But I appreciate your post. It’s interesting.

(mags) #35

Ha haaaa! You been stalking old style me :joy:

(mags) #36

I’ve always liked a drink or 6! I still do but keep away from beer or sugary cocktails…which I love. I find that maybe once a month or so I can wallop down a whole bottle of wine and have no ill effects. I also occasionally at the weekend have a creamy coffee with whisky and erythritol. I can kid myself that it’s a Baileys coffee.
My danger is that I may be weakened towards temptation. So far I haven’t. Only you know what you can get away with. Personally I don’t want to feel deprived because then I know I may sabotage myself. If you are going to drink make sure that its planned and you are right back on keto the very next day. Good luck to you.

(Frank) #37

We should all be so lucky as your grandfather for sure. Wow! My feeling is that it all comes down to eating a well rounded diet when your hungry with no snacking in between. If every child could be introduced to this concept and maintained this way we wouldn’t be in the mess that we find ourselves. Most of us here are desperately trying to repair years or decades of poor choices based on what we were told. That’s why I get really excited when I see younger people in their 20s finding this site and looking for ways to improve their situation. If only I could get those years back.

#38

Interesting thread @Jennie_Greene. Well done on what you have accomplished, that’s a really big deal. I think you probably have most of the answers yourself and hopefully this post has sorted them out a bit in your mind. I think on of the biggest issues is your last comment that says to me that you are reaching for an old comfort “food” at a time when you are feeling low. So many of us are all too familiar with that habit, me included. The trouble is it rarely ends up being comforting but rather makes you feel worse and more often than not leads to a downward spiral into more “comfort” and feeling more crappy and so on.

This is a very good point and I do think there is a difference in types of drinking. People have talked about choice of drink and how you can reduce the carb intake - all good points although that often comes with higher levels of alcohol per unit so sticking to beer might end up being the better choice for you, especially if you can find a really low one that you like. How much you drink plays a big part too as has also been mentioned. Dry wine might be low carb if you have a small glass or two but a whole bottle stacks up. Spirits are the best choice from a carb level POV. Your body will prioritise alcohol so it puts fat burning on hold regardless of the carb count but this matters little when you are talking about a rare occurrence. I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent! What I was going to say when I started rambling was type of drinking in reference more to how and with whom. Drinking on your own because you feel down is really not a good idea because of the whole downward spiral thing I mentioned above. If drinking involves going out with some friends and having a laugh it’s a bit different. You will get as much (most likely more) from the social aspect as you do the drinking.

It is definitely worth going very slow if you do have a drink though. Do not drink at your old pace! Nearly everyone who is keto says that it hits them a lot harder. If the drink also contains sugar then that is going to hit you too. I often wonder how much the alcohol impacts me vs the sugar in the wine I tend to drink even though I always go as dry as possible. The impact of that means that I tend to drink less and less often and certainly less when I do. @ava_ad0re suggestions for preparing if you are going to go out for a drink are good ones. I would add to those a good fatty protein-rich meal first - that old lining your stomach thing does help :smiley: - and then taking it really slow, ideally alternating a non-alcoholic drink with each alcoholic one.

If you can though, please see if you can find something completely different to boost your spirits and save your first tipple for an enjoyable occasion. Is there anything you can do to get some pampering? something to make you laugh, ideally with other people? I hope life gets better soon and well done again for doing so well, especially when it sounds like things are stacked up against you. x

(Blessed with butter ) #39

I am tested every weekend when we go to dinner. for 34 years my hubby and I would go to dinner grab some beer and drink a 12 pack of beer. NOW every Friday like clock work we go out and I make a decision sometimes I end up drinking…Its not worth it. I feel like crap all weekend and sluggish. I want to snack. I would rather drink soda water with lime. This also keeps me from from following in my parents alcoholic footsteps. I am in control. YOU ARE IN CONTROL.

#40

Good point. I forgot I was going to say that too - what drinking can so easily lead to! Not only is it easy to drink more than you intended but to then go on and eat really suitable food which just compounds the damage and how crappy you feel afterwards. It’s actually something to factor in if you are going to have a drink - some suitable snacks!

(Omar) #41

I do not think you want to be like this fish

(Blessed with butter ) #42

@Jennie_Greene The last time I drank beer I put away a whole package of salami and a pound of cheese. Even with suitable snacks, I still woke up with shakes dehydration and no weight loss for over a week…Its not worth it. Save your drinking for weddings, Christmas, Thanksgiving. Not just a ordinary day!

(Adriana) #43

I agree on this one. Thanksgiving weekend just passed for us Canadian and even though I had a low carb keto meal, the wine got a little out of hand and not on purpose either. I had three glasses and wow… not greatest the next day though just blah.

So yeah tolerance is less and you can get drunk really quick!.