Are you doing Dry January?
If so are you finding it as slow and painful as I am? I’ve never done it before, but decided to commit this time, I felt I owed it to my liver. After my son’s wedding and then Christmas almost immediately afterwards it was one big gorgeous blur of sparkling delight. I accepted the challenge and now feel I can’t back out, but I think I’d prefer to have agreed to run a marathon – this week is just going sooooo slowly (and it’s only Wednesday). I guess it’s a way to lengthen the evenings, but I haven’t yet found a sufficiently appropriate replacement.
So we’re in the final week now and I’m disappointed not to find my energy levels massively elevated, or my sleep any better, but I do think it might help me to kick start a change in my drinking habits that will hopefully have greater long term effects. I’m going to break down the next few paragraphs, week by week, just as a reminder for me for next year! Would definitely be better not to stick to the programme though and give up alcohol in February instead that way you only have to deal with three weekends, not four (and 3 less days!).
WEEK 1
I haven’t managed to get the balance right yet and as I pursue my quest to find interesting drinks to consume in the evening, I’m getting up more than usual in the night for a wee. The good thing about alcohol is that it’s a diuretic, so you’re more dehydrated and pee less (not that that’s really a good thing I appreciate). That means that I cannot yet report any positive effects – like getting a better night’s sleep – but I understand that it’s early days!
I also don’t want to hibernate for the whole of January. It should be entirely possible to go to a drinks party, refuse a “proper” drink and still have fun – surely? It’s just that I’m not used to doing it. I did go to one on the 2nd January and all my friends were gobsmacked at my news. I tried drinking Shloer – white grape flavour – not bad, but I was literally drooling at all the champagne glasses full of something far more attractive. Also, what is the etiquette when you’re suddenly a non drinker going to a drinks party? Are you expected to bring a bottle of wine for the host and something for yourself to drink? Is that fair if you’re fully teetotal? I mean one main advantage should be the money you save, and certainly, when we have a meal out with my non drinking friend (I only have one), we never split the bill equally as why should she have to pay for the expensive alcohol? A meal out with friends the following evening was also a challenge. They shared a bottle of wine, I drank an alcohol free gin and tonic, which wasn’t too bad, but again, just not quite the same and I was a little bit grumpy.
Should you steer away from the “let’s pretend you’re still drinking alcohol, even though you’re not” drink options and go for something more wholesome like sparkling water with a twist of lemon? I’m not sure I’m going to manage to trick my brain into any of this – my mother would be turning in her urn – she taught me to believe that every day there’s always a reason to imbibe. Although I have to say that didn’t turn out well for her and I do tend to try and do the two – three days off a week in general.
So then I tried a bottle of something I’d read about in the paper. Botivo – basically an apple cider base, blended with honey and herbs, with no preservatives:-
I really wanted to like it – sales are booming and it’s sold in Michelin starred restaurants and supermarkets and has apparently been “the toast of this year’s Christmas party season”. The producer sounds wonderful and I love the concept. To be honest, it’s growing on me a little, day by day. If you drink it with ice and a slice of orange with soda water, you could be fooled into thinking you’ve got a Negroni in your hand, but not quite – the apple cider flavour comes through loud and clear and I don’t love that taste. I’m wondering whether I should brew my own (or add some alcohol – it would be much better!). It’s just under £30 for a bottle (serves 20) which makes it the same price as a bottle of champagne (although I appreciate that only serves 6), but I know which one I’d rather choose, so I’m not yet convinced.
Equally, when I went to the pub I decided to try an alcohol free gin and tonic which was actually delicious but practically the same price as the real thing! (£8). Although I think I might buy a bottle – it was Warner’s pink berry flavour and as it’s not bad at £18.00 – it might feel a little more celebratory. The Seville Tanqueray gin (orange flavoured) 0.0% bottle is also quite nice.
The same goes for alcohol free beer – I know the process takes just as long, if not longer, so I understand the reasoning behind the expense, but maybe next time I’ll order a lime soda which costs about 3p, so that I can at least feel smug at the end of the month that I’ve saved a small fortune.
Mocktails are also expensive and slightly pointless in my view – I get a kind of “you can look, but don’t touch feeling” when I’m drinking them…..maybe I need to try harder, or maybe I’ll just drink boring old water.
WEEK 2
Discovered I really like the Lucky Saint 0.5% alcohol beers (is that cheating?) …I guess because I don’t often drink beer and it tastes pretty realistic to me. Of course their sales are surging this month, they seem to be the most popular one.
I also bought some cans of Trip (OK, but thought they had CBD in them – these ones just had magnesium in, so maybe they’re just not available in certain supermarkets, or I didn’t check the ingredients properly), cans of “gin & tonic” (don’t bother), cans of “Aperol Spritz” (ditto) and some Mother Root – again an apple cider based drink with a lot of ginger and a spicy kick to it. It’s still a little too heavy on the apple cider for me, but it’s growing on me and I like the story (and the bottle) behind the product – and somehow you can make more of a ceremony about drinking it.
I’ve also unbelievably tried making my own concoction – apple cider, ginger and honey – it’s revolting, so again, don’t bother.
WEEK 3
I finally understand why the two men I know who never drink revert to flat water almost straight away on a night out. All those fizzy drinks, containing an awful lot of carbon dioxide can make you fart more than usual! Not an attractive option and something that I hadn’t considered. Also we know too many fizzy drinks aren’t good for us – often very sugary.
Bought two bottles of non-alcoholic wine as I had a crowd of drinkers coming for lunch and thought that might help me get involved in the frivolities…honestly? They were revolting and not worth drinking:-
WEEK 4
Maybe I should stick to cordials and water – ginger flavoured and Ribena – which is always quite comforting. Also been drinking a lot of ginger, lemon and honey tea. So still too much liquid before bed, but slowly managing to find a better balance. I will feel very proud of myself for getting through the challenge – I even managed a quiz night at the local pub – we came last and I’m pretty sure if I’d had a few drinks, my brain would have been a little more engaged.
It’s more than a little disappointing to read that a lot of experts don’t recommend you do it. Mainly because as it’s often sponsored by drinks companies, the assumption is that sales of alcoholic beverages go up massively in February and the rest of the year, so what good is it doing us if we just revert to type on Sunday 1st February? (Can’t wait!!).
However, I now know I can live without alcohol for an extended period of time and I’m going to try very hard to do three nights a week off the booze – that way my liver will be happy and so will I!
Keep going! You’re nearly there!
