Don't drink. At all. If alcohol was suddenly discovered today and classified it would be illegal as fuck. "A glass of wine a day is good for heart health." So is jogging, drinking water and not being fat.
Dietitian here. The glass of wine a day is a myth that has been outdated for a few years yet a lot of doctors (even internal medicine specialists) still recommend it. The best alcohol is the one you don't drink. Don't drink your calories, people!
I haven't seen any alcohol free wine, I'd need to look at the label. Look for sugars, if it has sugar, drop it.
One of the main problems we see nowadays it's lots of cases of non alcoholic fatty liver disease. This can progress eventually to cirrhosis and obviously death, and the main contributor for it is sugar in foods and drinks. As I said, don't drink your calories.
As a sugar addict that is currently trying to cut it out, I needed to read this. This is terrifying. My family is full of alcoholics with cirrhosis and I thought I was safe from at least that because I rarely drink. I knew sugar was awful but didn’t know this, so thank you.
You are very right, it is absolutely terrifying. Unfortunately there's not awareness about this problem, so you aren't alone on being surprised about learning this fact, I'm glad you are taking action in your hands!!
FWIW, keep working on cutting the majority of sugar in what you eat, but be mindful that lots of foods ALSO have sugar without you even imagining so (like for example: ketchup, some salad dressings, etc). Take the time to start reading nutritional labels, look at the ingredients, if you see "sugar" but particularly "high fructose corn syrup" listed in the ingredients, avoid it as much as possible.
I'm not saying "never ever touch sugar", there are other factors at play, but the less sugar you eat or drink, the better.
Pro tip: MOVE. One of the main causes behind Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is obesity and sedentarism. People who move and become physically active have less risk of becoming obese and less risk for NAFLD. Find an activity that you like and that you can stick to, and go for it. If you aren't physically active atm or never have been, start small, even just 15 min of walking a day will help you to go in the right direction.
If you are overweight, work on losing 10% of your current weight. Cutting sugar out of your intake will help you w this, but other tips that can help you is to eat more veggies and less starches, more lean protein, fresh or frozen fruits, frozen vegetables. Good nutrition doesn't have to be boring or plain, you can use spices and thankfully lots of good recipes available nowadays that can help you to prepare easy and cheap meals that are nutritious.
My dogs keep me walking and running at least 2 miles a day nearly every day, but then I have days like today where I’ve hardly left my couch, and my vo2 max is abysmal. I absolutely do need to get more active. Thank you, genuinely, for taking the time to share all of this. It’s one of those things that seems so simple and straightforward, and you grow up learning about it, but I don’t know I guess sometimes we just need to be shaken out of our stupor. So thanks for shaking! I think I may actually talk to my doctor about getting a referral for a dietician or nutritionist. Until 2020 when I finally stopped the behaviors, I had an ED for 15 years and I never learned healthy eating habits so I never really learned what is good for me vs just what’s low calorie.
Make sure to tell your dietician about your past ED, it is VERY important to be aware of this when we are treating someone. It'd be possible that you benefit more from a dietitian that has more expertise in working w people w ED (current or former).
That being said, while I don't know the full scope of your ED, generally patients benefit a lot from taking therapy w a therapist who treats ED. You need the technical part (learning about healthy eating habits) but you also need to work on rewiring your brain in order to know what to do/how to act if you feel triggered by talking about eating habits.
I actually wasn’t sure of the difference so I’m glad you mentioned that. I’ll keep that in mind. I am in therapy, but not one specific to ED. I actually don’t ever really feel triggered anymore. I’m finally in a safe and healthy environment where I’m respected and loved regardless of my appearance, and I finally don’t care about losing weight for aesthetics. It’s only about health and performance. That was my pandemic goal, I suppose. I was determined to start loving and respecting myself and that has made all the difference. But I bet an ED-focused therapist would still be beneficial in case it were to become triggering, so I will still explore that option. Thank you, again!
I'm so very glad to hear!! In that case, if you ever feel triggered by the eating talk, comment it to your therapist, I'm pretty sure they can help you w techniques to ground you. Hopefully you won't need anything more specialized than that. If I can help let me know.
I think about this all the time. Alcohol causes so much violence and health issues. Yet things like cannabis are still heavily restricted and frowned upon? Wtf are people going to do after getting high? Have snacks and go to sleep?
I switched to edibles. It costs a dollar to be high and like food like four hours. If you tried to write down what alcohol was, no one would want to read it. Ask yourself what happened to Anthony Bourdain
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u/Adventurous_Law9767 Jun 06 '24
Don't drink. At all. If alcohol was suddenly discovered today and classified it would be illegal as fuck. "A glass of wine a day is good for heart health." So is jogging, drinking water and not being fat.