365 days - no beer!

Only six hours or so left of 2013, and it looks like I've almost done it - a year without drinking any alcohol.

Not drinking this year has saved me an estimated £780 (not including any money I would have spent in pubs, or taxis that I would have taken to and from nights out etc).

I also weigh half-a-stone lighter than this time last year (not a huge amount I know but the goal wasn't about losing weight).

Having no hangovers has been fantastic.

I thoroughly enjoyed not drinking alcohol. I'm going to try to stop using the phrase "giving up" alcohol because I feel I've not actually done without anything - and the list of gains are by far more significant and substantial.

Are you thinking of giving up alcohol for a year (or more)? Do it, do it, do it, I would say.

As I said on this blog exactly 12 months ago today - here's to a happy and healthy new year!

Day 364

Its 30th December 2013 and there is only one day left of my year without any alcohol!

It has been a really interesting experience, and one I'd highly recommend for anyone thinking of giving up the grog themselves.

This time last year I was getting inspiration reading the blogs of other non-drinking-for-a-year-pioneers such as this one http://givingupdrinkingforayear.blogspot.co.uk/ - and this one - http://suspect.me.uk/

After tomorrow night when the year is finished I'll leave this blog up, and perhaps it too might inspire others to try giving up alcohol - whether it be for for a week, a month or like me - a year.

Giving up Alcohol for a Year - 3 days to go!

Today is day 362 of my journey into 2013 with no alcohol. It doesn't seem that long ago since I made the decision on 31/12/12 to attempt to go a whole year with no beer, wine, spirits (or any other form of booze).

I wasn't a big drinker, but I binged on regular occasions, and when I did drink I did not enjoy the hangovers the next day, which seemed to be getting worse with age (I'm 34 now).

One of the highlights this year health wise was completing my first (and probably last!) marathon in Edinburgh. I did it with a really slow time, but I believe not drinking alcohol played a big part in helping me train for it and complete it.

If you are thinking of giving up alcohol for 2014 I would highly recommended it. It is great not to feel tired and hungover on weekend mornings, but to feel refreshed and hydrated. I found that after about three to four weeks alcohol free, the tendency or craving to "have a couple of beers" faded away.

Will I drink alcohol in 2014? Well I believe that after a period of time without alcohol the brain re-wires itself and you no longer feel the need to drink, and that's the way I'm feeling right now. I would also say that that the advantages of not drinking far out way any perceived advantages of drinking alcohol.

For anyone considering giving up the booze for a while, why not sign up for Cancer Research UK's Dryathlon. You will save money, feel much better and perhaps raise a few ££s for charity along the way!

One Year No Beer - 23 days to go...

Today is day 342 of my year without drinking any alcohol, which means there is only 23 days to go!

With 93% of the year completed, an alcohol free Christmas season awaits me. But will this be the final hurdle in my alcohol free year and will I slip up with such a short time to go?

Hopefully not! Looking forward to a booze and hangover free festive season!

Year without Beer - Six weeks left...

So today is day 322 of my year without beer, which means there are only about six weeks to go!

It does really does not seem like that long ago since that night on 31 December 2012 when I decided to try giving up alcohol for a year.

So if anyone out there is thinking of giving up alcohol for a while - go for it! Its really not as hard as you might think.

Kick the Drink Easily with Jason Vale

My first alcohol free stretch took place between early November and December 2012. I think of those 8 weeks as a sort of pre-cursor to the main event - enjoying the year 2013 without any alcohol.

During those later weeks of 2012 I read the book Kick the Drink Easily by Jason Vale (best known as the "Juicemaster"). It was an easy read, very funny in places whilst also being bit of an eye opener in terms of the effects alcohol can have on your health. In general it helped put the whole "not drinking thing" into context for me.

224 Days and No Booze

Although I've not posted for a while "One Year...No Beer" continues and I'm still enjoying the "teetotal" lifestyle!

Perhaps because not drinking alcohol is so normal for me now I don't tend to feel the same need to write about it. In fact I tend generally not to think about not drinking!

Today is day 224 of my Year without Beer project. The summer has more or less come and gone and in July I enjoyed two holidays in the sun without any alcoholic drinks.

A year or so ago the prospect of a foreign holiday in sunny climbs without any booze would have been a daunting thought. But perhaps because I've been "sans alcool" for so long now the prospect didn't really bother me, and I enjoyed the holidays all the more without any dehydration or hangover.

So here's to the rest of the year without beer...I'll try and blog a bit more over the next few weeks :)

Bring on Month Six!

I'm pleased to report that I have still not consumed any beer (or any other form of alcohol) so far this year! A full report of my six months of sobriety to come soon...watch this space!

Let Month Five Begin!

Day 121 with no alcohol! May 1st tomorrow, that's 4 months with no beer :)

Refreshing Alcohol-free Tipples

So with no alcohol being consumed this year - what have I been rehydrating myself with instead? 

Well first of all there is sparkling water and ice. I love this and drink it by the pint. It is so refreshing, especially with dinner.

I sometimes opt for a "posh" sparkling bottle, but I usually go with Tesco's Value sparkling water, which can't go wrong at 17p for a 2 litre bottle. Served straight from the fridge over ice its fantastic. 

I've also been rediscovered a favourite from my childhood days - Ribena. It tastes great, especially with the afore mentioned fizzy water. Its just like a soda and blackcurrant.

Then there is my other favourite, Rose's Lime Juice. Again I have vague memories of this stuff as a kid, and as far as I can remember it hasn't changed a bit. Again mixed with sparkling water and stacks of ice it is about as refreshing as it gets.

I've also been juicing (although not as often as I should), and when I go for the super healthy home-made fresh juice option I go for apples, spinach and lemon, again over ice. Incredibly nutritious and hydrating.

So I've been enjoying these refreshing, hydrating fun and nutritious drinks, cheap and cheerful and with no nasty side-effects the next morning!

Paddy's Day without Beer

It's day 76 of my year without any alcohol. March 17th - St. Patrick's Day.

Paddy's day is associated with the country of Ireland of course, where I spend a wonderful year working back in 2001.

The day is also very much associated with partying and lots of drinking!

Unfortunately, the whole occasion seems to have been hijacked by Guinness, who seem to have adopted the day as a huge marketing opportunity. I expect as the day wears on St. Patrick will be all but forgotten by revellers drinking in the pubs around the world.

As for me, I've been a "quiet man" today and have marked the day by reading about St. Patrick on Wikipedia with a cup of tea!

OY-NB! Still Going Strong...

A short post to say that my one year/no beer project is still going well, with absolutely zero alcohol consumed by me since 1st January.

Not a huge amount to report! The drink not featuring in my life means that I'm not really thinking about it very often.

But on waking up at the weekends I still appreciate a hangover free clear head!

One Year - No Beer: 10% Complete

So today is a mini-milestone in my year without alcohol. As it's February 6th (day 37) my year of sobriety is 10% complete.

So there's 90% of the year to go. Yikes!

It already seems like a long time since that evening back on 31st December when I made my decision to give up alcohol for the year.

I'm feeling clear headed, pretty healthy, and I don't miss the booze one bit. Alcohol is not featuring in my life at the moment, and if it wasn't for this blog I probably wouldn't even be giving it a second thought!

I'm also amazed what interest my year without beer has received out there on the Web. My twitter feed has nearly 250 followers, and this blog nearly 700 hits. I'm really honoured that so many of you have taken an interested in my tee-total journey/experiment!

I've also been looking at some similar online blogs where people have recorded going for a year without alcohol. 

They're all different and inspiring in their own way. A quick search for "one year no beer" on Google brings up dozens of them (mine is 4th - yay!). Two that I found particularly interesting where http://givingupdrinkingforayear.blogspot.co.uk/ and also http://suspect.me.uk/

So perhaps sometime in the future someone will look at this blog and decide too to give up the booze for a year! If that's you - go for it - I'd recommend it!

One Month without Alchohol

Stand Firm

So January has come and gone!

My main observations on my year without alcohol so far are that:

• The thirty-one days have passed quickly
• Not drinking is easier than expected
• I've enjoyed interacting with like minded people on Twitter
• I have saved by not spending money on alcohol
• I've had dreams about drinking...
• ...and then felt relieved that it was only a dream
• I don't have any particular cravings for alcohol
• I enjoy waking up at weekends with a clear head
• People that I know have accepted that I don't drink (well mostly)
• I've been thinking that after this year is over, I might just not drink for good (still undecided)

So overall I feel that the positive effects of not drinking far outweigh the perceived benefits of booze.

Not drinking alcohol annoys other drinkers...

"If you stop smoking you are a hero; if you stop drinking you are seen as a freak" (Jason Vale, Kick the Drink Easily).

I'm trying to stop using the phrase "given up" in relation to not drinking alcohol. The words "given up" implies that you are missing out on something good. Sacrificing something.

In reality I'm feeling that I haven't "given up" anything by not drinking alcohol. In fact I'm gaining much more than I've ever given up!

Some drinkers really don't like it when they hear you're not drinking. Some will laugh and doubt that you'll manage to stay off the booze, perhaps secretly hoping that you'll eventually give into temptation and prove them right!

Not drinking is almost socially unacceptable in our booze oriented culture. Alcohol is everywhere and there must be something wrong it you're not drinking the stuff. As Jason Vale says in his book, alcohol seems to be the only drug you have to justify not taking.

Does any of the following sound familiar?

Drinker: So why don't you drink (you must have been a problem drinker)?
Non-drinker: I don't like the taste, the damage alcohol does, and I can do without the hangovers.
Drinker: How are you finding it (it must be really difficult)?
Non-drinker: Easy. It is easy not to pour a liquid into your body that is poisonous.
Drinker: How long have you given up (how likely is it you're going to start drinking again soon)?
Non-drinker: Four weeks and I'm still going strong. I'm free from an addictive substance. Anyway, how is the alcohol drinking going? 

So if you've decided not to drink whether it be for a month, a year, or for the rest of your life, remember that there is nothing wrong or unusual with not wanting to fill your body with an addictive and damaging substance.

Me, I'm quite happy to be free of it for the year!

Friday Night - No Beer!

Well here we are, the fourth Friday of 2013, and the year without beer is still going strong. It is also one month since my last "binge" (Christmas day when I stayed up until 4 am drinking).

But I'm so glad that I won't be drinking tonight, or waking up with a shocking hangover tomorrow. Partly because I am thoroughly enjoying NOT drinking, and partly because at the time of writing this I am loaded with man flu a slight cold!

Not so very long ago Friday was a favourite drinking night of mine. It was actually the only night (with the exception of the odd Saturday or holiday) when I took a drink. I never drank on a "school night" due to the nature of the work I do and the fact that I need to drive early the next day.

At 33, I've never been an alcoholic (at least not in the commonly understood sense) but I could be one hell of a binge drinker, and I think I was addicted to habitually drinking beer on Fridays.

With the whole weekend stretching out ahead of me, Friday was all too often my drinking night of choice. Not every Friday, but a significant proportion of them. I'd start by calling by the supermarket or off-licence to pick up a box of beer. I'd get home, carrying my box, and if I saw my neighbour (a kindly elderly gentleman with an addition to tobacco and horse racing) I'd offer him one too.

Late afternoon and I'd finally get in the door and head for the kitchen. I'd start the proceedings by carefully stacking the bottles sideways in the fridge. Budweiser, Miller or Coors Light were all favourite tipples. I'd even put one in the freezer - to cool quickly so I could drink it sooner.

Then the first sip! So refreshing I thought after a busy week of work, brain cells firing, and with no work the next day there was nothing to stop me drinking the whole box - if I wanted.

Then some music, usually pretty loud, then the next bottle. Then the next, the next and so on. Discarded beer caps multiplying on the work tops. Drinking, I found, helped me appreciate the music better and the more I enjoyed the music the more I wanted the buzz of the alcohol. How could anyone enjoy music without alcohol  I used to think?

My wife enjoys a glass of white wine but she would always stop after one or two. I on the other hand often became a super power drinking alcohol guzzling machine. I'd drink well into the night and even into the early hours, so under the influence that I didn't even mind drinking on my own.

So I'd sit there at one, two sometimes three am listening to music with my headphones on dreaming up all sorts of plans. I'd think about how it was time to move my career on to the next level or how I'd quit my job and do something different. However these particular drunken musings were never destined to come to fruition because the next morning I'd rubbish my ideas and put them down to the "alcohol thinking".

Another weird drinking thing I did was that when the music came to a "good bit" I'd repeat the same thirty seconds of the track over and over without seemingly getting bored.

I wasn't absolutely plastered and I wouldn't fall around drunk. As a fairly big guy I could "handle" lots and lots of beer. I use the word "handle" in the sense I could physically consume a large volume without really getting too full, or even particularly drunk. In reality I couldn't "handle" it at all, because all I was doing was all manner of unseen harm to my cells, tissues and organs.

When you are drunk you cause your body to malfunction. Sometimes, with the beer gone and my brain and body in this state of blowout I'd go to bed. But then other times when the beer was low I'd move onto whatever other alcohol was on hand. Half a bottle of white wine, house measures whisky and coke, whatever was lying around the fridge or in the cupboard. Often when I was on to my second last beer or so I'd move on to whisky, so that I could enjoy the last few beers as a "chaser". Usually I'd end up being sick in the bathroom. Nice.

When I finally hit the sack, a short, uncomfortable, dreamless sleep would follow. Interrupted, erratic episodes of sleep through the long restless early hours. I would wake early and at intervals five-thirty am, six, seven... The waking, the slow realisation that there was something "not right", my body in pain. The whole grizzly ritual repeated again and again throughout the course of the early morning.

When you're sober and well it is difficult to remember exactly how absolutely dreadful an absolute stinker of a hangover can make you feel.

Sometimes I'd even let out a groan upon waking, because of the pain and also because I'd feel bad about what I'd put my body through. And then there was the anxiety. Even though the rational part of me knew deep down that I hadn't said anything silly or do anything embarrassing, I would still "feel" that nagging feeling - what if I did? (See my post about Hangover Anxiety). I once woke up feeling so anxious that I had to walk round the room repeatedly because I couldn't lie still. Not good!

So very early morning would turn into morning, with me still in bed, feeling exhausted. Occasionally I'd feel sick, and the sickness could last well into the day. I'd put on my headphones to take my mind off it, some music, or an audiobook. I'd perhaps rise about ten thirty am and head straight for the couch. Saturday in ruins, the optimism about the weekend in tatters...again, my wife pissed off intensely.

So a day on the sofa, not being able to eat much, or even drink the fluids my body was craving in its weakened state. I'd stay in most of the day, not leaving the house if at all possible, looking forward to the evening so I could go to bed again. I'd also be no company to those around me.

When early evening came the hangover would start to subside. I'd be eating again, but would very rarely turn to the booze for a "hair of the dog" - my stomach was in far to sensitive a state for that! I'd watch a movie, maybe eat crisps and drink coke. The evenings of a hangover were not all together terrible - but the memory of waking up feeling dreadful would be too fresh in the mind to really enjoy it.

That's it! No more! I would say, and it would be, at least for a week or two. Then eventually it would happen again.

So that is my story of a drunken Friday and hungover Saturday, I've probably experienced a hundred of these over the last ten years. Writing this enforces in my mind why I am going a whole year without alcohol. And who knows after that - I might give it up for good!

22 Days - No Beer

So that's 22 days of no beer (that's only 342 days of my sober journey left). I have to say that I'm not missing the booze.

I think that on some level you can condition yourself into not drinking alcohol. Once the mind realises that the possibility of drink is not an option any cravings for a beer stop.

Three weekends have passed since I gave up alcohol, and I have noticed that when driving home from work on a Friday night the thought of "a cool" beer is quite an attractive option. But I've resisted, and after a few minutes or so the thought disappears. It is probably the remains of an old habit - that Friday night = beer! Friday night did equal beer for me for a long time.

I was out for a meal on Saturday night before going to the cinema with my wife and sister in law. As we were waiting on our table I ordered a round of drinks from the bar. It didn't even feel strange drinking a soft drink infact I didn't even think about it until somebody asked how it felt being in a restaurant full of people drinking!

Ice cold soda water and blackcurrant is my drink of choice at the moment. It is really refreshing, and I enjoyed drinking a couple of pints of it. No hangovers, and at less than £1 my wallet is getting a break from the booze too!

(By the way the movie we saw was Les Miserables, and I enjoyed it much more than I expected!)

Binge Drinking and the Bible

There's evidence to suggest that beer has been around for at least 7000 years, and beer along with wine were of course present in the days of the Old and New Testament.

Just like today alcohol featured heavily at weddings (John 2:1-3), was used for medicinal purposes (1 Timonthy 5:23), and also seems to have been used as a simple antiseptic for cleaning up wounds (Luke 10:34). (On a side note, my next door neighbour affectionately refers to his beer as his "medicine"!)

The drinking water in those days probably wasn't up to much and the process of fermentation actually made the water safer to drink. So in some cases beer and wine were consumed on daily basis out of necessity albeit in a form much weaker than the commercially available drinks we're all used to today.

So as far as the Bible is concerned moderate drinking of alcohol is not expressly banned, and in some cases actually seems to be encouraged.

Drinking to excess, binge drinking and alcoholism however seem to be strongly discouraged.

Proverbs 20:1 states:

Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise. (NIV)

Can't really argue with that I suppose - how many brawls, fights and arguments have been caused by drinkers over indulging on beer.

Meanwhile in the Old Testament, Isaiah 5:11-12 tells us:

Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks,
who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. (NIV)

There is a pub in Edinburgh that opens at 5 am, a complete dive. On the way home from late nights out with friends I used to see tramps and red-faced alcoholics, squat little men milling about outside, waiting for the bar to open, eager for their next fix. Alcohol also causes inflammation of different parts of the body, including the joints, oesophagus and internal organs.

Luke 21:34 says:

Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. (NIV)

Drunkenness and anxieties. Feeling weighed down. Feeling trapped. All sounds like the effects of too much alcohol to me!

There are at least fifty other references to alcohol and drinking in the Bible. They are all worth reading and considering - whether you are a heavy drinker or not.

The Healthiest "Pint" You'll Ever Have!

If Guinness is good for you, goodness wise this pint is off the scale.

Well here it is. This is my attempt at the healthiest "pint" ever. And they don't sell THIS at your local boozer! What you see here is a handful of spinach, a fresh beetroot, an inch of broccoli stem, an apple, a carrot freshly juiced with a tablespoon of spirulina.

You can't really make it out in the photo but the colour the a very dark crimson with a creamy consistency a bit like Guinness (its even got a bit of a head). If you check out the top view photo, left, the juice was actually bubbling (this doesn't happen with Guinness!).

There is probably some scientific reason for this, but I reckon there is "something" happening in the juice - maybe its the goodness bursting out!

Juicing Raw Beetroot (and carrots, and apples, and lemon...)

Beer vs. Beetroot? Trust me - this stuff is a million times nicer better for you than beer!

You'd be hard pushed to find any as super nutritious as freshly juiced beetroot. We're talking raw beetroot here, green stalks and all - not the boiled vinegary variety that used to appear on my school dinner plate (along with a couple of slices of corned beef and and ice cream scoop of lumpy mash).

All you need to do is juice one beetroot along with a few carrots, apples and an inch or so of lemon and you've got yourself a delicious drink to pour over ice.

A glass of this is going to give you more goodness than most people get in a day. You can almost taste the health oozing out of this stuff, and within 15 minutes of drinking it it will enter your system and start doing you good.

The list of the benefits of the good stuff goes on and on and your fresh beets are full of antioxidants and nutrients, including magnesium, sodium, potassium and vitamin C.

Cyclists taking part in a University of Exeter study who drank a pint of the juice were able to cycle 20% longer than those that drank a placebo of blackcurrant juice. Wikipedia has a really good overview of the effects of beetroot juice.

Here in Scotland I buy my beetroot at Morrisons  which has probably the best fruit and veg section of any supermarket. Remember to go for the fresh stuff - I juice the green stalks too. So get juicing and here's to good health!

The Dry Boak - and Four Other Things I Won't Miss About Alcohol

1. Waking up with a mouth like a badgers...

This is when you wake up and somehow or other your tongue has been replaced by the rear end of a specific member of the weasel family (the one with the black and white face). And what's this? It appears fairies have fitted a very small Persian rug in your mouth in the night.

Its almost as if thistles, or a bed of nettles perhaps, did sprout there in the night. Then there's your tongue - it has stuck to the top of your mouth, and you make "tcha tcha" sound to make sure its not welded itself there for good. Colgate and plenty of it does the trick - but you won't see this in a toothpaste commercial.

2(a) The Boak

This has happened to us all (even those who claim they don't get sick when they drink, the liars!). It happens near the end of heavy drinking, which can actually have beneficial effect of at least a bit of that alcohol before bed. It can even happen during the night...you wake up from your peaceful slumber and "no, no, no, no!" you need to dash to the "great white telephone" (the toilet) for you have received a call! A more serious variation of the said boak can happen the morning after, which leads me on to item 2(a)...

2(b) The Dry Boak

This is the demented evil twin of item 2(a) and a gazillion times worse. You would welcome back 2(a) with open arms if you knew this was coming. Just imagine (or even better - remember) the scene - you are lying there with the drouth from hell, like a bag of washing, like a burst ball - and then suddenly you feel you want to be sick. But lo and behold, there's nothing left to come up! In certain parts of Scotland this is known as the "dry boak". But that is because you've already done your boaking - your all boaked out! I believe when this happens you are suffering from borderline alcohol poisoning. Which also happens a lot in certain parts of Scotland.

3. The "Fear"

This is related to one of my earlier posts on hangover anxiety. It is when you awaken from your peaceful slumber, a slightly odd dreamless sleep - but there is something else not right. Something doesn't add up. Something you just...can't explain. Then you remember you had a monumental skin full the night before. The small matter of that very large amount of alcohol that you consumed previously. But wait! There's other things, something worse - nagging things! Did you make a fool of yourself the night before?  Did you text someone or something you shouldn't have. Did you do a million other weird and wonderful things? You check your outgoing calls and texts...nothing. You check your Facebook status...nothing untoward. You think you were okay...but were you? You don't know for sure...and yes it is irrational...because that is the nature of THE FEAR!

4. Pockets Full of Shrapnel

Pockets overflowing with coins. Not just a few ten and twenty pence pieces - this is copious amounts of inconvenient change clanging around your pockets, strewn across tables and the bedside cabinet, in your wallet...everywhere. Now lots of change lying around wouldn't normally be such a bad thing. But only hours before these little emblems of Her Majesty were in their original paper form - lovely crisp green and pink notes - hard cash - with eh, slightly bigger pictures of the Queen on them. And now there's tuppence, a bitter sweet reminder of how much you spent last night.

None of the above are particularly pleasant. But then drinking way too much is not a pleasant business:

Who are the people who are always crying the blues?

    Who do you know who reeks of self-pity?

Who keeps getting beat up for no reason at all?

    Whose eyes are bleary and bloodshot?

It’s those who spend the night with a bottle,

    for whom drinking is serious business.

(Proverbs 23:29-30, MSG)

Teetotal Celebs

I didn't realise I was in such good company!

Wikipedia's list of "celebrity teetotallers" is a bit of an eye opener. Among the celebs listed are Ronaldo, Elton John and Jessie J. Billy Connolly, Fearne Cotton and even John the Baptist are on the list.

Adam Clayton, the bass player from U2, gave up booze in 1993 when he was so hungover he had to miss a gig in Sydney. Meanwhile former US president George. W. Bush says he quit drinking after alcohol began to zap his energy (he also goes for a good long run every morning).

Scottish tennis player Andy Murray also doesn't touch the hard stuff - and he won Olympic gold and silver medals last year. Good health and clarity of mind are obviously an advantage out on the tennis court.

So its good to know that I've joined this prestigious list of the rich and famous, at least until the end of 2013!

Hangover Anxiety

What I call "hangover anxiety" is one of a number of key reasons why I have made the decision to kick the booze for 2013.

I believe that unless you've really experienced true anxiety they day after heavy drinking it is difficult to imagine what it is like. It's also difficult to explain, especially as most of the feelings are often completely irrational!

Imagine your worst feelings of the post alcohol blues and multiply them by a hundred!

I would describe it as, after heavy drinking:

- Intense anxiety and depression that come in waves, especially after waking.
- Feelings that you've said/done something daft, silly or otherwise embarrassing under the influence of booze - even when you know you haven't.
- Feeling really guilty about the amount you drank, the amount of money you spent, or the time you've wasted drinking and being hungover.
- Waking up very early the morning after drinking with feelings of worry.
- Loss of confidence.
- Feelings of despair, fear or panic.
- A combination of the above!

Add to this the physical exhaustion caused by heavy drinking and you have a truly miserable combination, lasting sometimes more than a day.

I didn't experience this every time I drank, but every now and again I did experience anxiety to different extents, usually after particularly heaving drinking that went late into the night (I believe the lack if sleep was also a contributory factor).

I also felt it worse after drinking darker coloured drinks e.g. Guinness or red wine, or after mixing drinks.

If you are feeling hangover anxiety right now, know that it will pass. Drink lots of water, eat something healthy and rest as much as you can.

If drink causes you to feel like this regularly maybe it is time to quit. Imagine if, take for example - eating too much cake - made you feel this way, you probably wouldn't eat cake.

But alcohol is a different entity all together!

So I'm looking forward to a year of being free from the dreaded hangover anxiety!

Day Four

Just a quick post to say that the year without beer continues, and much easier than expected so far!

I'm looking forward to being booze and hangover free for 2013!

Are you thinking of giving up alcohol for 2013?

Make a public commitment to staying off the booze. Tell your friends on Facebook or start a blog.

But don't let anyone persuade you to that its a bad idea or that you somehow can't do it. If you want a break from alcohol go for it!

Day One...

Here we have a photograph of my last beer, consumed at 23:59 on 31st December 2012. I don't usually take photos of my drinks but this unassuming can of Fosters represents my last indulgence in the amber nectar until 2014.

I actually drank four of these on New Year's Eve, and as the world charged their glasses for 2013 I was draining mine, drinking the last drops seconds before the bells, and setting the empty can on the coffee table on the stroke of midnight.

And that was it. No more beer for a year.

The reasons? Basically this is all down to health and hangovers. I want more of the former and none of the latter. I'm feeling good about this decision, but I know it won't always be easy.

Yesterday, while preparing New Year's Day dinner and getting ready for a family visit I, had the first familiar twinges of "fancying a beer", I had stacked a few to chill in the fridge for guests, and with it being holiday time the fact that it was two in the afternoon wouldn't usually have stopped me. But within a minute or two the thought was gone, the year without beer continued!

So an evening of partying with family. Lots of food and the drink flowing. My first challenge. But I kept on the soft drinks and fruit juice, and I felt great at the end of the evening with events finishing up in the early hours.

So that was it! Day one of no booze ended on a healthy and sober note, so far so good!