Alcohol- Why is it so bad?

[w4read]

A couple of months ago I really got a huge wake up call when it comes to the importance of nutrition and having a healthy, balanced diet. So during these last months I've transformed my diet from eating garbage like pizza, burgers, taco and drinking coke almost every day to a clean diet with mostly veggies, nuts, berries and fruits. I also got in to a gym routine and started working out regularly.

The reason why I managed to do so was because I really saw the value in both these things, and as I became more conscious about the long term effects of eating healthy and working out, it became obvious to me that this was something I just needed to get handled.

However, when it comes to alcohol I recognize that there's some resistance in me in quitting that. My history is that I've been drinking probably around twice a month, usually 3-5 beers, and I find it to be very social and it's much easier to bond with people ( who are also drinking , of course) . I haven't found any information or studies that says occasional beers like this have a bad effect, it's only when it becomes an addiction that it's obvious to me that it has a downside. So, do any of you guys know any studies which describes how alcohol could impact you long term when it's consumed occasionally like in my case? Or are there any other perspectives about drinking than just the health perspective I should consider?

Thanks, guys!

[Raptorsin7]

I don't think alcohol is bad if you're using it like you mentioned above. It becomes a problem when people use alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with reality. It can be toxic if you consume it frequently but only a few times a month will not hurt you. Especially if you're out being social too, it's probably just balanced with the positive effects of socializing. You sound like you are on the right path. Keep it up.

[Forestluv]

24 minutes ago, w4read said:

My history is that I've been drinking probably around twice a month, usually 3-5 beers, and I find it to be very social and it's much easier to bond with people ( who are also drinking , of course) . I haven't found any information or studies that says occasional beers like this have a bad effect,

3-5 beers per month is trivial. Since it is part of healthy socializing and bonding for you - it probably has a net positive effect. 

I would be more concerned about toxins on unwashed fruits and vegetables I eat. That would have more negative impact than a few beers per month.  

[Dumuzzi]

The amount of alcohol you consume, about 6-10 drinks a month, is really not an issue, there is no reason to worry about it. 

Just for context, I used to live in Ireland and my friend Steven usually drank 16 pints of Guinness in a single night. Then, as he got older, he had to reduce his beer intake to 8 pints, followed by 8 shots of whiskey, to even things out. He got into fights too. That is a drinking problem. Your consumption is extremely moderate in comparison.

[w4read]

Ok, Thank you guys! Seems like there's full agreement on this, that's nice. Makes it easier to feel certain about the conclusion. 

@Serotoninluv yeah, about that.. I eat my vegetables raw and I always make sure to wash them well. Although, is it enough to wash them to make sure the bacterias go away? I always thought cooking them was the best way to make sure of that, but then I read that it's better to eat them raw. So a bit confused in this area too, i guess hahah...

 

[MAYA EL]

Well speaking from my almost 20 years in the gym and 15 years in the profession of training I will say that moderation is fine matter of fact one of my buddies which was a marathon runner told me that Runners will drink one beer after a extremely long practice or after Marathon because it actually helps them replenish their bodies faster and they said they learned that from horse Racers they would actually give their horses beer after racing to help replenish them. Now keep in mind one regular size beer because once you go past the moderation point  (which is different for everybody) you're going to dip into the negatives

 Some of the negatives would be that alcohol pulls water from your muscles so it dehydrates you and this is one of the main reasons for a hangover the next day after binge drinking  is because of the extreme dehydration.

 

Second reason is that it's dry calories meaning worthless calories there's no nutrients in them so depending on your body composition and where you're trying to take it adding and worthless extra calories is usually not a good thing especially if you're trying to lose body fat.

And last point but not as important as the others in my opinion is that alcohol does slightly suppress testosterone and slightly raise estrogen now it's arguable if that's enough to actually affect putting on muscle or not but nevertheless it's always best to avoid the things that lower testosterone and raise estrogen especially in men.

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

1 hour ago, MAYA EL said:

Well speaking from my almost 20 years in the gym and 15 years in the profession of training I will say that moderation is fine matter of fact one of my buddies which was a marathon runner told me that Runners will drink one beer after a extremely long practice or after Marathon because it actually helps them replenish their bodies faster and they said they learned that from horse Racers they would actually give their horses beer after racing to help replenish them. Now keep in mind one regular size beer because once you go past the moderation point  (which is different for everybody) you're going to dip into the negatives

 Some of the negatives would be that alcohol pulls water from your muscles so it dehydrates you and this is one of the main reasons for a hangover the next day after binge drinking  is because of the extreme dehydration.

 

Second reason is that it's dry calories meaning worthless calories there's no nutrients in them so depending on your body composition and where you're trying to take it adding and worthless extra calories is usually not a good thing especially if you're trying to lose body fat.

And last point but not as important as the others in my opinion is that alcohol does slightly suppress testosterone and slightly raise estrogen now it's arguable if that's enough to actually affect putting on muscle or not but nevertheless it's always best to avoid the things that lower testosterone and raise estrogen especially in men.

Speaking from the training profession as well, performance is not equal to health as you probably know. The carbohydrates in beer will indeed replenish them, but only because of the nature of what they are doing, that they can afford all those empty calories. Thats an extreme example. Nothing wrong with that, but for the majority of people, beer is a poor choice to replenish your stores after physical exertion. 

[MAYA EL]

@TrynaBeTurquoise o its definitely bro science lol but i think i remember him saying it had something to do with the fermentation itself there is some form of amino acid or something.. ahhhhhh man I'm going to have to go look it up now LOL

[Michael569]

3-5 beers twice a month is fine . It would be better if it was 1 or 2 as no alcohol is better than some but you are still good. 

If you want some more info on chronic alcohol abuse, National Institute of Medicine (PubMed) has a lot of studies, that you can look up. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3307043/. This link talks about the risk of all major diseases increasing with drinking. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC543875/ this talks about what happens with alcohol in the body and what are the involved systems. 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by Michael569

[Aeris]

there is two kinds of drugs.

the ones who makes you in flow like a god

the ones who makes you in flow like a shit

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

8 hours ago, Aeris said:

there is two kinds of drugs.

the ones who makes you in flow like a god

the ones who makes you in flow like a shit

You must have taken the ladder before this post. 

 

[outlandish]

19 hours ago, MAYA EL said:

one of my buddies which was a marathon runner told me that Runners will drink one beer after a extremely long practice or after Marathon because it actually helps them replenish their bodies faster and they said they learned that from horse Racers they would actually give their horses beer after racing to help replenish them. Now keep in mind one regular size beer because once you go past the moderation point  (which is different for everybody) you're going to dip into the negatives

Yeah there might be something to this, I remember reading in a book by Lydiard (a famous old running coach) that runners should "make sure to eat adequate bread with plenty of butter, and drink adequate amounts of beer" or something along those lines. Sounds like very old-school advice, but sometimes these old ways are really onto something.

Alcohol quickly gets into net negative territory though, and there was a meta study published fairly recently that concluded that there is no safe amount of alcohol to drink, when looking at heath outcomes.

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

2 minutes ago, outlandish said:

Yeah there might be something to this, I remember reading in a book by Lydiard (a famous old running coach) that runners should "make sure to eat adequate bread with plenty of butter, and drink adequate amounts of beer" or something along those lines. Sounds like very old-school advice, but sometimes these old ways are really onto something.

Alcohol quickly gets into net negative territory though, and there was a meta study published fairly recently that concluded that there is no safe amount of alcohol to drink, when looking at heath outcomes.

Stepping in the runners POV, a lot of dedication and training go into preparing for the marathon. The marathon is an event that would no doubt be extremely unhealthy if done of a regular basis (like alcohol) it is extremely stressful to the body. But the runner has trained for this with a lot of hard work and time dedicated. Probably with an extremely strict diet/lifestyle as well if seriously competitive. Around the marathon you are really trying to get as much caloric energy in your body as you can. Afterwards, you are so depleted, your big event is over, I can see why you want to let loose and celebrate, reward yourself. The beer here serving 2 functions, to replenish (as any other shitty carb source would do here lol) but also give yourself a reward after all that effort and training. 

Since alcohol is a toxin, in small amounts consumed it can be categorized as hormesis, basically exposing your body to small amount of stress/toxicity than gives you benefits. Just like cold showers, eating raw plant foods, exercise, all forms of hormesis. But with the alcohol the margin of benefit is definitely low. But imo, if its something you enjoy, the psychological reward payoff could definitely be of value to you. 

[outlandish]

@TrynaBeTurquoise Yeah I think that the beer is probably mostly functioning as an extra source of carbs. It's hard to eat enough when you're training hard in this kind of heavy cardio, so more carbs in == more capacity to train. If you can squeeze in a bit more from a beer (and get a little reward like you said), it might help with the training in the big picture.

I suppose it could be a source of useful hormetic stress too. Not sure about that though, I've never heard of alcohol being beneficial in this way. It might be the kind of thing where the useful stress is outweighed by the negative (toxic aldehydes produced from the metabolism of alcohol are really bad).

Something I've wondered about is if the GABAnergic properties of alcohol might somehow help with recovery and muscle repair. I know that many weightlifters used to take GHB after workouts because supposedly it helped them recover. I've tried to read up on this, and all of the research I've come across seems to indicate that alcohol doesn't help you recover from a workout - probably again because the dehydration and toxicity outweigh any marginal benefit from the GABA agonism. I don't know a lot about the GABA system anyways.

[LfcCharlie4]

As everyone else has said go enjoy life! There's no harm in having fun 2/30 days, that's less than 10% and if you're healthy 90% of the time there's not really any issue. 

Only time would be if you were trying to cut weight maybe switch to 'light' spirits to reduce caloric intake, but be careful drinking the same volume of spirits as beers....

Or you could offset it by simply lowering your calories on a drinking day, and having an 'extra healthy' day the next day maybe with a green juice, lots of water, sweating out the toxins, maybe a sauna/ steam room after a workout etc. 

But, as I said before go enjoy yourself man!

[DrewNows]

Don’t underestimate the placebo effect, it’s quite amazing always throwing our sciences and adopted beliefs into question haha