[Closed] Bottle of red wine every night...

Just twelve-packs of Mr Kiplings and pints of Nesquick.[i] PMSL, because it's true!

 

BUT its only a problem if you cant buck the trend and stop.

Unless your livers shagged already and can you stop, really? I can go without midweek but once the devil's kissed my lips I'm off, like now frinstance.

A bottle of red every night, whilst not being great, is nowhere near being an alcoholic

Somebody is in denial.

OP; have you asked the people that you live with (other half, kids) to answer your question honestly?

My problem is food and booze pairing. Not the dilemma of what to choose, but that I like to cook my own stuff and making the effort means I must have something alcoholic with it. Not always wine but I know it's too often. Though I draw a line at half a bottle. If not wine, it's beer, or cider. Something every night.

I like to cook my own stuff and making the effort means I must have something alcoholic with it. Not always wine but I know it's too often. Though I draw a line at half a bottle. If not wine, it's beer, or cider. Something every night.

Why not try wine boxes, so you can have just one glass with the meal, and don't have to worry about drinking up the rest before it goes off?

Similarly with beer, what are you drinking? If it's a can or a large 500ml bottle, try switching to the smaller size bottles.

I find with alcohol that a second or third glass is never as good as the first, so there's less point in drinking more than a moderately small amount, which I therefore try and 'eke out' with the meal to maximise the enjoyment of the consumption of the food with alcohol.

Similarly I would not buy cheap alcohol: always prioritise quality over quantity, which means I can afford less of it and want to make it last.

A bottle of red every night, whilst not being great, is nowhere near being an alcoholic.

If not actual alcoholism, I'd opine that it's pretty much just the next rung down on the ladder.

I went to see mine and he told me I had an enlarged liver. I said that's great cos I drink fricken loads.

Put my mind right at rest.

Made me laugh. 😀

Bottle of wine is almost certainly too much, BTW. And absence of hangovers etc is no indicator that your body is coping well with it. What's prompting you to have a drink every night? And what do you feel on the rare occasions you stay off the sauce?

If you're genuinely curious about whether it's OK, pop into your GP and get some liver function tests.

I think in a way context is key. In my early 20's I lived oversea as a watersports instructor. I spent the day physically active, windsurfed early evening then drank pretty hard every night. 7 days a week. I looked in great nick and was as fit as I've ever been. 25 years on with a much more sedate working life to drink a bottle a night I'd have to spend the only bit of the day I have to be active on my arse with a glass in my hand. It would not just be the alcohol consumption that would be a worry but the calorific intake and generally static life I would be leading. I would look a shabby mess in no time and whilst it's what's on the inside that matters I can't believe they are not interconnected.

slowster - Member 
Similarly with beer, what are you drinking? If it's a can or a large 500ml bottle, try switching to the smaller size bottles.

Good point. Problem is Mr Value in me at the shop goes for the bigger bottle as I find the price is better value. Not just with cheap stuff. e.g. Hogs Back IPA is smaller 330ml bottle but same price as the regular 500ml beers, so I'll go with the regular beers as I feel the IPA is a rip off 😀

Now and again I'll go with booze substitutes for a bit (not often enough though). I do like my Italian style dishes though and my mind says must have red wine with it. I've gone with blackcurrant high juice and pour it into a wine glass. Sort of works 😀

Ginger beer for spicy stuff (good ginger beer, not the sugary flavoured water stuff, though it's still flavouring really but has more natural ingredients). Works quite well generally as a meal compliment where you'd maybe have beer.

I struggle with not having lager with a curry though. But likewise I don't get wine with curry. Been to restaurants with people for a curry and they've ordered wine! Huh?

Anyway, the term alcoholic doesn't mean you need to be blind drunk every night. It's that you've become dependent on it on a regular basis. I'd say I'm alcoholic in a way, maybe in the same way Tony Blair said he was 😀

I do exercise a lot though. I can't sit on the sofa for long. It's all bike riding. It keeps the weight from piling on, but it's a battle as exercise makes me hungry, so I pig out on a big meal, which makes me drink more. Then I need more exercise to burn it off.

And riding bikes doesn't shift belly fat. Fact.

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Best thing I ever read. A bottle of wine every night isn't good for you. It's not just your health it affects it can be your social life and I don't mean trips to the pub. Things like you interaction with people or even lack of. I was in the same situation and was using the excuse that getting up at 5am everyday to go to work and not having a hangover meant it wasn't affecting me, when the reverse was true and I was so used to it that I didn't get hangovers. This is when I became worried. A bottle of Rioja followed by 4 or 5 strong IPA's and a bottle of King Cobra on a Friday night? Sure felt fine the next day, and then a bottle whilst making tea, another with tea, wake up Sunday feeling fine, end of the weekend Sunday afternoon lunch with the inlaws, maybe another bottle or two, and so on.

Alcohol dependence doesn't have to be every night, particularly if you keep going back to it heavily after a "break".

Does seem like a lot OP , I'm in the wine business where heavy consumption seems to be the norm but most people try for one or two booze free nights per week. I probably have 2/3 of a bottle 4 nights a week and worry it is too much. I could kid myself it is only half a bottle but my wife probably only has a glass or 2. Your liver is supposedly quite good at repairing itself so the breaks help. Also try to drink plenty of water the nights you are drinking. I try to fill both glasses, water and wine each time I have a drink.

A bottle of wine a night isn't healthy by a long stretch of the imagination.

See if you can go 4 weeks without drinking anything. Buy some milk thistle capsules from the health shop and take a couple of those each day to reset your liver.

OP's not been back this morning, perhaps he had a hangover after all?

Au contraire.

Up at 7:30, fresh as a daisy.

FIL's best mate from school returned to their homeland in his mid 30s. He's now 70.

When asked by the doctor about how much he drinks he's always conservative at "only 50 pints a week". He's at more like 70....

Given he's devoted half his life to drinking 10 pints a day every day, you'll be fine* OP.

*Assuming "fine" means "not owning up to an alcohol problem."

I've been a fairly heavy drinker in the past. Runs in the family I think. Not every night, but most and a fair bit over the weekends. I stopped when the mrs was pregnant, both times, and drank alcohol-free instead. First time round I didn't really enjoy it, mainly because the no-alcohol offerings were pretty poor. Was looking forward to that first proper drink for a long time.
This time round I found Paulaner Alkoholfrei and it's been a revelation. It's pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing, and made me realise that I like the taste and act of drinking rather than the getting drunk. I've had proper booze since Fledgling Ox MK2 arrived but I'm now more than happy to sit with a couple of Paulaners of an evening. No hangovers, and it's about half the price too.

Maybe worth a try, OP?

I'm uneasy about my relationship with alcohol. I don't particularly feel I'd have a problem stopping if I wanted to, but I don't particularly want to - how much of that is honest enjoyment, and how much an addiction? They don't seem to be clearly labelled.

On say holiday or just for a short period then it's ok. Not longer term, bad habit to get into.

Bottle of wine a night ? Not that much. Maybes have a regular 2 or 3 nights off a week to give your body a chance to recover. Be reet. Probably

My take on it, as someone who certainly enjoys the boozes, is that I don't feel comfortable if I'm spending more time drinking than I am riding bike each week.

It very much depends on the drinker, but in general there aren't any positives to drinking in excess, even if it's only for relatively short periods.
Like many people I use alcohol to relax, especially in relation to work. It's not a good thing and I'm currently pursuing alternative ways of relaxation.
Alcohol can be a false friend, I often think I can actually "feel" its demonic pull when I'm sitting in front of a pint.
The main thing which has stopped me from drinking to excess is the fact I get increasingly bad hangovers. I have a friend who has never had a hangover - he can go out and have 12 pints of Aspalls cider, a couple of glasses of wine, maybe a JK and coke, and turn up to work the next day not feeling the worse for wear. But he keeps on having accidents when drunk, like falling and hitting his head, so his wife has forced him to stop drinking, which in the long run is the best thing as he would drink himself to death before he reaches 50 otherwise.

I'd be very concerned if for no other reason about getting to work in the morning. Having a full bottle the previous night I would have thought you'd be over the drink drive limit setting off for work in the morning.

In addition, don't you think it just a bit sad to be drinking that much anyway??

currently pursuing alternative ways of relaxation.

Bob Ross on YouTube ~

Just how much are these bottles of wine? There are cheaper ways to get drunk if it's just to feed your alcohol addiction.

OP here,

newrobdob - Member
I'd be very concerned if for no other reason about getting to work in the morning. Having a full bottle the previous night I would have thought you'd be over the drink drive limit setting off for work in the morning.

In addition, don't you think it just a bit sad to be drinking that much anyway??

Drink driving isn't an issue. I'm setting up a new business venture from home.

Sad? How do you mean? I'm not miserable and consoling myself in the bottom of the bottle if that's what you mean. I'm very happy at the moment, just really enjoying drinking wine. My new venture means I'm busy all day, and also means I'm ploughing all available funds (minus wine expenditure) into the business and so I'm not going out/spending much time with family and friends.

As such, it's a nice way to relax at the end of a day, as I'm so excited about things I'd just keep working if I didn't chill out of an evening.

At the moment, my day consists of work - run/ride - dinner - WINE/film.

It won't last. I remember doing this years ago when I was working in a high-end restaurant. I just got really into wine and would take a different bottle (and if I was lucky - a waitress) home with me. Got sick of it in the end and didn't touch the stuff for years.

So tonight I have a a Merlot...

I'm setting up a new business venture from home.

Wine reviewing?

Sounds like you're just someone who tends to get heavily into one thing for a while before you lose interest and something else becomes the obsession.

I predict that by this time next year you will be spending all your time with your racing pigeons.

I'd be very concerned if for no other reason about getting to work in the morning. Having a full bottle the previous night I would have thought you'd be over the drink drive limit setting off for work in the morning.

BruceWee - Member
Sounds like you're just someone who tends to get heavily into one thing for a while before you lose interest and something else becomes the obsession.

I predict that by this time next year you will be spending all your time with your racing pigeons.

Do you know me?

badnewz - Member
The main thing which has stopped me from drinking to excess is the fact I get increasingly bad hangovers. I have a friend who has never had a hangover

I'd an uncle that said he never got hangovers. He didn't make it much past 50.

On the other hand, I do come from a family with a culture of heavy drinkers, My Granda was always a half and half man, in the pub every night, you know the type proper old school irish drinker. He made it to 84, didn't give up work till he was 78. My old man is much the same as him will easily do in 8/9 pints regularly every night and sessions are proper sessions.

tbh, I think the big difference is that my uncle was a work shy type(completely at odds to the work ethic of my da and uncle)!

Me personally, I only drink socially, never in the house or on my own, can put a mammoth amount away when I do and do drink to extremes, hangovers for me are brutal, which really puts me off(not too bad today after a wedding last time, thankfully!). Quite often go months without a drink, I never have an urge for a drink there. Mind you I have my other vices, weed being no1 for me, but to be honest, I'll probably knock that on the head at some point. I'm actually tempted to go teetotal from everything, I'm getting on a bit, and have abused myself somewhat in the last 20 or so years of my existence, not to extremes, but i'm aware it canny continue and a healthier lifestyle would increase my longevity, particularly what I eat too, my diet is terrible..

I've a mate who's pancreas is gubbed from after work pints. I think it's mental he still even drinks, if even at a very reduced rate.

This time round I found Paulaner Alkoholfrei and it's been a revelation.

I recently tried the Erdinger Alkoholfrei and it's delicious. The Schneider-Weiss one is supposed to be even better. There's something about the wheat beer style that makes them work well as alcohol free I reckon.

I have friends who say they don't have a drink problem as they can stop for a month once in a while. Talk to a drink dependency specialist and they point out that this is classic functional alcoholic behaviour. They do have a problem. I hope you can get a handle on it OP as dying from liver cirrhosis is not pretty for you or those around you. Choose wisely.

Mickey Flanagan has a sketch about his allegedly 1 bottle of night tipple whereby he rotated off-licences just so he was perceived to be a heavy drinker.

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Cheers OP

newrobdob - Member
I'd be very concerned if for no other reason about getting to work in the morning. Having a full bottle the previous night I would have thought you'd be over the drink drive limit setting off for work in the morning.

As mentioned at the start of the thread, I've recently been drinking a similar amount. And last weekend I was the lucky recipient of a competition prize that involved going to Spain for five days to drive supercars every day. All expenses paid, and they took us out for flash dinners every night, and as you can imagine, a large amount of Rioja was put away.

Because of the cars we were breathalysed every morning. And every single person blew 0 every day. I was genuinely surprised, as there was at least one day I felt a bit dodgy and opted to be navigator for the morning, even though I was clear.

If alcohol were treated the same as other chemicals with similar human toxicity, the maximum exposure would be one glass of wine over the entire year - Prof David Nutt (quoted from memory but content is accurate)

Makes you think.

Because of the cars we were breathalysed every morning. And every single person blew 0 every day.

Either that or the breathalysers were rigged.

OP, this thread sounds like you have an addictive personality, which may or may not be a bad thing depending on where you channel that focus; however the concern of mine (and probably others on here) is that if your current wine intake remains a constant, if that happens you will make yourself very ill.
I wouldn't presume to know the answer but your GP may be a useful first place, if your liver/pancreas are struggling it can be a very sudden deterioration i.e. one day same as always, next day on close observation for a fortnight.

Even ignoring all the effects on your liver, blood glucose, brain, mental state etc etc:

1) How many calories are there in a bottle of wine? That amount of drinking would make me get fat very quickly.

2) How much are you spending on this habit? £6/bottle * 365 days = a brand new bike every 12 months.

Stop it at once. Duh.

This is an interesting topic for me as I guess I'm probably not too far off drinking to this level myself. It's not every night, but it's certainly more nights than it's not. I can certainly stop when I want, but my trouble is that I just happen to like the taste of decent wine / beer, and have the financial means to buy it.

Had blood tests recently for other reasons and GP didn't seem particularly worried.

If alcohol were treated the same as other chemicals with similar human toxicity, the maximum exposure would be one glass of wine over the entire year

It's a strange toxic substance that increases life expectancy at low levels of consumption. A drink or two per day isn't harmful for the average person. Moderate drinkers (up to around 4 drinks per day) live longer than teetotalers.

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https://health.spectator.co.uk/the-great-alcohol-cover-up-how-public-health-bodies-hid-the-truth-about-drinking/

Just the one bottle a day?

Lightweight!

😀

I was initially going to respond, like many others, by saying that a bottle a night is too much. Having read all the comments though I. now come down on the side of the OP. He isn't drinking because he's miserable or upset or addicted to alcohol or for some other hidden reason. He is drinking because he really likes wine which is fair enough. It's a great drink.

I don't often drink spirits, and though I enjoy beer it wouldn't depress me much if I never had another. However there are so many lovely wines out there I would hate to have to stop drinking the stuff. The whole history and science behind it is fascinating too.

I should add the caveat though that drinking a bottle a day for the rest of your life isn't smart, but he seems very well aware of the fact.

Reading the thread has actually made me want a glass of wine, rather than putting me off.

The official research advice [url= http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/third-bottle-of-wine-always-a-bad-idea-for-wide-variety-of-reasons-say-experts-20170625130281 ]here[/url] is probably just as good as the government's.