- christinawellness
I gave up alcohol for 50 days and here's what happened...
I completed 50 days without alcohol (unintentionally) and a lot of good things happened. For background, I'm not one to drink a glass of wine every night because my body physically reacts with a racing heart and 0 sleep. I love to go out and drink probably more than the average person, so you can say I drink to get drunk and not for taste. This is because I know I cant sit at home and enjoy wine or a margarita casually because the night of tossing and turning and hives all over my chest isn't worth it for me. It's a blessing and a curse that my body reacts physically to alcohol, but what you don't realize is your body is probably undergoing the exact same stress, just without the signs appearing bluntly. When you consume alcohol, your liver is working EXTRA hard to get rid of it. Your sleep is totally affected because as the liver works hard during the night, you're going to experience sleep disruptions and wake up more than normal. I wear my Whoop Strap everyday and on a drinking night my HRV (heart rate variability) is normally 15-30, which is SUPER LOW. For reference, on a healthy day it's 65-70. WILD! What people also don't realize is the effects alcohol has on cholesterol. When you reach your 40s it normally shows up as high triglycerides. If you eat very healthy and/or vegan and have high triglycerides, it's likely from alcohol consumption. My mom is the healthiest vegan and she had dangerous levels of triglycerides, literally in the stroke/heart attack zone. Her doctor told her to stop eating meat and cheese and she said it's been over 20 years of that. She immediately stopped drinking and re-took the test in 3 weeks and the triglycerides went down to amazingly healthy levels. It's serious guys! The glass of wine a night is not helping your health or your stress, it's only contributing! In my 50 days without alcohol here's what I noticed the most: 1. No cravings: My seamless delivery person used to be my most contacted person. Without drinking, I noticed I didn't crave the bad carbs or sugar as much. My body was craving the greens and vegetables more than ever. 2. Better workouts: I was able to work out 6 days a week (switching up workouts according to my phases). This was huge because I was used to only working out 3-4 days when I would go out because I'd be too tired to do anything except eat, or drink again. 3. More energy: I felt energized every day even if I didn't feel like I was getting a solid 9 hour sleep (yes, i'm used to sleeping this much).
4. Pain-free periods: when you drink alcohol, your estrogen goes wayyy up. this will contribute to PMS, breast soreness, brain fog, moodiness. Without drinking I didn't even notice my period was coming! I'll continue to socially drink and know i'll go WILD when bars are a thing again, but I'll make healthier choices for sure. Watch my REEL for more alcohol info. Cheers to that! Have you noticed alcohol impacting your health?