My Recovery So Far

Sobriety delivers everything alcohol promised…

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  • Let’s all go AF, now and again

    Let’s all go AF, now and again

    There’s never been a better time to try alcohol free drinks. A few years ago people would have laughed at the suggestion of a non alcoholic festival but the Mindful Drinking Movement is going crazy and the drinks industry has noticed there’s a large market for adult soft drinks. You only need to Google “alcohol free” and you’ll find pages of recent articles about how people are becoming dry drinkers. Alcohol free beer is even being rolled out on tap! In fact, Heineken revealed last week that it put its alcohol free brand “0.0” on tap at 1500 pubs across the UK. There’s only 69 calories in one bottle too! People are increasingly turning to alcohol free because we’re more health conscious now than we’ve ever been. AF drinks won’t just leave you hangover free; they cost less as well. So not only will you become healthier, your bank balance will too! It’s a win win situation.

    I know for a lot of people moderation simply isn’t an option and I didn’t think it was for me at one point. Especially in the early days when I was only a couple of months sober. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to control my drinking once I’d popped the cork but over the last few weeks I’ve seen a massive change in the way I think about drinking. I decided to bring an end to my sobriety during Christmas 2018. It wasn’t an easy decision and I’d been thinking about it for a couple of months. I refuse to believe that everyone with an alcohol problem can never drink again or practice moderation. I’ve never craved alcohol and I’ve never drank daily. My problem was binge drinking and not knowing when to stop once I’d started. Because of the way society makes us think I believe this is the problem for a lot of people and it’s the reason for a lot of mental health issues. My thought process quickly went into ‘let’s get wasted’ mode as soon as the first drop went down and over time, with the amounts of alcohol regularly going into my system, and my body never having chance to recover (because I drank most days), my anxiety and depression got worse. Since I turned things around and even now when I’m having a few alcoholic drinks, I haven’t experienced any anxiety or depression. I just needed a reboot to change my thought process around alcohol and socialising.

    So if you’ve never tried alcohol free drinks and you’re thinking of giving them a whirl, don’t just head straight for Becks Blue. There’s a lot more choice out there and most bars have many options. You just need to ask! Here are some of my favourites …

     

    Heineken 0.0

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    Usually available in most pubs and tastes very much like the alcoholic version. Contains 0.05% alcohol and 69 calories per 330ml. Available in Sainsburys for £4 per pack of 6.

     

    Budweiser Prohibition

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    It’s a refreshing beer with the taste of alcoholic Budweiser. I don’t taste the difference between this and the alcoholic version. Contains 0.05% alcohol, 150 calories per 300ml and is available in Tesco for £2 per pack of four.

     

    Erdinger Alcohol Free

    One of the first alcohol free beers I tried and I was gobsmacked at the taste. It just felt like I was drinking a ‘real’ beer. It’s isotonic, so it quenches your thirst quickly. It also contains carbohydrates for energy and protein, which helps your body repair. The alcohol content is 0.5% so the maximum for alcohol free and a 500ml bottle contains 125 calories. Available in Tesco for £2.50 per bottle and I’ve also seen this one available in a few bars and pubs.

     

    Rawson’s Retreat Cabernet

    For the red wine drinkers out there, this is the only one I’ve found that actually tastes like alcoholic red wine and not Vimto! It’s made by Australian wine giant Penfold’s, contains 0.5% alcohol, only 38 calories per 250ml and is available at Tesco for approx. £4 per bottle.

     

    Eisberg Alcohol Free Rose Wine

    I’m not a massive fan of rose but this is lovely and refreshing. Perfect for drinking in the sun! Contains 0.05% alcohol, 33 calories per 125ml and is available in Tesco for £3.50 per bottle.

     

    Tesco Low Alcohol G&T 

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    The perfect choice for a hot day in the garden! I’ve never been a gin drinker but this one really is delicious with ice and lemon. Contains 0.5% alcohol, 12 calories per 250ml can and is available in Tesco for £3.50 per pack of four.

    It’s not just people with a drink problem who choose to go for alcohol free. There are a lot of reasons people drink them. They could be in training for a marathon, on medication, working, on a health kick, having a baby or simply having a day off! The way things are going AF drinks will be as popular as the ‘real’ version soon!

    Thanks for reading.

    Claire xxx

     

  • 7 weeks later …

    7 weeks later …

    Hello again. I haven’t been into the blogging recently as there’s been a lot going on. Sometimes I’m just not feeling it and to be quite honest, I couldn’t be bothered! Ooops. Anyway, here’s an update on what I’ve been up to.

    Drinking in moderation is going very well! I’m having a glass of wine, sometimes two with a meal and I’ve stopped at that over the last few weeks. I’ve been tracking my alcohol consumption with the Drinkaware app as I’m very aware how addiction can rear its ugly head and it’s important to me that I don’t lose focus. I think I’ll probably keep tracking via the app for the rest of the year. Staying sober for 14 months changed my life and I’m finally able to enjoy alcohol in the correct way. Some said I couldn’t do it but if you want something enough, it’s possible to achieve. I’m well aware it’s still early days but I’m convinced I will be successful at long term moderation. I’ve surprised myself actually because I’m not that interested in alcohol half as much as I thought I would be. Don’t get me wrong, I still have to stay focused and the usual ‘trigger moments’ still occur but I’m a lot more aware of them now and when they’re likely to happen:-

    • Sun’s out = trigger time
    • Invited to a party = trigger time
    • Travelling = trigger time
    • It’s the weekend = trigger time

    I know a lot of people will relate to the above but once you learn to accept that these triggers are going to happen, you can prepare for them and they’re not so much of a surprise to deal with.

    Here are my Drinkaware figures for the last few weeks. As you can see I started off risky and gradually got a grip. At the end of February I decided to get a bottle of wine for at home but I won’t be doing that again. I didn’t really enjoy it and only drank it because it was there. I’m not quite at the point where I can throw good wine away!

    In other news, I got offered a new job! But, I’ve decided not to take it as my boss offered me a deal I couldn’t really say no to. Well, I could but I’d have been stupid to. He’s a great boss and we get on brilliantly. There’s a lot to be said for enjoying where you work and I’ve never enjoyed working somewhere as much. I applied for the new job as I’m now back in Huddersfield. In fact, I moved to my new home yesterday. I was happy here for 7 years until the final 3 years and that’s when my drinking got out of hand. Anyway, now I’m a lot more sorted, I’ve decided to come back and it’ll be great to catch up with everyone. I’m excited for another new start! I went for a walk this morning and my trusty FitBit tells me that this amazing view is approx. 1000 steps away from my doorstep …

    Then there’s my love life. Oh boy! It’s going well, for now. When I say “now”, I mean right this minute. But this is me and that could all change in the next few hours! Joking aside, JT is amazing and we’ve been having a great time together. It’s not always hunky-dory but which relationships are?! JT is taking me to Gran Canaria for my 40th and I’m feeling so lucky right now. We’re making plans and 2019 is turning out to be a great year so far, although I’m not really sure how I feel about turning 40 in a few weeks!

    Thanks for reading and have a fabulous week!

    Claire. Xxx

  • Back to the 10k training

    Back to the 10k training

    I’ve started running again. I was training for a half marathon last year but I had to drop out because of a problem with my hip/leg. To be honest, I still don’t know what the problem was but with some decent stretching and sticking to short runs I seem to be fine. I’m nowhere near as fit as I was and I’m struggling to continuously run for 30 mins at the moment so I’m back doing the old Couch to 10K. I’ll be glad when I’ve finished it because I hate running with my phone in my hand. I don’t even like carrying a water bottle. It’s bad enough that I spend the first 10 minutes messing with my clothing, toggles, hair, headphones wire, watch or anything else that will distract me from the task ahead. Anyone else get that? I never seem to be comfy running until I’m about 20 minutes in. It’s so annoying to the point where I could sack it all off. Most of the time I’m determined to stick at it and run to the next post, then the next, then the next and before I know it I’ve been at it for the magic 20 minutes and doing my best Mo Farah impression!!! (in my dreams) and I’m in the zone feeling like I could carry on forever. I certainly ain’t no sprinter. In fact, I’m quite slow and it used to bother me. I hated the fact I couldn’t run a sub 30 5k or a sub 60 10k. In case you’re wondering the quickest 5k I’ve ran is 32 minutes so I wasn’t far off and the quickest 10k I’ve completed is 68 minutes. There was a time when I was running 10k three times a week. Oh how I wish I could do that now. I struggled with a run/walk for 30 minutes last night but as they say, it’s all about getting out there! I need to up my game anyway because I eat like a horse and I don’t wanna be a fatty for summer. Just yesterday my boss came out with … “you can certainly put it away”. I said I didn’t know what he was talking about!

    I was going to the gym a couple of times per week but I cancelled my membership yesterday. I’m not that keen really. I only go in winter so I don’t have to get out running in the cold weather. But then again, if I can manage a 5k run along Douglas prom on the Isle of Man at 6am in December, I can do ANYTHING!!!

    Exercise sorts my head out. I’m not one for throwing meds inside me so I prefer to get out there and boost the serotonin levels with a good run. That’s not to say I’m against people taking medication for whatever reasons they do. Personally, I’ve not had the best experience with medications in the past but it works for some which is great. Whatever you need to do, I say. I suppose you could say the same for alcohol free drinks. Some people are completely against them but they’ve saved me from destroying my life so work for me.

    Back to the 10k app. Last night’s ‘run’ went like this … 5 min warm up (walk), 3 min run, 2 min walk, 4 min run, 3 min walk, 4 min run, 3 min walk, 3 min run, 2 min walk, 5 min cool down (walk). My next run is pretty much the same except the 4 min run becomes 5 mins. I’m currently on week 4 and in 10 weeks I WILL be running a continuous 10k again. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

    Enjoy your day and don’t waste too much energy đŸ˜‰

    Claire. Xx