Alcopops??/Joe Camel In A Bottle

Very chilly Tuesday here in Chicago!  Glad I've got the hatches battened down! Or to be more precise, when the cold weather impends, I get this ropey, claylike caulk stuff that you unroll and press into the crevices of the windows. It works well to keep the drafts at bay and in the spring it's very easy to remove and discard. Thinking today is perfect for a nice fire in the fireplace - trying to muster the fortitude to go out and fill my arms with firewood from the woodpile. I've got two cribs going - each year I order a half cord and let the newest delivery age for a year before using it.

Happy for some inexplicable reason! Can't think of anything that's appreciably different about my life that should bring me contentment and yet, I'm feeling sunny. Gonna work the monster list today, apply a good, honest work ethic to the day, cuddle up with a good book tonight (maybe by the fire) and drink green tea.

Ah.....drinking....that is what I'll talk about today, having just read a very interesting (and alarming) article yesterday in New Scientist. As for me? I'm delighted to say I have a really good, respectful and careful relationship with alcohol these days. The whole "only drink martinis on Federal holidays" started out as a joke, but it's something I've mostly stuck to and what was becoming a dependency is now simply an occasional pleasure. It pleases me no end to have taken on that bad nascent habit by the nose ring and mastered it.  Now, mostly when I go out, my go-to drink is Perrier with a splash of cranberry juice and a wedge of lime. Once in a while, if I have the WW points, I'll have a single glass of red wine - no more than 1-2 a week.  Do you remember in a previous post I talked about the health benefits of red wine? It's wonderful to think that something so indulgent is actually good for you but the question, "How much is good for you?" is something that wasn't identified until recently - researchers crunched the numbers and measured the effects of alcohol to determine the point of crossover where any health benefit was lost by over-consumption.  I think we all expected to be told a glass a day is fine, but no....seems the magic number is 2.5 glasses a week.  More than that, and lifespan is shortened vis-a-vis folks who drink the recommended amount or none at all.

So, the article, The Battle of the Bottle. Interesting. Just like the focus on obesity, expect to see some serious initiatives on worldwide drinking in the not-too-distant future. The World Health Organization is beating the drum, having recently categorized excessive drinking as the third most important contributor to ill health, just behind tobacco and high blood pressure. (Huh? High blood pressure - did you know that is the number one killer in the world? Think we need to know more about that!)  Anyway, booze. The U.S. stats are sobering even though there are eighteen other countries who outdrink us. Even so, the average American drinks the equivalent of 24 litres of vodka per year. That's about a half a liter per week (about two cups). In all fairness, the statistics are skewed by the heaviest drinkers. In fact, in the U.S., the heaviest drinkers consume about 45% of the total alcohol consumed, so maybe the numbers for the 90% look more like a cup of vodka a week. Still that's a lot, right?

What's really concerning is that the alcohol industry is very cleverly appearing to be on board with concern for the health effects of too much alcohol.  Unlike the tobacco companies who made the mistake of denying the deleterious effects of tobacco until internal documents were uncovered that revealed their conspiratorial behavior, the alcohol companies are coming to the table and offering resources to help battle alcoholism.  They would, on the surface, appear to be conducting themselves like good corporate citizens. Truth is anything but. There are three things that health professionals have identified as deterrents to over-drinking:  increasing prices, restricting availability and banning advertisements. The alcohol industry is discounting these findings with phony science aimed to create uncertainty among policy makers. They have a "think tank" in Washington, ICAP (International Center for Alcohol Policies) that is bankrolled by the world's largest alcohol producers. They have been extremely effective in pushing for policies aimed at identifying and providing help to problem drinkers while at the same time downplaying the evidence that price, availability and advertising would reduce drinking overall in a seriously significant way. Thinking they're evil just like the tobacco companies. Most recently, they've been cleverly marketing to underage drinkers ("Joe Camel in a bottle?") and denying it - yet the statistics are irrefutable. Did you know you can buy alcopops? Who do you think the intended audience for those are! If you said, "kids", you're right!

Anyway, good article and it especially hit home for me after this weekend. Without being smug or critical I was concerned that, at the afternoon reception for the boy who died of an overdose, liquor was served. Isn't that ironic? Celebrating the life of a boy who died of an overdose by drinking to his memory? And many of the people I witnessed drinking had absolutely no business with a drink in their hands. It was really really sad and upsetting.

Challenge today is looking critically at your own relationship to alcohol - too many of my friends abuse it.  I worry for you. If a drink is not an occasional pleasure, but something you need, then own that and get your arms around a solution whether it means something simple like designating federal holidays as your fun days or, if the problem is more serious, getting some help. I hope I'm not coming across as self-satisfied. I'm truly grateful for the brain chemistry I have. My flirtation with a drinking problem was born of sadness and too much socializing, not a biochemical propensity. I understand that, for many people, it's really addictive, insidious and potentially life-ruining.

Peace,
Sarah