If you are a mom you should quit drinking, not because you are a drunk but because it is bad for women. Alcohol is an activity that is completely acidic in nature.
I am not suggesting you quit alcohol altogether unless it is a problem. There are many studies out now that suggest that we derive some health benefits from moderate drinking—to the heart, the nerves, to easing self-consciousness. Drinking does help us manage stress and can help us socialize and break the ice with the opposite sex.
However it is also unhealthy in many ways as it impairs our judgment and slows down our cognitive responses. In slightly higher amounts it can land us in situations that we’d never put up with if we were sober.
Drinking alcohol can also lead us down a fairly slippery slope, where that glass or two of wine a few times a week becomes a glass or two every day without our noticing, and pretty soon we become addicted.
Alcohol abuse can interfere with the brain’s chemical messengers, specifically the neurotransmitters serotonin, GABA (gammaaminobutyricacid), and dopamine. When you mess with these transmitters it affects our moods, our ability to think clearly, and the signals the brain sends to the body. It’s not a stretch to say that how our neurotransmitters are functioning affects how we experience the world and ourselves. We suffer from distorted thinking and bad moods.
Serotonin affects our emotions, memory, appetite, body temperature and endocrine regulation. Dopamine is involved with feelings of pleasure and reward. GAB A is involved in memory and cognitive functioning. Alcohol affects all of these factors in a negative way.
Alcohol can also be hard on our metabolism. Metabolism is the process by which the substances we eat and drink are converted into other compounds, less toxic than the original, some more.
As our bodies treat alcohol as a toxin, a poison to be purged (because, for your liver, that’s exactly what it is.) It is detoxified and removed from the blood through the process of oxidation. The liver is where most of the metabolism takes place.
However the liver can metabolize alcohol more slowly than the body absorbs it into the bloodstream so a certain amount nearly always affects the body and the brain.
Curiously, alcohol does not raise your blood sugar level in and of itself it will actually lower it. What does raise our blood sugar level is the carbohydrates in booze.
Your liver treats the alcohol like a toxin and goes about the detoxification process whenever it is in your body. It puts off releasing glycogen until it is complete. This process leads to hypoglycemia.
Alcohol causes stress-related issues in the body as well. One way is by raising cortisol levels. Cortisol is the 'stress hormone,” and elevated levels of it can destabilize blood sugar levels and also add fat to the body.
Alcohol also depletes vitamins and B12 as well as folic acid—nutrients the body needs to cope with stress—and can interfere with REM sleep, leaving you less rested than when you wake up in the morning.
When you take a break from alcohol your body is again able to recover from stress on its own without artificial stimulation. You are able to keep dopamine in balance so your brain isn’t always craving a drink to temporarily elevate its levels.
The fact is, if given the chance, the brain has an amazing capacity to read just neurotransmitter levels and effectiveness all by itself but only if you stop alcohol.
Also, by reducing the toxin load when you quit drinking, you give your liver the opportunity to regenerate itself (unless it has already experienced serious scarring—cirrhosis—from heavy drinking).
If you steer clear of alcohol for twenty one days your body will reset and find its own balance again.
If you’ve been avoiding wine, beer, and spirits. Here’s what you can enjoy:
• Sparkling water with a twist of lemon or lime or a bit of unsweetened pomegranate, grape or blueberry juice
• Any kind of chilled herbal tea served in a festive glass
• Good, old-fashioned water with a lemon, lime or tangerine slice
If you do drink, say for a special occasion like your birthday try having that glass of white wine with some sparkling water. Diluted alcohol is best.