Alcohol is Junkfood

First, let’s take a Sunday-drive through the dictionary.

Alcohol: a colorless, limpid, volatile, flammable, water-miscible liquid, C 2 H 5 OH, having an etherlike odor and pungent, burning taste, the intoxicating principle of fermented liquors, produced by yeast fermentation of certain carbohydrates, as grains, molasses, starch, or sugar, or obtained synthetically by hydration of ethylene or as a by-product of certain hydrocarbon syntheses: used chiefly as a solvent in the extraction of specific substances, in beverages, medicines, organic synthesis, lotions, tonics, colognes, rubbing compounds, as an automobile radiator antifreeze, and as a rocket fuel.

(Above: See and read HERE what happened when Laura went from 5 large glasses of wine a week to none in one month.)

Intoxicate: to affect temporarily with diminished physical and mental control by means of alcoholic liquor, a drug, or another substance, especially to excite or stupefy with liquor; to poison.

Beer: an alcoholic beverage made by brewing and fermentation from cereals, usually malted barley, and flavored with hops and the like for a slightly bitter taste.

Wine: the fermented juice of grapes, made in many varieties, such as red, white, sweet, dry, still, and sparkling, for use as a beverage, in cooking, in religious rites, etc., and usually having an alcoholic content of 14 percent or less.

Junkfood: food, as potato chips or candy, that is high in calories but of little nutritional value; anything that is attractive and diverting but of negligible substance.

Proteins and carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram. Fat has 9 calories per gram.

Alcohol forms disease-producing acid in the body, is full of empty (no nutritional benefit) calories, and is dangerous and addictive, qualifying it as a junkfood. It is equally as much an addictive junkfood as a fast-food burger, movie theater candy, a sleeve of processed cookies, or a fizzy gas station cola. Alcohol can not only kill you slowly as a junkfood, it can kill you (and maybe others) immediately as a dangerous intoxicant.

When it comes to physical health, any nutritionist or personal trainer who uses alcohol themselves or acquiesces to the use of alcohol in their clients is not at the top of their profession. Seek advice from nutritionists and trainers who advocate the omission of alcohol because they clearly see it for the dangerous health-robbing, dehydrating, inflammatory junkfood that it is.

As for spiritual and emotional health, any coach, mentor, or therapist who uses alcohol themselves or acquiesces to the use of alcohol in their clients is also not at the top of their profession. Seek advisors who advocate the omission of alcohol because they clearly see it for the soul-numbing substance that it is. One can not grow to their full potential while leaning on alcohol in order to avoid personal shadow-work.

Is this radical? Yes. Is this harsh? Yes. Is this possible? Yes.

Not only is it possible, it is necessary. Too many physical & spiritual lives are being ruined by the lure, use, and abuse of alcohol. It is not sexy. It is not true happiness. And it teaches the youth in our homes and communities to follow in our destructive footsteps.

Put down the glass. Refuse the bottle. Face the mechanism inside you that wants to drink. Get curious about that. What is at the root of your anxiety, fear, shame, boredom, loneliness, stress, social/family pressure, or discontent? Get to the heart of that and do what you need to do to resolve it (journal, therapy, exercise, etc.) so that you can experience true freedom to be your sober self, your real self….the self that wants to be seen and accepted exactly as he or she is.

Be a rebel and get real. Swim upstream and experience easy joy. Stand apart from the crowd and really see & feel gratitude for the beautiful miracle of life. Set yourself free.

When you clean up your diet enough and you clean up your psyche enough, alcohol will naturally no longer appeal. Not even one glass every now and then.

You say: when I get truly happy and at peace and clean up my diet, I’ll let go of alcohol.

I say: let go of alcohol so that you can get truly happy and at peace with yourself and clean up your diet.

One last definition…

Sober: not intoxicated or drunk; habitually temperate, especially in the use of liquor; free from excess, extravagance, or exaggeration; showing self-control.