Be high on life

“You don’t drink alcohol? You must be such a loser!”

“Please, I have to drink!”

“How much alcohol can I consume per week?”

These are just some statements I am constantly hearing from my clients. The amount of alcohol guzzled today is alarming. When did drinking alcohol, a liquid which is as good as slow poison, become the standard to be part of the crowd? Alcohol consumption has raised so much in status determining whether you are a nerd or not.

Come on we all know that alcohol has never had a good connotation to its name. Alcohol often leads to times when you don’t remember a thing due to foggy brains. The ‘happy’ feeling that you get is due to light-headedness, which impairs brain function, slows your reflexes and motor coordination. Often causes abusive and violent behaviour as your mind is dulled to a level where you do not know what is happening within you and around you.

One needs to understand that your body metabolises alcohol into sugar. Something all health-conscious people are running away from, clearly running in circles might I add if alcohol is consumed. Sugar is the root cause of all disease. Sugar even multiplies your cancer cells and causes inflammation in the body leading to chronic pain. Not many, talk about how it negatively influences your blood sugar and insulin resistance. A worst-case scenario would be a diabetic patient drinking alcohol as this will spike your blood glucose levels through the roof.

The effects of alcohol on your body vary on how much and how fast you drink, and other factors such as age, weight, health and your tolerance to alcohol. It’s a natural depressant or sedative makes you sleepy or drowsy. Long term use of alcohol links directly with high blood pressure, obesity, nerve damage, sexual problems, ulcers and gastritis. The most common outcome is liver cirrhosis and liver cancer which can even lead to death.

Women have generally abstained from alcohol and the reason behind this is their bodies are not equipped to deal with alcohol. They have a lower percentage of body water which impairs their ability to dilute liquids, as well as a man’s body, would. Hormones also play a big role as pre-menstrual hormones allow the body to get intoxicated faster and oestrogen slows down the elimination of alcohol from the body. However, this does not mean that men are safe from any of the effects of alcohol the effects on health are the same.

I’ve explained to you how alcohol can harm you more than help you relax. I am sure you will think twice before you consume it. I seriously wonder why a beverage needs to be consumed when it can’t really help you often making you behave like a total fool. I often tell my clients that you can easily drink many other beverages.