Dry January anyone.

[Chris S]

Yes - I don't have time to go to the pub anymore.

 

[Sandra6]

I like to have a healthy "kick start" in January so I reduce drastically all the things I'm doing to excess which, although enjoyable, are ultimately having a negative effect on me. That means no drinking, very little social media, I used to go cold turkey on that too but people think you've died! - and I also stop eating crap.

I really don't understand these "month off" ideas. Isn't swinging between binging and abstinence indicative of a really unhealthy attitude to alcohol? If you should cut down, then cut down. If you can't just cut down, then give it up. Why start yoyoing by taking arbitrary time periods off?

The point for me is to kick start better habits. Cutting something out altogether makes you evaluate how much you really "need" it in your life at all and should lead to a healthier relationship with that thing, be it alcohol, junk food or vegetating on the sofa.

I did dry January in 2016, and found it quite easy, but I don't really see the point of someone like me doing it. Drinking is such an integral part of my life, doing something that is only ever going to be a temporary gimmicky type thing, and reduce my overall consumption by a mere fraction over the year, just so I can say I did it, seems pointless.

My whole social life revolves around pubs and alcohol and the only way I could abstain consistently would be to not have a social life. I worry that I drink too much, and I might try to only drink a couple of night a week instead of 4 or 5 to protect my health and finances a little, but dry January isn't going to help me achieve that.

Could you not go to the pub and drink a coke or a non alcoholic beer? Seems a bit extreme to say you couldn't socialise without alcohol.

I'm not really missing the drink this month, I've done dryuary before and found it harder.
I did try a budweiser prohibition non alcoholic lager the other night and it was quite nice with my mexican fajitas.

 

[JhnBssll]

I still go to the pub fairly regularly and drink lime cordial and soda water at 75 pence a pint

The ward I was in during my illness was a specialist in pancreatic and biliary problems and the percentage of people who were there due to alcohol was quite eye opening

 

[keithmac]

I've been to the pub a few times while driving and had the non alcohol lagers, not the worste thing in the world.

 

[Roadhump]

Could you not go to the pub and drink a coke or a non alcoholic beer? Seems a bit extreme to say you couldn't socialise without alcohol.

Occasionally I have done that, such as when I have been driving, but if I was to do it every time I went to the pub, I wouldn't want to go, it just seems to defeatthe object of going to the pub. Things like going to the pub before and after a football match, when meeting a couple of mates after squash, at the quiz night, or popping in to have a chat with a few locals have become a well embedded way of life.

Perhaps moderation is the key, but there seems to be a view that moderation isn't really achievable in the long run and it is all or nothing. A few years ago, I read a book (not sure if it was by Jason Vale or Allen Carr) that concludes that the only way to control alcohol consumption is to avoid it all together.

 

[lazybloke]

I really don't understand these "month off" ideas. Isn't swinging between binging and abstinence indicative of a really unhealthy attitude to alcohol? If you should cut down, then cut down. If you can't just cut down, then give it up. Why start yoyoing by taking arbitrary time periods off?

Well if you find it impossible to stop for a month, that's a sure sign you need to seek help. (Not you personally)

 

[Accy cyclist]

I've just seen a sign outside a pub that reads like this.

It's Dry January
We Have...
Dry Martini
Dry Cider
Dry White Wine
Dry Sherry
On Sale Here

 

[Roadhump]

I've just seen a sign outside a pub that reads like this.

It's Dry January
We Have...
Dry Martini
Dry Cider
Dry White Wine
Dry Sherry
On Sale Here

Don't forget Dry gin, whisky and dry ginger

 

[Jason]

:-(

Youngest is back from uni and we had an argument over his lazy student ways. I sounded lie my dad,lecturing the 16 year old me.
Result i picked up the wine and had a small glass.

Back on the wagon tommorow,as I need to prove to myself this can be done!!!

 

[Buck]

I've just seen a sign outside a pub that reads like this.

It's Dry January
We Have...
Dry Martini
Dry Cider
Dry White Wine
Dry Sherry
On Sale Here

One of my locals

 

[simon walsh]

Not dry but not a wet as normal

 

[ozboz]

I've not had a pint since my birthday , last December , had some port with lemons and beechams around Xmas for cold, but , I am in the main fed up with the pubs around here , exxy and empty , not even been in on a football night ,but that has been helped by a little find on the net , I can watch football on some form of foreign site live ! I find it hard to drink at home also , so it's been very dry, but upto now , not missing it , and to say I was virtually an every night drinker , not doing bad !

 

[Dave7]

I've been to the pub a few times while driving and had the non alcohol lagers, not the worste thing in the world.

I have tried 2 different alcohol free bottles this week...........both disgusting YEAUKK.
Will settle for soda & lime methinks.

 

[mjr]

I have tried 2 different alcohol free bottles this week...........both disgusting YEAUKK.
Will settle for soda & lime methinks.

Becks blue is as good as it gets in most pubs. Bitburger Drive rarely. Jever fun, Schneider Wiesse tap 3 and Jupiler 0,0% are OK but I've never seen them in bars in this country.

 

[keithmac]

Becks Blue was what I drank last time, it was ok better than 5 pints of coke!.