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Original poster

Anyone think 14 units a week is really low?

181 replies

Bunnylady54 · 27/01/2020 16:35

The average bottle of wine is I believe about 9 units so 14 units is less than 2 bottles a week. I drink more than that! Does anyone think it’s pretty hard to stick to 14 units?

OP posts:
Connie222 · 27/01/2020 17:04

One bottle of wine doesn’t touch the sides. I need one and a half to be nicely pissed.

OddBoots · 27/01/2020 17:04

It's health advice like advice on sugar, exercise and smoking. Follow it or don't, we all have our own decisions to make. I'd rather have the information based on research than make my own guesses even if I decide to do differently to that information.

Connie222 · 27/01/2020 17:05

And no, I’m not an alcoholic. But it’s usually 4 bottles ones two nights a week for me.

Could be worse. Could be smack.

Heymacarana · 27/01/2020 17:07

I think it’s masses. Don’t think I’ve ever had that much in a week.*

Wow. I, and pretty much anyone I have ever been out drinking with, will easily top 14 units in a night out

bringbackspanishflu · 27/01/2020 17:08

I don't drink wine so no not that hard.

You can get red and white wine stock pots for cooking, they work really well.

OvalCanvas · 27/01/2020 17:08

@Connie222 an addict is an addict.

Khione · 27/01/2020 17:09

Apart from odd times when I have chosen not to drink for various reasons (probably half a dozen times) and just prior to or in recovery from operations I don't think I've drunk less than 14 units a week for about 40 years.
My parents and both drank way more than that for at least 30 years and lived into their 90s. Four siblings and their partners all drink more than that and are healthy. Age range late 60s to late 70s.

'A lot' is a relative amount, more frequently as I get older I choose to drink on fewer nights but I'm not even thinking of going below 14 units most weeks.

My choice.

PatellarTendonitis · 27/01/2020 17:10

On MN? That's the allotment for the entire year on MN!

MitziK · 27/01/2020 17:10

No, it's easy to stick to. Not drinking during the week and a couple of singles on Friday and Saturday evening keeps you well within all the safe drinking guidelines.

Like it or not, the people I know who regularly go over the recommended levels/frequency are the ones who have problems/health issues caused by drinking, especially the ones that say it would be really hard to cut down.

BlueJava · 27/01/2020 17:11

I've never made it to 14 units in a week, let alone a night. I don't drink alcohol at all now so never will. So yes, that sounds a lot to me.

Connie222 · 27/01/2020 17:12

@OvalCanvas I’m not an addict though. I’m ten weeks pregnant and haven’t missed drinking once.

I just don’t see the point in having a couple of drinks. I drink to get tipsy, not because I liken the taste.

JanuaryIsNotTheOnlyMonth · 27/01/2020 17:13

Doesn't it cost a small fortune or at least a high proportion of the food budget to drink more than that though?

I realise that makes me sound like my granny.

fishonabicycle · 27/01/2020 17:14

It's not low if you only drink once or twice a week.

FruityWidow · 27/01/2020 17:14

Seems reasonable to me

OvalCanvas · 27/01/2020 17:15

@Connie222 , I'm not saying you are. I just see that alcohol ruins lives as much as an illegal drug does.

iwantavuvezela · 27/01/2020 17:15

I find it low! So i don’t drink for 4 days during the week - then allow myself alcohol on weekends - even that though and I’m hardly under the 14 units.

To be under I would need to just drink 2 nights a week.

Llareggub · 27/01/2020 17:15

I would have agreed with you ten years ago but now I rarely drink. I think I had 14 units in total last year!

boatyIII · 27/01/2020 17:15

That sounds a lot Confused I'm not a big drinker though

PatellarTendonitis · 27/01/2020 17:16

Except if you're a man in a strip joint, then if you're paralytic and spend £7k on your credit card in the strip club it's not a lot to drink it's 'poor him' and 'he's been scammed'.

Heymacarana · 27/01/2020 17:16

Doesn't it cost a small fortune or at least a high proportion of the food budget to drink more than that though? *

Not really. Guess that depends on your budget and what drinks you buy though.

£200 a week budget and drink white lightning and doubling 14 units will hardly put a dent in it.

£50 a week and prefer champagne might be an issue.

JanuaryIsNotTheOnlyMonth · 27/01/2020 17:20

Some where in the middle, Heymacarana! Food budget of £90-ish a week, so more than one bottle of wine in that would be a high proportion of not-very-nourishing expenditure, in my mind.

Delatron · 27/01/2020 17:21

I think it’s low and easy to hit if you drink more than a few nights a week. Mumsnet is the wrong place to ask though. There’s already some suggestion that you are an alcoholic if you can’t stick to below 14 units..

I lived in France and watched people (business men) share a bottle of wine over lunch and go back to the office. Seemed normal over there.

What’s interesting is the recommended units vary by country so they’re not really based on scientific evidence. One country (can’t remember which was 27 units!).

I try and hover around it but if I have a big night out then that will go out of the window.

Heymacarana · 27/01/2020 17:22

Wel yeah, but sometimes life is about more than watching budgets and nourishment, and an awful lot of people enjoy getting pissed

JanuaryIsNotTheOnlyMonth · 27/01/2020 17:23

Ah, I was thinking 'average amounts' rather than 'Do you ever exceed 14 units?'

Glug.

PatellarTendonitis · 27/01/2020 17:25

Lots of people enjoy the taste of wine or beer and don't just get pissed. I've got several friends who brew and make their own, one couple even has a 'brewing room' (he's an architect and designed their house) and though the equipment to set up costs, on the whole it's paid for itself and their beer/lager/ale, etc and wine now costs very little (ironically, however, all those I know who are big into brewing and making their own are quite well off).