To think a bottle of wine a week isn't too awful?

[MentalFuzz]

Background: previously seriously alcoholic parents who have now gone teetotal.

I've never really been a drinker, possibly due to the background above.

But recently I have been getting another a week of the Aldi Australian shiraz wine because my mil bought me some about a month ago and I love the taste of it. So every Monday I have been buying a bottle of it during the weekly shop.

I have a glass every other night or so and my parter has some too. Sometime there is some left at the end of the week.

When I mentioned this to my dm she expressed concern for my 'increased drinking levels'.

It's hard for me to gauge what is normal, and I imagine it is for my dm and df too.

Would you be concerned about this amount of alcohol consumed every week for about a month?

Blimey, I put that away a day.

No special brew in sight, promise

I have a bottle a night, and I'm no alcoholic. A bottle is only 3 glasses.
No problem at all.

thinking12 that's a huge amount! Government advice says men and women who drink regularly should consume no more than 14 units a week. A 750ml bottle of red, white or rosé wine (ABV 13.5%) contains 10 units, so if you're drinking a bottle a night that could be as much as 70 units a week! That's 5 times the recommended safe limit. Not an alcoholic you say? Not a problem?

I easily do 4 bottles a week.. (liver function? absolutely fine! ). I even mentioned it to doc the otherday,, she wasnt concerned..

Government advice says men and women who drink regularly should consume no more than 14 units a week

Government advice says a lot of things, not all of it rooted in any kind of science or good reasoning.

Don't fall into that idiotic trap of taking that advice as gospel and telling people they are alcoholics based on that.

I drink significantly over the guidelines. Luckily as a scientist I understand the actual research and base my own decisions based on independent fact and my own health and needs. I don't need anyone elses opinions or guidelines.

Drink counsellors look at dependency rather than quantity in isolation. How would you feel if youcouldn't have your bottle?

"It's clear that your mum has no idea about what normal drinking is and is very anxious in case you inherit the alcoholic gene."

This

notevernotnevernotnohow
Luckily as a scientist I understand the actual research and base my own decisions based on independent fact and my own health and needs. I don't need anyone elses opinions or guidelines

Not a scientist but I can read and understand things so could you point me in the direction of the research you refer to I would be interested to see it. Do you know where their guidelines come from?

OP agree that its nothing to worry about but understand your mum being particularly cautious Good for them to have both gone successfully tee-total. That's a really heartwarming thing to hear.

That is fine OP.

I plan to drink a bottle tonight as we have friends round for dinner. I haven't had any alcohol for a week and probably won't for another 5/6 days.

As long as it is not a bottle several times a week I think it is fine.

I agree with a pp that it's more to do with a person's feeling of dependency on alcohol. One person might be happily getting through 2 bottles a night and not feel they have a problem.

Someone else, like me, might realise they were utterly dependent on the three quarters to a bottle every night that they could not ever go without (much more on occasional nights out). And that the amount was slowly increasing beyond control. And when I mentioned it to my GP she suggested AA.

Not a scientist but I can read and understand things so could you point me in the direction of the research you refer to I would be interested to see it. Do you know where their guidelines come from?

Most of the good stuff is behind paywall or in journals you would need specific access to, but I'll have a look. Govt guidelines are based on a lot of other factors,with minimal reliance on actual serious research into alcohol.

Drink counsellors look at dependency rather than quantity in isolation. How would you feel if youcouldn't have your bottle?

I've had a good think and not having it wouldn't bother me I believe. Just to be sure I won't buy it for a few weeks and see how I feel.

The thought isn't filling me with horror so I'll take that as a good sign? I'll just go back to good old dependable water with my lasagne

Why go back to the water? You share a bottle of wine with your partner over the course of a week and sometimes there's some left over? That's very moderate drinking indeed. Keep on doing what you're doing.

You are not your parents

The latest Government guidelines were heavily influenced by The Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS). It receives 99 per cent of its income from the Alliance House Foundation whose official charitable objective is ‘to spread the principles of total abstinence from alcoholic drinks’ .
Little or no science involved just ideology.