I should be feeling amazing. Why don’t I? And how unreasonable is it to expect to?

[SomethingNarstyInTheWoodshed]

For many years I have drunk too much. Not buckets full. Just a good couple of glasses of red most evenings.

Since Christmas I haven’t. I’ve had 3 occasions when I have had a couple of small glasses.

I’ve also eaten far more vegetables and less crap.

1. Why do I not look better? I still look tired, haggard and shit.

1. Why do I not feel better? I still feel shit in the mornings. I’m not sleeping better. I’m sluggish, forgetful and still unhinged.

1. Why am I not thin? After an initial half stone loss nothing. I though alcohol was all liquid sugar and empty calories. Still fat.

Would it be unreasonable to say fuckit and enjoy half a bottle of delicious red wine most evenings?

I gave up booze and like you was incensed that I felt no different. So I started drinking again. Felt APPALLING and realised the difference.

@ChippingIn thank you so much - she developed cervical cancer and as it isn't screened over 65, it wasn;t picked up until after it had spread. We had about 6 weeks from diagnosis, the first 3 weeks with plans to treat it until the hospital relaised it was way too far gone for that. SHe died on New Years day.

She was 78 and beleive me she would have given up every glass of wine she ever drank for another year with us. Really there isn;t as much joy in a lifetime's wine as there is in living your life for another year.

My biggest consolation is that she was lovely and we were lucky to have her as long as we did - my (and DS's) life have been immeasurably better because she was in it.

I will eventually blog about it but can't get it in perspective enough yet.

@Sugarpiehoneyeye Thank you! We've been snowed in for a week so it was nice to get out today at least.

Thing is, we are all going to die, of something, at some point. It may well be cancer, simply because a lot of the other things that people used to die of at younger ages are now more curable. Self-denial and fretting about every step you take and every bite you eat may or may not make you live longer - it won't stop you getting run over, after all.

And once again the vast majority of 'detoxing' and 'wellbeing' diets are dangerous, useless bullshit that may well make you feel worse.

Thing is, we are all going to die, of something, at some point. It may well be cancer, simply because a lot of the other things that people used to die of at younger ages are now more curable. Self-denial and fretting about every step you take and every bite you eat may or may not make you live longer - it won't stop you getting run over, after all.

I agree. But most people wouldn't deliberately throw themselves under that bus; and living well does make one feel more energised, more healthy and more strong, and more able to cope with the many stresses we all face, every day.

I don't worry about what I eat or drink. I treat myself by exercising, because I know how much better I feel when I do it. I really notice the after-effects of drinking: just one glass of wine now has a noticeable effect on me the following day. I prefer to live my life feeling good. But it's a personal choice, and we all have to find our own ways through.

ReanimatedSGB so we may as well all chain smoke, take drugs, drink to excess and eat whatever we like?

That's deliberately ignoring that we do know that certain things are very risky - snoking, being overweight, lack of social interaction, being a deep sea diver etc

As I said earlier - by all means do whatever you like but don't pretend that drinking a half a bottle of wine a night is not risky. It is. It more like deciding to play chicken crossing the road when a bus is coming rather than stopping looking and listening and only crossing when it's clear. There are obviously things you can do to reduce the risk of crossing the road and you'd think functioning adults were nuts if they didn't do them.

Choose to go for the riskier option if you want either ecasue you like t=it too much to quit your vice or because you can't but you still run the same risks as everyone else on top of the risk you choose to take on. Just don't kid yourself that you're not adding to your risk factors when you are.

I know I am going to die

But as I said earlier I have to work till I am. 67 . And I realised that drinking and smoking was making me feel shit .

In all fairness I was suffering really bad lower back pain too and the GP said stop smoking and lose weight . So I did ! I barely have pain these days so it was worth it for that alone . God those back pain days were shit

So life begins at 40 really is a load of rubbish then?

I'd be fairly tempted to stick with the wine, maybe just the one.

The point is, there is too much emphasis on restriction and denial, allegedly for 'health'. And when it comes to advice on food, most of the advice given is useless, dangerous or both. Much of the advice given on alcohol is fairly useless, as well - the units-per-week figures were picked out of thin air and do not take into account an individual's actual size, for example.

I think common sense applies SGB !
I was having 2-3 wines most days with more at weekends .
I was always snacking on cakes and chocolates at work
I was having carb heavy meals 3 times daily

That said I watched that Netflix film ‘to the bone ‘ about anorexia and it REALLY put me off calorie counting and obsessiveness . As frankly the way people were speaking on the 5:2 thread (sorry ladies ) freaked me a bit

I don't think in modern history there is any health advice which says it's safe to drink half a bottle of wine a night.

A GP once said to me that (in their opinion) if you drink half a bottle of wine 5+ times a night, it wouldn;t be "if" you develop liver problems but "when". Historially we have never drunk socially as much as many people do now. When I was growing up in the 70's my parents might have a bottle of wine once a week between them. I have friends who do this every night these days - and it's really not uncommon. And they mostly find it impossible to stop.