A glass of wine every night?

[grizeldagreen]

I've fallen into a habit of doing this pretty much every night. Just the one glass while cooking. I can make a bottle last over 4 nights doing this. So over a week it would be just less than two bottles. Does this sound ok from a consumption point of view?

To add I usually have a glass, eat my evening meal then have a cup of tea before bed! So it's not exactly a wild life. But I just find that a small glass of white wine adds something to my evening.

But I just find that a small glass of white wine adds something to my evening.

I find it interesting that this is the language you are using, to convince yourself.
1/4 bottle of wine, is not "a small glass of wine", and keep in mind wine tends to be 13% alcohol now, unlike when you could first go to a pub and order a glass of wine, which was 9% and a glass held 125ml.

Whether it is okay to drink every night is going to cause debate, but you are drinking above the Gvmnt suggested guidelines, so it can't be that good. How harmful or otherwise will depend on everything else about your lifestyle. How much it is affecting you might be worth testing by going without it for a month and seeing the change - or indeed seeing if you struggle without it.

It is common in Italy, the difference being that most Italians drink locally made wine which has no nasties in it and they don’t drink to excess. Having spent many years travelling and staying there, and having many Italian friends, I have never seen any of them ill through alcohol, they just simply have a very different attitude towards it, and they only ever have it with food. If you call in at a bar in summer for an Aperol or a beer they always bring a little plate of snacks with it.

I wear a fitness watch and the impact one(!) glass one wine has on my body is insane.
The two graphs attached are the difference between a normal evening and an evening with one glass of wine. The stress is measured in orange

This! With bells on.
I find it fascinating - and alarming - the effect one glass of wine has on my body. I might not feel much different, aside from slightly relaxed, but my Garmin tells a whole different story.

Also, the whole "but the French drink wine every day" thing just isn't true. Latest figures show around 10% of French people drink wine daily.
www.economist.com/europe/2024/03/27/why-the-french-are-drinking-less-wine

Yes, it's very pleasant to enjoy wine, but let's not try to pretend that doing it every day is normal or healthy.

I thought I was fine drinking 1 bottle of red wine per week but my nurse visibly looked shocked when I told her and I felt as though I was doing something wrong.
When I read it in my medical notes on the write-up of the appointment, I also felt a bit ashamed even though I don't smoke and I exercise etc.
Due a phone appointment with another nurse any time now so will be interesting to see if she brings it up.

I still have my bottle of wine - although to be fair, in MY case, it could be classed as binge-drinking even though it's consumed over a few hours on a Friday night and stops at a single bottle, just because I'm drinking in one go, rather than a glass each night.

If you feel okay doing it and don't feel it's doing you any harm and you enjoy it, then you're probably okay, but I would definitely add a couple of alcohol free days in to reduce the amount to maybe 1 bottle per week.
It's hard to say because anything could come across as being too judgy or too blase - we're inundated with so much different information from the media, that's it's hard to know if we're doing right from wrong sometimes.

I'm still having my Friday treat tomorrow, regardless of whether I get told off during my appointment - I'm good with everything else.

Your fine... I always finish the bottle!

I had 3/4 of a bottle of Merlot last night, and a wispa duo for my dinner. I work at a funeral home so should know better. Might go and size my coffin up now. It was lush ❤️ though. I shan’t make a habit of it.

I don’t see the issue at all but it is all about balance.

I drink a glass of red wine most evenings, I’m within recommended limits, I cannot remember the last time I got drunk, my BMI is 21, cholesterol low average, BP healthy, heart rate healthy, all nutritional levels where they should be.

Would I give up the wine? I would probably swap it out for a different treat but I’m not sure there is a healthier alternative? Or why I would?

But.

If I was overweight or had health difficulties I would look at overall lifestyle and see which things I could change.

I hate manipulated 'facts' like this.
The amount of antioxidants in a small glass of red wine is negligible compared to say, a handful of blueberries.
Blueberries will also not contain anything that'll harm you. Alcohol does.
WHO guidelines now state there is NO safe level of alcohol consumption.
By all means, we are all free to drink what we like & take those risks of course.

I absolutely adore wine 😂albeit I only tend to drink on a Friday & Saturday, but if that means I die at 80 rather than 90 so be it, I'll take the wine!

I honestly never get these questions – it's simple maths. Do what you want it life and I love a drink as much as the next person, but yes it's too much.

Max 14 units a week
Aim to at least 2-3 breaks throughout the week

You're drinking every night
You are drink large glasses (187.5m) a day
So you are consuming 1 and three-quarter bottles of wine a week = 17.5 units

Yes, by UK guidelines it's too much.

@Zusammengebrochen

What was funny about what I said please?

There are zero health benefits to alcohol of any type. The “red wine is good for your heart” research was funded by alcohol producers and completely flawed. It’s a myth perpetuated to keep people drinking.

www.news-medical.net/news/20240725/New-study-debunks-the-health-benefits-of-moderate-alcohol-consumption.aspx

Why do you drink it, why do you like it?

Theres a whole spectrum between teetotal and alcoholic, using the 'not an alcoholic' line is a red herring.

The real questions are - Is this level of drinking too high? It is above NHS guidelines in both amount and frequency.
Does this level of drinking have risks for health? Yes.
Is this self-medication or habitual drinking? Only the drinker or those close to them can answer.

Remind me what you said and I'll tell you.

I agree with this. We tend to all have at least some bad habits.
I don’t eat over much UPF or drink but definitely have become sedentary and am overweight.
On the whole it would be optimal for all of us to stop bad habits and we would be healthier if we did.
I think we get overly judgemental and overly defensive about these things. I have no doubt I’d be better off losing 3 stone and eating less chocolate and butter. I’ve also no doubt the OP would be better off cutting down to having an occasional vs daily glass of wine. That we have some bad habits doesn’t mean we are horrendous people though and ultimately we are more likely to improve our habits if peoples are understanding and sympathetic that we are all human and imperfect.
For what it’s worth OP might be worth trying some mindfulness about drinking so you just check in and think why you want a drink before you open a bottle. If you realise you don’t really it’s just habit you can always put it back and not drink it. This is of course much easier said than done. I’m working on it with my bad eating habits and I fail as much as I succeed. Still progress not perfection should always be the aim :)

Ah a comedian I see.....

I feel rather sorry for you - do you have nothing better to do?

The reason people keep saying drinking in excess of NHS guidelines is 'absolutely fine' is because they don't see the impact over time and there's no bit of 'software' or otherwise that tells them the cause of anything.

If someone gets overweight, it's the processed food. It is never 'the wine'.

If someone gets seriously ill (and I don't want to type it in case of being accused of wishing ill on people, but we've all seen the link on here) - then it is purely down to "bad luck". It is never the wine.

People will rationalise out alcohol use over anything else, because they feel it 'takes the edge off the day' and 'they deserve it'.

I think a lot of it is because we can have some very black and white thinking about it. You see it with so many things. Just think of framing it as “if you are drinking more than the guideline you are in the wrong and doing something bad” vs “drinking more than the guideline isn’t optimal and can increase your risk of x/y/z so it would be great to cut down a bit” Most people if they hear a response like the first get defensive and don’t really listen as they just feel criticised. They’ll instead rationalise what they are doing as they don’t want to feel wrong or bad.

Lots of people here seem to be conflating what's normal with what's ideal.

There are zero health benefits to alcohol of any type. The “red wine is good for your heart” research was funded by alcohol producers and completely flawed

True. Studies have shown that women who drink just one alcoholic drink per day are at an increased risk of breast cancer. And the risk goes up exponentially with increased consumption. Alcohol impacts estrogen levels and women who have had breast cancer are advised against drinking as it is thought to increase risk of recurrence.

Many countries are revising their guidelines to reflect updated science.

I'm not saying people shouldn't drink. That's an individual choice; we all balance risk v/s benefits when it comes to health. But it is a risk factor for breast cancer that women should be aware of.

(And anecdotal stories of "my gran drank a bottle a day and lived to be 110" are pointless. My own mother was a heavy smoker for many decades and enjoyed excellent health. Doesn't mean that smoking doesn't cause cancer and a slew of other diseases. She just got lucky.)

Eh?
I genuinely cannot recall what you said.

Haha. Sound advice 😁

I'm always slightly baffled by the retort 'the French do it!', as if that settles the argument once and for all. Firstly, like PP I'm not convinced it's even true. But even if it is....so what?!

Isn't that fairly obvious? Someone says X thing is not normal, the response is X is perfectly normal to huge numbers of people, ie the french.
It literally answers the question. What do you mean, so what?

You have to actually look at those risks in context, not just baldly like that.
So sat one drink a day raises my chance of breast cancer by Y amount. But being overweight raises my chance of breast cancer by Y x 5, lets say. So if I lose weight but also drink wine every day, my chance of breast cancer has reduced, not increased.
And that's before you get into the myriad other factors that can play into individual risk factors AND the fact that you haven't defined the increase (Y) at all, which could be a tiny tiny increase not really worth considering 🤷‍♀️