Since I started brewing a couple of years ago I have noticed that my alcohol consumption has increased a good bit. I tend to drink one or two of my own beers in the evening and maybe 3 or 4 on the weekend.
From reading around it seems the low risk daily intake for men is two standard drinks but I don't think any of my beers would count as a standard drink.... ::)
I just curious to see how much other people are drinking on average?
The more you drink the more tolerant to the effects you become.
Like everything nice in life its gonna kill you the reports yesterday in the news about booze, in that after fats, alcohol is the next biggest contributor to weight.
Beersmith is a fecker as it tells me my blonde ales have 450 Calories a litre :o
If you are worried about consumption why don't you make lower % beers for "schoolnights" and save the stronger stuff for the week-end.
Probably should have a 0-1 category
but if you broke it up further
it should be two polls
beers mon - thursday
beers friday - sunday
I reckon most people would drink 4+ at the weekend
Yeah I was considering a 0-1 category but if you drank 4 or 5 at the weekend then that would pretty much put you in the 1-2 category on average. Its really just a rough poll.
So far it looks like only I am telling the truth!!!!
BTW: Medical fact:
It is better to consume your units evenly every day and not save up for weekends ( could be called binge drinking )
Will
When I tell people in work or my parents that I drink 1 or 2 a day, they have a general "You better be careful, as you look like you are becoming an alcoholic" expression on their faces.
On seeing the American brewers' version (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/how-many-beers-do-you-drink-day-165197/), I feel reassured. :)
I am having my FIRST beer since about 20th december. Got a chest infection and now have larry and gituss.Today is the first day that I have felt like even having a pint :(
I can't answer the question "how many beers do I drink per day" as I usually only drink one day per week, on Tuesday evenings when I'm not driving for a living the following day. However I have to admit I tend to go for it and drink 3 or occasionally 4 litre bottles of homebrew (burp) sorry...
None during the week generally but on the weekend I'd have about 9 on a Friday, 3 on a Saturday if I've got training on a Sunday.
Before coming away on my course, I was drinking at least a litre a day and sometimes 2 but not regularly having more than that. I'd only go above 2 litres once a fortnight or so. Since coming on the course, I haven't had access to my home-brew, so I'm drinking more irregularly but heavily when I do drink.
I try to have (and succeed in having) a week off drinking every month. I find that easier than having a couple of days off during the week. I call it my beer-fast.
I don't think 1 litre of beer a day is the least bit excessive. 2 litres a day probably is a bit excessive. The legal unit of alcohol is 10ml of ethanol in the UK and 10g of ethanol in Ireland, that's 12.7ml. The UK recommendation is up to 21 units for men and 14 for women (I think). My drinking would be over that. But I think the guidelines are very cautious. They are based on studies that compare health outcomes with levels of reported drinking. Since people tend to underreport how much they drink (I felt a strong temptation to do that here), the actual safe level is likely to be higher than the reported safe level. It's hard to know how it would differ, but I've seen a study that compared reported alcohol consumption for the UK with figures from HMRC. The Brits were reporting around 11 drinks per week (I think that's drinks not units) when excise receipts suggested the true level was more like 18drinks.
You got to remember there's a J-shaped association between overall mortality and increased alcohol consumption. In other words, mortality rates initially drop with increased alcohol consumption before rising and passing the teetotaller level. Moderate alcohol consumption is better for you than total abstinence. Also the relationship is more like a u-shaped relationship when you just look at heart disease, meaning you actually have to drink quite heavily before your doing worse than someone who doesn't drink at all. Although there needs to be a caveat on this: the j-shaped and u-shaped relationships are really only evident for older drinkers (mid-30s and above). Also smoking cancels out the cardio-protective effects of alcohol.
I'll say one thing, though: Taking up homebrewing definitely led to me gaining weight.
Having just returned from a visit to Manchester and guess what??!!!
The UK Extra Cold Guiness glasses now have the "this contains 2.4 units of your daily allowance" logo
FFS
I rest my case!!
QuoteHaving just returned from a visit to Manchester and guess what??!!!
The UK Extra Cold Guiness glasses now have the "this contains 2.4 units of your daily allowance" logo
FFS
I rest my case!!
Of iron? ;)
The bulging middle is a simple matter of calories in vs calories out.
Nothing like a bit of exercise between pints.
Pub Crawl!
QuoteThe bulging middle is a simple matter of calories in vs calories out.
Nothing like a bit of exercise between pints.
Pub Crawl!
I think it's worse than that. It's a matter of calories in. Most of the calories you burn are consumed by your basic metabolism, so exercising doesn't affect how many calories you burn on a day by very much.
There was a study done comparing hunter gatherers in Africa with sedentary western office-workers which found they basically burn the same number of calories each day despite the fact that the hunter-gatherers obviously get more exercise. (I think this is the study people are talking about http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0040503
So the sorry conclusion has to be that if you consume more calories, you won't burn them off, you'll just get fat. Still, I think I'd rather be fat than thirsty.
QuoteThe more you drink the more tolerant to the effects you become.
Like everything nice in life its gonna kill you the reports yesterday in the news about booze, in that after fats, alcohol is the next biggest contributor to weight.
Beersmith is a fecker as it tells me my blonde ales have 450 Calories a litre :o
If you are worried about consumption why don't you make lower % beers for "schoolnights" and save the stronger stuff for the week-end.
Inactivity is the biggest contributor to weight and ill health! Its worth considering when you are inactive your health fails and when health fails you are less likely to exercise and then the weight balloons. Inactivity is the number one health risk.
Your brain and nervous system may get used to beer and you may show no initial response to beers alcohol content but the fats and cholesterol still get produced and stored in and around the liver causing liver cell damage (relative to how drunk you get) and progressively increased blood pressure. Theres no evidence that a couple of pints a day causes harm and in fact theres good evidence that two pints a day of 3-4% alc actually has health benefits (minister for health forgets to tell people abouyt that one). There is also a great difference in health risk depending on whether food is consumed with alcohol. Food slows the concentrations of alcohol entering the bloodstream and therefore the liver so has a remarkable effect on the risk or lack of risk. An example may be stomach ulcers and stomach cancer. Alcohol kills bacteria so on empty stomach alcohol kills our friendly bacteria and damaged the mucous membrane of the stomach ruining the proctive barrier, causing inflamation and allowing pathogenic bacteria attack the stomach wall..
A simple rule to protect from the (potential) harmful effects of alcohol is never drink without food also, drink more water when drinking alcohol and drink steadily, slower and use lower alcohol beers and enjoy the flavours and textures of real beer. Option 2 is dont drink sensibly but there will be consequences........terrible decisions we are faced with!!
I drink average pint and a half per night and a good few more at weekend. I dont make strong beers cos I like to drink beer and dont like falling over after 5 pints! also i go for flavour not just alcohol.
When its all averaged i'm somehwerre around the 15 pints a week (actually 20 a week for me cos i make my beers lower alc than average)
the occasional stray I may have 8 pints at an event, party or similar occasion
Quote(minister for health forgets to tell people abouyt that one).
I heard recently that our minister for health may have issues with alcohol consumption, and apparently our previous minister did also.
QuoteQuoteThe bulging middle is a simple matter of calories in vs calories out.
Nothing like a bit of exercise between pints.
Pub Crawl!
I think it's worse than that. It's a matter of calories in. Most of the calories you burn are consumed by your basic metabolism, so exercising doesn't affect how many calories you burn on a day by very much.
There was a study done comparing hunter gatherers in Africa with sedentary western office-workers which found they basically burn the same number of calories each day despite the fact that the hunter-gatherers obviously get more exercise. (I think this is the study people are talking about http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0040503
So the sorry conclusion has to be that if you consume more calories, you won't burn them off, you'll just get fat. Still, I think I'd rather be fat than thirsty.
The difference might be that the Hunter gathers eat real food, which can be metabolised and burned...western diet is full of nutrient depleted foods, which when consumed dont provide the necessary micronutirents (co-factors) needed to metabolise the energy consumed, the western body has no choice but to store it if it cant burn.
Professor Lustig quote " if ur going to consume it u better burn it or ur gonna store it" Western diets cant be 'burned' effeciently due to lack of necessary co-factors in addition to the western subjects in that study who were nearly twice the weight probably dont get off their ass at the same time the Hunters are walking 20 miles a day?
QuoteQuote(minister for health forgets to tell people abouyt that one).
I heard recently that our minister for health may have issues with alcohol consumption, and apparently our previous minister did also.
Wat about minister Mary H wasnt the picture of health either. And the lot of them drinkin free beer in the Dail and tellin us to cut down....
QuoteQuoteQuote(minister for health forgets to tell people abouyt that one).
I heard recently that our minister for health may have issues with alcohol consumption, and apparently our previous minister did also.
Wat about minister Mary H wasnt the picture of health either. And the lot of them drinkin free beer in the Dail and tellin us to cut down....
Mary H = 'our previous minister'
Unless I missed an election!
Neither of them are/were the picture of health.
WTF are they doing telling us how to live?!
QuoteQuoteQuoteThe bulging middle is a simple matter of calories in vs calories out.
Nothing like a bit of exercise between pints.
Pub Crawl!
I think it's worse than that. It's a matter of calories in. Most of the calories you burn are consumed by your basic metabolism, so exercising doesn't affect how many calories you burn on a day by very much.
There was a study done comparing hunter gatherers in Africa with sedentary western office-workers which found they basically burn the same number of calories each day despite the fact that the hunter-gatherers obviously get more exercise. (I think this is the study people are talking about http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0040503
So the sorry conclusion has to be that if you consume more calories, you won't burn them off, you'll just get fat. Still, I think I'd rather be fat than thirsty.
The difference might be that the Hunter gathers eat real food, which can be metabolised and burned...western diet is full of nutrient depleted foods, which when consumed dont provide the necessary micronutirents (co-factors) needed to metabolise the energy consumed, the western body has no choice but to store it if it cant burn.
Professor Lustig quote " if ur going to consume it u better burn it or ur gonna store it" Western diets cant be 'burned' effeciently due to lack of necessary co-factors in addition to the western subjects in that study who were nearly twice the weight probably dont get off their ass at the same time the Hunters are walking 20 miles a day?
It's certainly true that our food contains a lot of hidden sugar and salt that does you know good. Have a look at the back of a jar of pasta sauce, for example. It's full of shit you don't need. It's way better, if you have the time, to start from raw materials yourself and make stuff from scratch. Trouble is most people don't have the time.
Why is there no section for people that do not drink alcohol at all in any quantity :-[
I have yet to come across a brewer that doesn't drink any of his own beer.
I try not to drink any alcohol, but it keeps on getting into my glass without me noticing...
QuoteI have yet to come across a brewer that doesn't drink any of his own beer.
When I brought a few brews into the lads in the office, one of them said his teetotal dad used to brew, just interested in the production process of it!
During the year I found if I wanted a drink on a weekday night one 330ml bottle would do me, so I bottled a batch using mostly 330ml bottles. Little things like that can help.
On 330ml vs 500ml, I think that stronger brews are better in smaller bottles.
The stronger the more sippy and the longer sitting out etc.
Let's face it,a few pints of Grand Cru is lot harder than a few pints of IPA.
Goes without saying!
Another tip is to give a few homebrews to your family, friends, work mates etc. Spread the love of homebrew! And you'll have less for yourself.