Last night, as I settled down to an episode of the soprano's, I decided to polish off the remains of a bottle of shiraz (around 1/4 -1/3 bottle)
That went down rather well, so with a spring in my step, I decided to open up a loose bottle of cheap chianti that had been given to me the night before. Before not too long 1/2 of the bottle had gone. The stopper went in, and I to bed
Now, this isn't a huge amount of wine to consume (TV dinner was had with the wine) but I'm starting to question the amount that I drink. I don't have a calculator to hand, but I'm pretty sure that drinking over 5 nights, I'm over the recommended limits.
Does anyone worry about what they drink or is it to hell with it? Answers on a postcard to 'bloke who drinks too much needs validation from other like minded people' PO Box etc etc
Wine consumption
Wine consumption
The Dog of Wine
I had one of those little 187ml bottles of red wine on the plane from Melbourne the other night and I looked with interest that that's 2.1 standard drinks.
It's not much is it, really, given the new health recommendations!
I proceeded neck a stout once home.
It's not much is it, really, given the new health recommendations!
I proceeded neck a stout once home.
Cheers
Wayno
Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.
Wayno
Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.
I try and keep my consumption to acceptable (to me) levels. One thing that pisses me off is that the Health recommendations keep changing! I think we went down from 4 to 1 then back to 2 a night with 2 days off a week! I dunno, I suspect, being vain, I worry more about my waistline and that helps keep me in check more than other health issues 
As always, IMVHO. And Cheers
jeremy- http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/
jeremy- http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/
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Michael McNally
- Posts: 2084
- Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2005 3:06 pm
- Location: Brisbane
Dear Bloke Who Drinks Too Much
You are not alone! It's easy to knock off a bottle in a sitting, particularly if Yasmin has a glass or two. I sometimes worry about how much I drink, but make sure that I don't worry about it all the time (I think the worrying is probably worse for you than the drinking!).
I try to have 2 or 3 AFDs per week and not to drink (the majority of) a whole bottle in one sitting more than once a week. I rarely drink more than (the majority of) 3 bottles in a week. The 375ml pour-off is the most effective means for moderating my drinking. Balance, I suppose, between keeping track of what you drink so that it doesn't get excessive and not worrying about it all the time?
FWIW I think the NHMRC guidelines are ridiculous as apparently I binge drink every time I drink wine (more than 4 SDs - two decent glasses - is binge drinking regardless of whether it is over 4 hours or not).
Validation complete
You are not alone! It's easy to knock off a bottle in a sitting, particularly if Yasmin has a glass or two. I sometimes worry about how much I drink, but make sure that I don't worry about it all the time (I think the worrying is probably worse for you than the drinking!).
I try to have 2 or 3 AFDs per week and not to drink (the majority of) a whole bottle in one sitting more than once a week. I rarely drink more than (the majority of) 3 bottles in a week. The 375ml pour-off is the most effective means for moderating my drinking. Balance, I suppose, between keeping track of what you drink so that it doesn't get excessive and not worrying about it all the time?
FWIW I think the NHMRC guidelines are ridiculous as apparently I binge drink every time I drink wine (more than 4 SDs - two decent glasses - is binge drinking regardless of whether it is over 4 hours or not).
Validation complete
Bonum Vinum Laetificat Cor Hominis
If I feel bad the morning after, I have drunk too much. Work and/or wife is a hassle and the kids are Chuckie dolls.
For me a bottle of Riesling or Hunter Semillon is always within limits. A bottle of Pinot Noir or Cabernet needs to be consumed over 5 hours with food or I could have issues... and if I have a wine night with Attila, it will be a weekend and I will have shipped the wife and kids to the in-laws!
Adair
For me a bottle of Riesling or Hunter Semillon is always within limits. A bottle of Pinot Noir or Cabernet needs to be consumed over 5 hours with food or I could have issues... and if I have a wine night with Attila, it will be a weekend and I will have shipped the wife and kids to the in-laws!
Adair
Wine is bottled poetry.
I worry about how much I drink.
Where once the only worries were cirhosis (sp) of the liver and brain damage (both of which require serious amounts of alcohol), they now taunt us with studies which suggest increased risk of various cancers, and other things which you simply cannot measure.
It is hard for the authorities to get the balance right between worrying people enough to make them think about what they do, and causing people to worry needlessly.
The current levels of 2 standard drinks in one sitting (and 10 a week) are clearly ridiculous (as Adair says). I suspect they are counter-productive, because anyone at mild risk of excessive drinking will ignore them as unrealistic.
If you want to understand the setting of this particular limit, you need to know that the risks include "accidents". If you are anything other than stone-cold sober, you are at increased risk of bumping into something. I can live with that risk.
On the other hand, in the right company, with exciting bottles of wine, I clearly drink too much. A big session would probably end up at 2 bottles each, or 16 standard drinks.
Don't tell the authorities, or they'll have me detained as a danger to myself and/or others.
I drink about 3-5 nights a week, and I would say I drink, on average, 25 standard drinks a week.
Well within the supposed safe limits 15 years ago (or thereabouts), which were 40 standard drinks a week for a male. In one session, you could drink 8 standard drinks.
Is this way too much information
Where once the only worries were cirhosis (sp) of the liver and brain damage (both of which require serious amounts of alcohol), they now taunt us with studies which suggest increased risk of various cancers, and other things which you simply cannot measure.
It is hard for the authorities to get the balance right between worrying people enough to make them think about what they do, and causing people to worry needlessly.
The current levels of 2 standard drinks in one sitting (and 10 a week) are clearly ridiculous (as Adair says). I suspect they are counter-productive, because anyone at mild risk of excessive drinking will ignore them as unrealistic.
If you want to understand the setting of this particular limit, you need to know that the risks include "accidents". If you are anything other than stone-cold sober, you are at increased risk of bumping into something. I can live with that risk.
On the other hand, in the right company, with exciting bottles of wine, I clearly drink too much. A big session would probably end up at 2 bottles each, or 16 standard drinks.
Don't tell the authorities, or they'll have me detained as a danger to myself and/or others.
I drink about 3-5 nights a week, and I would say I drink, on average, 25 standard drinks a week.
Well within the supposed safe limits 15 years ago (or thereabouts), which were 40 standard drinks a week for a male. In one session, you could drink 8 standard drinks.
Is this way too much information
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Anonymous
I too have been feeling guilty about how much I drink. The wife and I probably do between 4 and 5 bottles of red a week.
This is eating into my retirement savings so I figure even if the amount I drink is unhealthy I couldn't afford to live anylonger because I'd run out of money.
In the end if your drinking impacts on your life (you drink the rent money, you can't go to work because of a hang over or you kick the dog when you've been drinking) then you should cut back-otherwise drink up and feel good about it.
This is eating into my retirement savings so I figure even if the amount I drink is unhealthy I couldn't afford to live anylonger because I'd run out of money.
In the end if your drinking impacts on your life (you drink the rent money, you can't go to work because of a hang over or you kick the dog when you've been drinking) then you should cut back-otherwise drink up and feel good about it.
rnes1976 wrote:I too have been feeling guilty about how much I drink. The wife and I probably do between 4 and 5 bottles of red a week.
This is eating into my retirement savings so I figure even if the amount I drink is unhealthy I couldn't afford to live anylonger because I'd run out of money.
In the end if your drinking impacts on your life (you drink the rent money, you can't go to work because of a hang over or you kick the dog when you've been drinking) then you should cut back-otherwise drink up and feel good about it.
The prudent thing to do might be to drink significantly more, to ensure that you do not outlive your savings
When I was young (at least 20 years ago) my wife and I would often knock off a couple of bottles of wine in a night and not be the worse for wear (wish I could do it now - but I can't). Over the last 20 years we've got into the habit of drinking a bottle of wine with dinner (I drink probably 5/8 of this - unless it's really good and then maybe 3/4). Apart from the fact that I've gotten a little fat and get puffed doing up my shoes I'd say it hasn't affected me at all! (It has probably kept me sane living with 3 ratbag children).....
However my sister the medico constantly tells me to take 2 nights off without booze every week and my cellar which is diminishing at a great rate of knots is telling me to cut back as well. So last night I thought I'll not drink on Mondays and Tuesdays, drink only beer on Wednesdays and Thursdays and the get into the vino on the week-ends. This would be a great plan but I'm tonguing for a beer right now. Of course special occasions (like I've survived another day) invalidate the whole process....
I do go the whole month of October without booze anyway so I'll probably have to drop one of these plans.
cheers
Luke
However my sister the medico constantly tells me to take 2 nights off without booze every week and my cellar which is diminishing at a great rate of knots is telling me to cut back as well. So last night I thought I'll not drink on Mondays and Tuesdays, drink only beer on Wednesdays and Thursdays and the get into the vino on the week-ends. This would be a great plan but I'm tonguing for a beer right now. Of course special occasions (like I've survived another day) invalidate the whole process....
I do go the whole month of October without booze anyway so I'll probably have to drop one of these plans.
cheers
Luke
If you can remember what a wine is like the next day you didn't drink enough of it
Peynaud
Peynaud
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Daryl Douglas
- Posts: 1361
- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 7:23 pm
- Location: Nth Qld
orpheus wrote:rnes1976 wrote:I too have been feeling guilty about how much I drink. The wife and I probably do between 4 and 5 bottles of red a week.
This is eating into my retirement savings so I figure even if the amount I drink is unhealthy I couldn't afford to live anylonger because I'd run out of money.
In the end if your drinking impacts on your life (you drink the rent money, you can't go to work because of a hang over or you kick the dog when you've been drinking) then you should cut back-otherwise drink up and feel good about it.
The prudent thing to do might be to drink significantly more, to ensure that you do not outlive your savings
I've thought of assigning my superannuation to one of my nieces so it passes directly to her without becoming part of my estate so as to frustrate the greedy financial institutions that have been silly enough to keep offering increased credit card limits. Then there's joint title of my home property (with 50% or so equity of a cheap place by metro standards though in need of plenty of TLC, renovation).
My average consumption, rarely afds, is about 12+ standard drinks daily. Go figure the health of my liver after 15+ years.
daz
PS I tend to drink whites more quickly than reds, currently cruising through some Tahbilk cleanskin dry white 08, a melange of sb, verdelho, chard, sem. The sb, verd, chard present upfront tropical and stonefruits, the sem adds some grassiness and with the chard, some citrus on the finish. Not a bad quaffer for $45/doz, would please most bbqers.
Yeah, I often worry about how much wifey and I drink.
As such, currently, we get through 2/3 to 3/4 of a bottle of wine, with me consuming about 3/4 of the share. For me, that means 4-5 SD per night, and for my wife, 1-2 SD per night. We drink most nights, and perhaps have 1 AFD per week (although some weeks, not).
A few years ago, we used to have a beer or two whilst cooking, half a bottle of white with entree/apetisers, and a bottle of red with mains. Now, since cutting down on food intake on the whole, this has decreased significantly.
We think we are currently doing OK, but according to the health guidelines, I guess we are not...
As such, currently, we get through 2/3 to 3/4 of a bottle of wine, with me consuming about 3/4 of the share. For me, that means 4-5 SD per night, and for my wife, 1-2 SD per night. We drink most nights, and perhaps have 1 AFD per week (although some weeks, not).
A few years ago, we used to have a beer or two whilst cooking, half a bottle of white with entree/apetisers, and a bottle of red with mains. Now, since cutting down on food intake on the whole, this has decreased significantly.
We think we are currently doing OK, but according to the health guidelines, I guess we are not...
I don't worry about it in the least. I tend to drink something every night. I'd say I split a bottle of wine 5 nights a week with my wife (I prob have 5/8 of it), and on nights when I don't open a bottle I'll almost certainly have a beer (if I fancy a drink when I get back from work) or a whisky later in the evening. I don't like AFD's and avoid them if at all possible. Alcohol is a risk factor for many conditions, but I'm also aware that statistical epidemiology is no match for personal health awareness and common sense, and stress is the worst risk factor of them all.
(See autosig - Jeanne Louise Calment lived to the age of 122, drinking wine or port most days until her death)
(See autosig - Jeanne Louise Calment lived to the age of 122, drinking wine or port most days until her death)
Cheers,
Mike
Mike
I just remembered some humour on this issue - I forget who said it but it may have been Billy Connolly. He remarked that all sorts of things, if you give them up, will statistically add 5 years to your life - but went on the observe that you don't gain the five years in your prime when you're fit, healthy, sexually active, full of spirit, and enjoying life; you get them added to the crap end, when you're 85, miserable, lonely, chair-bound and fit to die off anyway, so what's the fuss all about?! Not sure if it works that way though... 
Cheers,
Mike
Mike
Denis Leary had a similar joke back in his smoking days, along the lines of: "They tell me smoking will take ten years off my life. Hmm, my 80s - the dribbling years. I'm gonna miss those."
Personally I work on the principal that since I no longer smoke, take drugs or chase girls, eat hardly any processed food, rarely stay up late and have my gambling well under control (and play competitive sport at least twice a week) I'm going to allow myself one vice just so I know I'm not dead.
Personally I work on the principal that since I no longer smoke, take drugs or chase girls, eat hardly any processed food, rarely stay up late and have my gambling well under control (and play competitive sport at least twice a week) I'm going to allow myself one vice just so I know I'm not dead.
3, 65, 7, 50
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Phil Wilkins
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2003 7:25 am
- Location: Cambridge, UK.
Couple of good and different threads (Punk/Musicians and Wine) thanks Rawshack. Finding this one very interesting.
As always, IMVHO. And Cheers
jeremy- http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/
jeremy- http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/
Loztralia wrote:Denis Leary had a similar joke back in his smoking days, along the lines of: "They tell me smoking will take ten years off my life. Hmm, my 80s - the dribbling years. I'm gonna miss those."
Personally I work on the principal that since I no longer smoke, take drugs or chase girls, eat hardly any processed food, rarely stay up late and have my gambling well under control (and play competitive sport at least twice a week) I'm going to allow myself one vice just so I know I'm not dead.
Interesting points... Like you, I try and watch what I eat (I'm a vego, so no saturated fats for me
/ 
- depending on your point of view)
I try and exercise a couple of times I week, I don't smoke, I eat plenty of fruit and veg and overall I'm pretty healthy. Handsome too, but that's another story
I suppose my point to this thread is why I am becoming so paranoid about the amount I drink? Is it really my habits, or the bullshit health warnings that we're presented with (I say bullshit as recently 'they' - the evil healthdoers that eat far too much alfalfa salad - tried to tell us that 3 or 4 glasses in one sitting was binge drinking...
I'm always struggling trying to rationalise whether what we're told is true, or whether I am actually drinking too much. It's been really interesting to see other people's replies, so thanks everyone
The Dog of Wine
Okay, I think 4 drinks over a day or evening or in one balanced sitting in NO way qualifies as binge drinking. I probably consume 4 drinks a day with at least 2 days off a week. I probably drink an entire bottle over an arvo or night about 2 times a month.
I am not a doctor but nor do I necessarily trust doctor's recommendations. I think every one who has posted on this thread has made a valid point. I can't help but feel I drink a little too much, but that may just be social guilt, I'm not sure.
I am not a doctor but nor do I necessarily trust doctor's recommendations. I think every one who has posted on this thread has made a valid point. I can't help but feel I drink a little too much, but that may just be social guilt, I'm not sure.
As always, IMVHO. And Cheers
jeremy- http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/
jeremy- http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/
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bacchaebabe
- Posts: 1222
- Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2003 5:04 pm
- Location: Sydney
Hmmm, been thinking I drink too much for a while now. In summer it's more beer and spirits or cocktails (being spirits). From about now on the red wine becomes more regular. If we open a bottle, which we do most nights, it usually gets drunk and it's usually me that drinks most of it. Either 5/8 or 3/4.
On top of that, I still regularly go out clubbing. It would be very unusual to drink less than six schooners of beer and not unusual to drink ten or more. Binge drinking or just socialising? I very rarely wake with a hangover and have never missed a day at work through drinking although sometimes I do need to start the day with a bacon and egg roll.
I have to actively think about taking an AFD but most weeks manage at least one.
I am now at the stage where I am wondering exactly what the impact on my health is. It certainly doesn't help my weight which factors on other issues. The main problem is that I genuinely enjoy it. I love wine, I love beer and I love cocktails and I love the socialising that goes with it. If I was told I couldn't drink anymore due to health reasons, I wonder how I could possibly actually do it.
On top of that, I still regularly go out clubbing. It would be very unusual to drink less than six schooners of beer and not unusual to drink ten or more. Binge drinking or just socialising? I very rarely wake with a hangover and have never missed a day at work through drinking although sometimes I do need to start the day with a bacon and egg roll.
I have to actively think about taking an AFD but most weeks manage at least one.
I am now at the stage where I am wondering exactly what the impact on my health is. It certainly doesn't help my weight which factors on other issues. The main problem is that I genuinely enjoy it. I love wine, I love beer and I love cocktails and I love the socialising that goes with it. If I was told I couldn't drink anymore due to health reasons, I wonder how I could possibly actually do it.
Cheers,
Kris
There's a fine wine between pleasure and pain
(Stolen from the graffiti in the ladies loos at Pegasus Bay winery)
Kris
There's a fine wine between pleasure and pain
(Stolen from the graffiti in the ladies loos at Pegasus Bay winery)
Add me to the list, Sometimes i think i drink too much , like just last night i had my Dads birthday at a nice restaurant and we had a good bottle each then came home and got into some seppelts muscat.
A friend of mine just took six weeks off the wine , beer etc and he said for him he had not given his liver a rest for 40 years so he thought it was a great present to give it
I open a bottle with my wife and unless its top shelf i drink most of it !
if its good she will go for 2 glass,s
I enjoy it , Love it and work on a day or 2 off a week
Regards Dazza
Some people slurp it,others swill it,a few sip on it,some gaze at it for hours ,enough now wheres the RED
bacchaebabe wrote: The main problem is that I genuinely enjoy it. I love wine, I love beer and I love cocktails and I love the socialising that goes with it. If I was told I couldn't drink anymore due to health reasons, I wonder how I could possibly actually do it.
That's my problem too. I just love wine. I could kick the beer and spirits... but wine... I have no idea how my wife manages to stay off booze for nine months...
It's very rare that (consciously) I drink for the effects of the alcohol. Maybe it's always there but I don't realise
One thing that is making me cut down is the effect on my waistline. I'm trying to get fit and lose a couple of kilos and the booze is the last thing that's stopping me from looking buff...
The Dog of Wine
Rawshack wrote:bacchaebabe wrote: The main problem is that I genuinely enjoy it. I love wine, I love beer and I love cocktails and I love the socialising that goes with it. If I was told I couldn't drink anymore due to health reasons, I wonder how I could possibly actually do it.
That's my problem too. I just love wine. I could kick the beer and spirits... but wine... I have no idea how my wife manages to stay off booze for nine months...
Ditto that. Can you imagine the meatballs without it
. Two or three nights a week I will have 5/8 of a shared bottle with the wife... maybe with a beer to kick the evening off. I will always offer her the last glass but thankfully she rarely accepts -
Daryl Douglas
- Posts: 1361
- Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 7:23 pm
- Location: Nth Qld
Hmm, cocktails, perhaps a nice gin-based martini (gently stirred) or a gin and tonic in hot weather. I've developed a preference for pilsner-style beers. But dryish table wines, white and red, are what get me in most when they're at least good, preferably better, because they offer such a wide range of palate experiences, for me more than any other alcoholic drink. But I suppose that's why we're here 
Just to be the devil's advocate.....
Many of us (myself included) have indicated that we don't get drunk, we feel perfectly fine the next day, and that we don't drink for the "effects" of alcohol, and rather for the taste of wine...
I argue however, that very uncommonly does a wine get worse the more you drink. Quite often, when a little inebriated, does a particular wine taste better than it really is (certainly, whilst wine tasting, commonly there comes a time when almost every wine tastes awwwright...) No matter what we say, alcohol DOES lubricate conversation, breaks down some social boundaries, and allows almost a freedom of speech- "in vino veritas". Having said that however, in excess, we all know the side effects in terms of ill health, and worse still, ill behaviour!
Realistically, I think we cannot deny that alcohol IS a drug, and has an inherent addictive quality to it. It is however, a socially acceptable drug in moderate amounts (additionally, the romance attached to wine, the diversity, rarity of certain wines, and the fact that it is almost a living being, constantly changing, beguiling, captivating, is purely mesmerising...), and has been associated with some health benefits (eg cardiovascular), and detriments (eg liver disease in high amounts).
I guess what I am trying to say is that too much of a good thing is bad for you, and finding that balance is vital, but we shouldn't be kidding ourselves.......
Monghead.
Many of us (myself included) have indicated that we don't get drunk, we feel perfectly fine the next day, and that we don't drink for the "effects" of alcohol, and rather for the taste of wine...
I argue however, that very uncommonly does a wine get worse the more you drink. Quite often, when a little inebriated, does a particular wine taste better than it really is (certainly, whilst wine tasting, commonly there comes a time when almost every wine tastes awwwright...) No matter what we say, alcohol DOES lubricate conversation, breaks down some social boundaries, and allows almost a freedom of speech- "in vino veritas". Having said that however, in excess, we all know the side effects in terms of ill health, and worse still, ill behaviour!
Realistically, I think we cannot deny that alcohol IS a drug, and has an inherent addictive quality to it. It is however, a socially acceptable drug in moderate amounts (additionally, the romance attached to wine, the diversity, rarity of certain wines, and the fact that it is almost a living being, constantly changing, beguiling, captivating, is purely mesmerising...), and has been associated with some health benefits (eg cardiovascular), and detriments (eg liver disease in high amounts).
I guess what I am trying to say is that too much of a good thing is bad for you, and finding that balance is vital, but we shouldn't be kidding ourselves.......
Monghead.
hmmm wrote
Oh yeah, never look in the recycling bin unless you want to see the harsh truth
sometimes broach the question "gee do i drink too much?" especially when we take out all these...
Oh yeah, never look in the recycling bin unless you want to see the harsh truth
As always, IMVHO. And Cheers
jeremy- http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/
jeremy- http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/
I've got into the habit of two AFDs a week where possible - sometimes work and other social commitments make that a touch difficult but it's usually quite a refreshing 'break', especially after a solid weekend.
In recent weeks, I've managed to crack 3 days off a week and it's surprising the positive impact it has on the weight (for me at least). Come Thursday it makes the whole first wine of the week that much sweeter too.
Not uncommon for a session to be easily 5-6 standard drinks at least, though.
In recent weeks, I've managed to crack 3 days off a week and it's surprising the positive impact it has on the weight (for me at least). Come Thursday it makes the whole first wine of the week that much sweeter too.
Not uncommon for a session to be easily 5-6 standard drinks at least, though.
Cheers
Wayno
Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.
Wayno
Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.