Now I'm not a JW, is it ok for me to...

by Julia Orwell 40 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Max Divergent

  I notice you're refering to JWs in deciding if a bottle of wine a day would be OK. F the JWs. They have nothing to do with your choices now unless you let them. You can select another basis for your decisions now.

  On the question you ask, is a 750ml bottle of wine a day OK, assuming its drunk over 5 hours.

  1) 5 hours a day of drinking makes drinking a big part of someone's day. 7 days x 5 hours a day = 35 hours a week, or nearly as much as a full time job. Anyone can decide for themselves if that's heathy given all the other things you can do in a day and in a week.

  2) A bottle of red wine is usually about 8 standard drinks (where a standard drink is 10 grams of alcohol), 7 days x 8 standard drinks = 56 drinks or 560 grams of alchohol. That amount of alchohol would usually cause long term health effects including irreversable liver disease and brain damage. How you think you feel at the time (eg: no hangover) is irrelevent to your health; what is relevent is how many grams of alcohol enter your body each day.

  http://www.drinkwise.org.au

  Cheers!
• 

  Julia Orwell

  Thanks for the info. I'm making an effort to cut back, without reference to JWs. I want to cut back for my own health. While it's nice to have a drink after dinner, it's also nice not to wake up feeling woozy.
• 

  cognizant dissident

  All, religion and guilt aside, from a purely "health" prospective, 1-2 alcoholic drinks a day for women is considerate moderate drinking and not harmful (1 for small women, 2 for larger women). That would be 2 6oz glasses of wine or 1/2 bottle.

  So, you are double that and might want to cut back for health reasons. Taking days off from drinking and drinking more on other days is not considered a good solution by medical professionals as the body does better with moderate balance and intake of various substances on a daily basis as apposed to a binge and then obstain method.
• 

  cognizant dissident

  Max Divergent

  A 750 ml bottle of wine is considered 4 drinks not 8. A 1.5 litre bottle is 8 driks but she said she has a 750 ml bottle a day.
• 

  Julia Orwell

  It depends on where you are, which country. I have a heap of wine bottles so I'll see what the Australian guideline for a standard drink is...brb...a 750 ml bottle of red is 8.6, while a 750 ml of chardonnay is 7.7. Australia's drinking guide is one standard drink per hour for women, so technically that's 7-8 hours for a bottle. I know I drink too much. But I'm trying to cut back and it's good, and all the feedback I've received here has really helped me to evaluate my habit.
• 

  cognizant dissident

  Julia, the guide might be one drink per hour to not be considered too intoxicated to drive, but I don't care what country you live, human biochemistry does not change and from a health perspective, you certainly couldn't drink 1 drink per hour all day long and be healthy. More than 1-2 drinks per day and you are doing health damage to your liver.
• 

  rubadubdub

  "Thanks for the info. I'm making an effort to cut back, without reference to JWs. I want to cut back for my own health. While it's nice to have a drink after dinner, it's also nice not to wake up feeling woozy."

  Julia, I've been following this thread, and yes, it is very brave of you to ask, and it has nothing to to with being an ex-JW and everything to do with you. Have you factored in your family history? There are 4 generations of alcoholics/addicts (that I know of) in my family. Alcohol dependence and alcoholism are all very scary to me, as well as prescription drug abuse. Self-medication is dangerous. Mixing alcohol and Rx meds can be a lethal combination.

  If you are having after effects from your drinking the next morning, you do have a problem. If you try to reduce your drinking and can't, you do have a problem. Please read this article. There is physical dependence as well as psycholocial dependence. Be honest with yourself and get professional help, if you need it.

  http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/alcohol-abuse/alcohol-abuse-and-dependence-topic-overview

  Also, whatever you do, don't go from one cult into another. There have been threads on JWN about AA. It helps some, I suppose, but sadly, it has never helped a single memeber of my family.

  Hugs!
• 

  Max Divergent

  Good on any on anyone for thinking about how much they drink.

  A 750 ml bottle of wine is considered 4 drinks not 8.

  By the Australian standard (10g of alchohol per standard drink) a bottle of wine is around 8 standard drinks depending on the alchohol content of the wine.

  Australia's drinking guide is one standard drink per hour for women

  One per hour will reduce the chances of having over 0.05% alcholol in the bloodstream, ie: the drink driving limit.

  The Australian drinking guidelines are:

  • For healthy men and women, drinking no more than two standard drinks on any day reduces your risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury over a lifetime.
  • Drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury arising from that occasion.

  A bottle a day person is four times over the first guideline to do with long term health and double the second guideline to do with having an accident during or after drinking.

  It's all a choice. And nothing to do with the JWs.
• 

  Apostating

  I have been sober now for 60 days. To me this is the last step of breaking free of the chains of the Watchtower. I am finally able to let it go. I can not change where i come from, but i can decide where i go from now. That and and living a free and honest life are things are a big accomplishment for me, i never did as a jw. Finally my thoughts, speech and actions are equal.
• 

  Julia Orwell

  Funnily enough, none of my grand parents were drinkers. But my father is, and his sister is too.

  I've been cutting back lately, and I've been feeling better.

  I suspected I have a problem as has been pointed out, and I am really grateful for the support I've l ve received here.