Amy & T.J.It’s Dry January for Amy and T.J. It has forced them to take a hard look at their relationship with alcohol. Amy and T.J. get personal with you, admitting that their drinking became excessive in 2023. Will they stop drinking for good?
Hey there, everybody fresh off the W train from downtown and me and T's here and studio. We just had a nice moment. We're about to talk about we're going to get into this dry jam here thing here in just a second of row tweet. I love this. It happened to us once before. But one of the last things that happened to us before we came into this studio today was a nice guy we just ran into on the train, nice and loud, and initially we wanted to say, oh, my goodness, he's annoying, but he was very, very sweet to us, and it was just a great experience that we wanted to share.
Yes, people don't often know what to do if you see someone, and it's always a good thing. I think to say something kindly. You don't necessarily have to yell it on the subway so that everybody turns in stairs. But no, I think everyone appreciates a kind word or two. And most people do want photos, and it's kind of nice after our almost year of avoiding all cameras at all costs, to be able to say, sure, we'll take a selfie with you. And it was nice and it was sweet, and he did say he watched us every day on TV.
Out for a year.
I think maybe he didn't pay his bill. Yeah, we've had that a couple of times, like, are you sure which channel.
I'd like to watch?
But John is his name? John. We just met on the W train from downtown. Rather, we want to know that you had an impact on us, and we appreciate you taking the time to say hello and as excited as you were. And we walked away from him and he said to us, don't let anyone get in the way of love.
It was very sweet.
It was a very sweet moment before we came in here and we didn't we planned on starting a different way, but that was a very nice thing he did. So thank you for that. John. But we are talking. We know a lot of you out there are doing dry January. Everybody's talking about it. Seems more and more people are participating every year. But we want to start by asking you, if you are hearing our voices right now, want you to answer this question to yourself and answer it honestly. On average, how many drinks per week do you consume? Give you a moment now, Robes, what do you think people are doing in their mind? Are they being honest with themselves right now.
I think they're not wanting to.
But deep down there's that little voice saying, but remember, oh yeah, then there was that oh yeah, maybe when that happened. So I think we all want to believe we drink less. In fact, so my brother is a doctor, doctor Eric Robock, and he told me this a long time ago. He's an internist, and so he has people come in and one of the first things your doctor asks you on your yearly exam is how many drinks would you say you have per week?
He said, As a rule.
Of thumb among doctors or among physicians, they always know to double the number. So whatever you tell your doctor, just know they're writing down double because they know you're not being honest.
All right, So, folks, we gave you a second there. If you're hearing us, I asked, being honest with yourself, how many drinks per week do you have? My next question is if you were filling out that questionnaire that roboq was just talking, or if your doctor asked you, what is the answer you would give. I would normally give three to five a day, and that is such a lie. I would tell a doctor that. But that is not true. What would you tell on a questionnaire I tell your doctor.
I would say I have two drinks a day.
Stop laughing, okay, And that still puts me in the heavy drinker category.
I am with you all day, every day almost and two that's cute.
Last year was a little bit of an anomaly.
Yes it was, but a lot of people had an anomaly during the pandemic. So and we've come back down on our levels. But the true answer you said you would tell a doctor.
What to fourteen to a day, I'd say, you know, between ten and fifteen drinks a week. That is what I would.
Say to a doctor. Is that accurate?
It was at one point in my life.
But you were fourteen?
No, No, I actually so I kind of broke this down as I was thinking about this. Obviously, high school and college is more about just every now and then binge drinking, which is not obviously admirable in any way. But in my twenties, when I started working, A, I was working ninety hours a week and B I was making twenty thousand dollars a year, so I didn't have money for alcohol, which was a good thing. So I remember having a six pack of beer in my fridge and it would last well over a week. So that was just a matter of finances and time. I didn't have any time, and I didn't have any money. In my thirties, I had kids, I had my babies, and I really got into wine. And I think that is when I became a moderates a heavy drinker, where I was having seven to ten, sometimes fifteen drinks a week, and I always binged on celebratory nights, and binging is what you looked it up.
So that is amazing to me. All right. That's something else we want to ask everybody is would you consider yourself a moderate drinker, a heavy drinker or a binge drinker? I guess I would always say I'm a heavy drinker. Would you have put yourself in that category?
Oh in the last decade for sure?
Okay, a heavy drinker. So moderate for you folks out there who think you're a moderate drinker, that means that you are having for a man at least that is fifteen is for men.
And one drink a day, so seven less than seven.
Is that's for the week for women?
Right for women?
All right? So you hear that. We got Andrew and Emma, two of our producers in the room here with us, and we were talking to them about and we're trying to get an honest answer. And Emma, if you don't want me saying, it's twenty two over there, and we were asking her about her drinking habits. Now, would you, Emma, I have that would you have considered yourself a moderate drinker, a heavy drinker, or would you have called yourself somebody who binge drinks as well?
Well? I think before learning this information, I classified myself as a moderate drinker, but I think according to the numbers, I might be a binge drinker.
Oh my goodness. So binge for old men's considered more than five drinks on one occasion or within two hours for women, And that's four drinks on one occasion or within two hours. How often do you do that?
Ropes often?
Off you, Emma. Often? Okay. So this is what this is all for, Drid January. And we know and there's a lot of differing opinions out there about this. But some things think this is great. Anytime you can take a break, it's good for your health. That's awesome. Other people think, why are we doing this? People just go right back to their old habits. It's not good for your health. If you binge then abstained, then binged and abstained, that's no good. And the other thing about it is people all up in your face about it. It gets annoying that every time I'm sorry, I'm doing dry January, and on social media everybody who look at my mocktail. I'm guilty of that. I put up a post showing a month, but it gets commercialized and it gets annoying.
I get that, and I understand how that would be annoying.
In fact, I think you were pretty annoying to me in years past when you would.
Say you were doing your dry January.
It was like for those of us who didn't in the past, who hadn't, it kind of felt like, oh, are you better than me?
Or you have more willpower than me?
Is that an impression of me you're doing?
Sorry, Yes, but clearly not accurate.
I would say though, now that I'm participating in dry January, it is a part accountability, like if I announce it now, you're gonna hold me accountable because you can't see me order a drink and I'm not gonna have a drink. But also I'm explaining because normally, if you're hanging out with me, I'm not going to a restaurant or going up to a bar and ordering a club soda. So sometimes it's just like, hey, here's why I'm ordering a club soda. Not that I own anyone an explanation, but it sometimes requires an explanation. If you know me and you're friends with me, I'm not pregnant. But that's kind of funny anyway, because I'm fifty, so.
It wouldn't even't really be an option.
But any you're not pregnant. Some of us appreciate that information more than others.
Oh my goodness.
And Andrew here in studio with us actually is doing dry January as well, And can I ask you why and how you would have classified yourself as a drinker.
Yeah, So for the holidays, it's usually ramps up a lot, like November and December. I did't even go into October at this point. It's just there's a lot of drinking. It's a lot of celebrating, and come January, you just kind of want to dry up a little bit and just like give yourself that clarity that I feel it gives you. I did it last year, and it really just helped me realize, like, oh, when you go out, it's okay to have one or two drinks. You don't need to be drinking four, five, six, seven, eight drinks when you're out, because for me, I think I do been drinking. I don't drink during the week. Become a Friday or a Saturday or even a Sunday. When I'm at home with my parents, it's like bottles of wine, tons of drinks, and I just was like, I need to take a break.
We don't even think about it. And most people, it's four of us sitting in here, all four of us. We didn't coordinate, but all of us are. Wait, you're not doing the dry January. You all should see how you can see how Emma just looked at me as you're doing it.
That was that was me every other year.
Oh hell no, but you did a lot. So fifteen percent of the adult population.
That's about forty million million folks.
Are doing dry January. Then you have millions more who are doing a damp or some type of dryer dry ish.
It's called semi dry or damp January. And that is what I had done in the last couple of years, because even that feels great, that's even better than doing nothing. So you designate. I designated. I think I did three days a week. I could drink four days a week. I did not, and that actually felt really good and very reasonable. If it seems too overwhelming to go on like full cold turkey for January. So and by the way, at any point, it's okay to start. You can start right now. You don't have to have done it starting January one. We actually, in all truth started January second. Yes, because January first, U stay well, because it was well, I mean I get it. We by a day because it was football.
Okay, No, this didn't Technically it doesn't matter because you're New Year's Eve. You're celebrating as soon as you you know, you clinking the glasses at midnight, you're technically drinking on January one. Anyway, we're big college football fans, so the big college football day, so we were going to drink during that. So, yes, we did drink on January one.
We started January two.
I think a lot of people did that, So don't hold that against this if you could, please. But yeah, it is kind of a movement now, so people have their reasons. So Andy, you just mentioned something about going out and drinking. Do you need five or six or seven or eight drinks when you go out? What's the other part of that, though, that's a problem buying six, seven, eight drinks? You're so right at a restaurant, yep, cost you a pretty penny. So, in addition to Robes and I are feeling great right now because we are on our drive January kick, we feel amazing. She was walking today into the studio said, I got some pepp in my step.
That's exactly what I said.
How you do? It feels absolutely great. But we added up December. Oh my goodness, how much money.
So embarrassing.
We spent on alcohol for the month. And we were able to do this by going back and looking at receipts from our account, also looking at Drizzly.
We love Drizzly.
How much reorder there?
For those of you who don't know, it's an app on your phone and in major cities, all you have to do is go on to drizzly and say what you want alcohol wise to come to your apartment and it is there within thirty minutes. It's pretty amazing and also very dangerous, so it's easy.
For us to come up with what we spent. This does not include, however, the trips we made every once in a while to a liquor store. So this is strictly drizzly and going out our number.
Can I also say, though a couple of my Drisley orders involved other people in my apartment, it wasn't that I.
And the only one who can do this.
I had people over, my parents, friends, So just I wanted to make that caveat why because it's a crazy number.
Most of that don't do that. We were here to be open and honest, to have every third number. Well, okay, we spend in the month of December two eight hundred and sixty nine dollars on alcohol alone. Period.
I'm so embarrassed.
I mean, I don't know what I thought the number would be higher, to be honest with you, but that is an amount of money now that is going to be saved in January. So Andy was saying, you go out. That is another benefit. There are health benefits, there are financial benefits. Some people do it with a family member or a friend. He talked about accountability. Some people just want to reset, like Andy was saying as well. Between Thanksgiving and New Year's we all go at it food wise and alcohol wise, and some people want to do a little weight loss. You were talking about this. Have you experienced it yet?
Yes, So we're a week and a half in and I have been stepping on the scale because I'm curious, and I've already lost two pounds.
I'm three to five pounds down. Wow, three five. But do you know how I that eating as well? Yep? And all the running and I drop weight so quickly, which isn't healthy, I don't think. But I've dropped that weight already this month.
That's incredible. I mean, that's just and that's just.
This is a week and a half in so and that's the only major change. I mean, we've always been runners, and we've always been pretty good about watching what we eat.
So the alcohol is the big change that we've made. We haven't talked about our numbers yet.
And I say this because one of the biggest problems with drinking and alcohol in your relationship with it, as we mentioned at the top, is that most people are not honest about it. And you know, I hesitate a little bit because I just know what the headlines are going to be, and it's daunting to think about what people will write in a headline if I say how much I drink a week. But I will say this past year, a lot of people experience the pandemic and excessive amounts of drinking because a were bored. You didn't have anywhere to go, you had nothing to do, you had no one to see, and work was from home. I didn't experience that. I was at work every day. I was working more than I have actually in recent years. So last year was my pandemic. I didn't have a job to go to, I was staying away from a lot of friends and family.
We were laying low.
And so what did I do.
I drank a lot, a lot more than I ever have.
I don't think I've ever gone a full year where I drank every single day, and that was twenty twenty three for me.
And it wasn't that I was getting wasted or drunk or any of that.
It was just keeping a buzz going all day, or at least keeping a relaxed state of mind in a heightened, anxious year. And so I'm appalled when I look back at how much I actually drank.
But we were look a lot of people and including the ones in the room here with us. We asked you asked folks initially how much did you do? And people want to try to initially fudge the numbers. And then once you start talking a little more about it and getting a little more open and honest about it, you find some realities about your alcohol use that maybe you need to re examine your relationship with I think you are somebody who would admit that. I am certainly somebody who right now and in years past, need to re examine my relationship with alcohol. And that's what we are doing, and I hope a lot of you all are doing right now as well. But we part of this in us talking to you is we have to be honest, and so we are going to be honest about our alcohol intake, why we do it, what that number actually is, and what we're going to do about it moving forward. All of that is coming up next, Amy and TJ back here now, we were speaking to you before we took that little break about the number. We asked you all to come up with it. Really, how much, if you're being honest with yourself, how many drinks do you have per week? You'll tell yours the honest number is one thing you tell your doctor on a questionnaire a different answer. But Robes, you said something before we took that break that jumped out at me, and I get it. You said you're worried about what the headline would be.
Right, Isn't that what it always is? So you're worried about about what people will think, what people will say, and so you fudget a little bit.
When we say people. Right, in our situation, we know that saying something is going to get plucked and is going to get twisted in some way to make some awful, salacious headline just to get you to click, click bait, just to get you to click, and then you're going to click and ah, that's not weirdly what it really was, but as long as you click, so it was just something. And it's unfortunate that we sit here and we're trying to be open and honest and talk so freely and relate to people on this very issue, and we hesitate, And I get why, but we hesitate because while being honest is going to produce something.
Yeah, cheers to my new Google search. That's what I say before I talk about this. When I did an honest assessment and It's funny because I'm going to bring you into this because as I was doing it in my head and my math, you jumped in with something that changes it. So I think it's pretty honest to say before last year, I think fifteen to twenty is probably a more honest answer of what I drank per week. Yeah, two drinks a day average, but sometimes i'd have three or four. This year, I would say it was at least three drinks a day and oftentimes more so, could be four, could be five. And so I was saying I'm at least above twenty one plus drinks per week. But you made a good point. So yes, if I'm having a glass of rose or a beer that's measurable, Actually probably not even because my pores are heavy. Five ounces is actually what it is for wine, and ain't no I pour myself a five ounce glass of wine. So I mean you might even double what I just said, given the fact that I make probably more of a nine ounce poor, which is what you are typically used to seeing.
But you and I, the drinks I drink.
Are beer, wine, and Margarita's. Oh, aprile spritzes too. I love apple spritzes. Those are I mean, okay, that's pretty much my wheelhouse. But you pointed out when you make a margarita, it's not just one drink.
So that's a mistake that a lot of people make and doing your number. So we asked you the top what your number was. You might recalculate once you hear this. The official guideline say that one drink is a either a one beer or a five ounce glass of wine, or one and a half ounces of liquor one point five ounces of liquor. So a margarita the way we make them at home at least has two shots of tequila and one and a half shots of quantro. That is easily can be categorized as two drinks in at one.
Drink, maybe even more possibly.
So what does that do to your number? So I started adding mine up.
I'm I'm over thirty drinks a week. Then okay, if that is the math and that is that is appalling to me. That is embarrassing to me. That is not what I wish it were.
But you're not alone in it, and we're just happen to be saying it out loud. I mean the number four heavy drinking for a week for a woman is eight or more per week, So you certainly fall into the category of heavy drinking.
I knew that, but I didn't realize just how much.
Okay, so, and again you're you're not alone in that, but mine. When I said it to you, you said, wait a minute, help me.
Yeah.
I honestly it was jaw dropping and not possible to me.
So I can easily go through eighteen drinks a day, Nan, How you can do that? It's we run. Everybody's familiar with that at this point. But we're big runners. I like to do my run in the morning. But something we also you got me into something called run to fun.
We do that during the we do that, but normally what happened after work at noon we would go for a run and then go.
Have are a lot of cavet youre trying to explain things.
That is true though, That is when we had actual or not nine to five, but Monday through Friday jobs where you were, you know, responsible for being alert and on your game.
You obviously we're not drinking.
You want to stop talking about the past.
Now.
Run to fun is what you coined. When you finish your drink, it's nice outside, you literally run to what I say.
Finished when you finish your run.
When I finished my drink, I go for a run, but you literally finish your run and the run end at a bar. You map out your run so that you're running five miles. You hit five miles at a particular bar insteadive to get the work done. So now if we're not doing that out, we'll go run eight nine in the morning, it doesn't matter what two miles, four, five, six, ten, and I come back and we have a beer. I put two beers in the freezer and let them get a little colder, and we'll have a Miller light. A Miller light, okay, so you have the one. I'll end up with two. So here we are at ten in the morning after a run, I am two drinks in at ten am. That's easy. We go to lunch to drink minimum at lunch fair to say, yeah, okay, Now, if we're not out and about for the day running errands or doing something and we're just inside, could easily have my drink a drink in my hand from two in the afternoon until seven, eight, nine, ten o'clock at night. So you do those numbers, and that's a drinking hour for another eight hours, you could argue, or even less, but that's another eight hours of a drink in hand, plus the four I've already had during the day. The problem there is that some of those drinks made at home are margarite.
You're not actually pouring yourself eighteen drinks. You're actually adding the liquor you put into it. And I would argue, what also makes it a little fuzzier is what we would do sometimes in the afternoon, chilling whatever, again no work, and we would make just a big margarita and we would just kind of sip it and share it. So I have no way of knowing actually how much I had, how much you had. It was just like a slow you know, over a period of you know, an hour. I don't know.
So if you do that math, eighteen drinks a day for seven days, oh.
My god, I can't.
That is it's difficult to compute. But again for folks out there, And we were talking to Emma here in the room, our wonderful producer who's sitting here, but she's twenty two year old, young lady. We were talking to her about the drinking and it was surprising and a lot of people will will reassess your number, because she said, yeah, I have this many, but then I'll have drink. I have shots in between, but I don't count the shots. Don't count the shots? Now why did that even? Why did you even? Why don't shots count? In your head?
Well, I think it's either a good way to start the night, so you kind of forget that you took them. It's like exit the door a couple shots, or you're at the bar. You took them and then you grab your drink, so all you remember was grabbing your drink and leaving the bar.
And so the shots didn't count because it was just quick. It wasn't an exerience of having a drink. Yes, correct, and so yes we have to count.
The shot was.
Absolutely an experience, but they were not counted in my drinking.
Correct?
And do you think that you also, like I didn't do this either. Consider if you're having a mixed drink, how many shots are in the mixed drink so it's not just one drink?
Oh gosh, right, really think about that.
Neither did I.
I explicitly would get a double shot gin and tonic.
That was my thing. So and again, folks, we say this in look obviously we love our drinking, but to hear like the World Health Organization and these big groups say there's no amount of alcohol that is safe to consume, not a sip of it, and the recommendations for heavy drinking a moderate drinking that you should obviously be in the moderate drinking category. You want to be as low as possible. But for me to sit here and actually do the math, which is the first time I've done it in the past year, but eighteen drinks that I don't do that every day on an You don't do that every day, no, no, no, no no, But easily when we were just lounging and doing nothing. That's an easy number to get.
When I was looking into the research of this, because there was so much I didn't know. One of the first things that all of the experts suggest, if you're considering or you are doing dry January or maybe even starting now mid January, I mean, it's never too late. Why why do you want to make a change? And I can say this for me, I knew this past year was an anomaly. It was not a year that hopefully will ever be repeated. But it's been weighing heavily on me. Not just about the amount of alcohol that I consumed, but also what I know about alcohol and cancer, and specifically breast cancer. I am a breast cancer survivor, and when I was diagnosed, one of the first things that my doctors told me was to reduce my alcohol intake. It raises estrogen levels, so it increases your chance of developing breast cancer in the first place. And I will say this because I'm someone who lives with the fear of for currence, as all breast cancer survivors do. There's no scientific proof as of yet, but most doctors believe because it raises your estrogen levels, especially if you have a hormone positive cancer like I did, it also then it would make sense that it raises your chance for reoccurrence. Now, there is no strong evidence from studies to support or to refute it, but my god, I would still always say it's better to err on the side of caution, and so I know that that's such an important part of my life. I have changed my diet, I have changed my exercise, I have focused on sleep, but alcohol has been something that I haven't fully committed to reducing. And in fact, as I pointed out last year, I increased.
But why don't you. I'm saying, this is somebody in this conversation that works with you, but somebody that loves you, who who sees what you go through really for the past nine plus years, right, but now someone who I am this close to and dealing with every day and every little health scare and everything that goes on. And folks who are listening, wait a minute, you got another chance at life, you had, you beat breast cancer. So why is it when your doctor tells you you need to reduce this just cuts Why even take the risk? Why is it you still drink the way you do?
I think that for me, and I always said this, I don't. I've never been one to drink to mask pain. I always drink to enhance joy. And so I love that little extra kick of I loved a lot. It's probably my favorite thing to do in life. And so if you have that drink in your hand, you laugh a little more, you dance a little more. Life just gets a little more fun as long as you know not to drink too much. And that has always been part of what I've loved about the experience of drinking, is just getting that little extra boost I guess is the way I would put it. And then you can also go into this whole thing where life is short, have the wine. I do so many other things that are healthy that might offset the drinking. So you start rationalizing it in your head, and there's no I will also say this, and I think you can agree.
And most people who know me know that I don't know why. I don't know how, and.
I've always called it a curse and a blessing. I don't get hangovers, so I don't really pay the price the next morning the way a lot of people do, and so there's a lot less incentive for me not to go ahead and have some fun. So all of those reasons why I rationalize drinking.
But you say I rationalize almost as if you're acknowledge that it's irrational.
Oh, I'm acknowledging it fully fully.
How about you?
Why do you drink?
Well, it's changed over time, right, College is one thing and high school is a different thing. And talk about my relationship with alcohol, it goes back to I have needed to change my relationship with alcohol for a long time, to the point I was suspended from high school for drinking, and my dad was the princess. I was going to say, by your father, my dad sent my ass home to his house to suspend me. This is one hundred percent true story. I'll have him on and let him tell you later. But that was a rough day, but it goes back to it. I was getting in trouble for drinking that early on. Of course, college is a blur, but after that just alcohol has always been a part of the social experiment. But I got to and I think for the first time, twenty twenty fifteen, I got a diagnosis of modredly severe depression. I didn't do anything about it until about twenty twenty, but in that five year stretch, I was in a really, really bad mental place, and that is when I, for the first time in my life, I started drinking to mask pain. You just want that pain to stop, and that alcohol was doing it, and I was. I drink. We talked about the eighteen drinks here, but then I could easily get up first thing in the morning in poorovodka orange juice. Wow, no problem. But that was trying to mask pain. I drink downs. You know, I like my drinks. You know I like to mixing. But initially I started it before it became a movement just because, to Andy's point, earlier Thanksgiving to New Year's we are all going at it hard, so much alcohol, you're not eating the way you normally would. And then when January one came around, like a let me take a break. So I just started doing it kind of after college and enjoyed it, loved how I felt. And then you have to ask yourself, well, you feel this good, why the hell won't you just do this all the time, and you can curtail, you can cut back. I just I think maybe I did a little in twenty I think before everything went down with us, I was probably curtailing my drinking a little bit. And then everything went down with us in twenty twenty three and we were drinking non stop.
And so now it is a reset.
And I want to give you props here because I have done, as I said, a couple of times, a damp or a semi dry January, which I love. But I don't know that I would have felt comfortable or felt honestly, this may sound crazy, but I don't know that I would have felt brave enough or courageous enough to say I am one hundred percent going cold Turkey this month if you hadn't said I'm doing it and we can do it together. And I know that that is one of the big tips if you're thinking about this, is to have somebody do it with you. It does make a big difference.
And so you.
Absolutely gave me the confidence and the courage to go ahead and say, Okay, I'm on record, I'm not drinking at all this month. In fact, I have to say, my two daughters said, you're not going to make it, You're not going to last They did not. They don't think I'm going to make it.
Do you feel like you want a drink like the past couple of days, have you? Well, I really want to drink?
Uh yeah, But it's nothing crazy. I mean, there's to the point where we've just said how much we have been drinking this past year. There's no withdrawal for me, Like, I don't feel that at all. But yeah, I've definitely wanted an aperol sprits around five PM a couple of days.
Sure, not at all. I haven't even the past few days. I'm in a rhythm now to where alcohol is not a part of my life anymore. So I don't even think about it and planning in events I'm doing and parties I'm going to, or lunches I'm having or games I'm watching. It's not even a part of it. It's just second nature.
Now, stop drinking, all right, So when we come back, we're going to talk about our tips, what we've been doing, and also what scientists would doctors say actually happens to your body in thirty days when you stop drinking. Welcome back everyone to Amy and TJ. We are talking about ride January. We're a week and a half in and so far, so good. We mentioned I've.
Lost two pounds, you've lost three to five.
Three to five pounds, okay, so that's just scratching the surface. I have already a lot more energy. And I know I'm sleeping better. I feel like I have more mental clarity. So there's all these things that you feel better about. You. You're the same.
I mean, you see me and you know my sleeping habits. So I sleep much better. I sleep so much better. And yeah, you're not in a haze. I'm sharper. I got more energy. I feel so much better in the month of January when I do this.
I saw you smile this morning and I said Oh, you're smiling in the morning.
That was a big wait.
I don't usually smile, Lord, yeah, not that much.
What I mean, you're usually focused in the morning. But you were smiling, and that was so great.
Because I was happy to see you. I had been sitting up by myself two hours working on this podcast four am.
I get up in a six am. That's about the way we roll. Interesting what happens though. We talk about cravings. It's not necessarily a craving for alcohol. But I read that eating more protein curbs cravings when you are doing a dry january, because scientifically this makes sense. Your blood sugar is responding to the reduction of alcohol intake, and so your body what does it want and wants sugar and you have experienced this. I'm not a big sugar person anyway, but wow, you have really invested in Twizzlers.
I have a lot of you know, I stopped eating. I'm in a bad, bad candy habit my whole life, really and certainly during my career, and sitting on a set it'd be a big bag of what gut ummy Bear's Summi Bears sitting there during every single show. I got some a bad report from a dentist a couple of years ago, and I quick candy cold turkey just stopped. And I went almost two years without having a single bitey can until now. Until now, And you've seen me. I can't stop heavy.
It is.
I am going after candy non just stop during January. Men, that makes sense, Yeah, it does, okay.
And so what we've done is I have been drinking about a case today of Lacroix.
I love club soda. I'm not a big.
Mocktail person because I again I don't like to add the sugar, but we put them in wineglasses and I send some lemons or limes or rosemary and one of the other big things to talk about saving money. We would go out probably once a day or close to that, at least, you know, five times a week. And we where do we sit at the ba at the bar? That's where the fun is, right. It just there's energy up there. It just it feels good. But then probably you end up having more drinks flow than you would have otherwise if you were sitting at a table.
Yeah, because the bartender you could just call the name, that'll come right to.
You and just another round. Sure, why not?
So we've only gone out once for lunch one time and we sat at a table. We did not sit at the bar. So we're not going out and so we're staying in. We're saving a lot of money. We're cooking at home and it's nice, right, it is nice.
So there are incentive and to your you can people want to can a month make a difference? Yes, there are differences your body. These are measurable. We have anecdotal evidence of it working, but there is science behind it that, in fact, in a month you can do and reverse some damage. In one month of abstaining from alcohol.
It's pretty remarkable. In fact, we can break it down by week. So the first week of alcohol free, doctor say, you'll see you have improved hydration and that includes like your skin, Ladies, if you're worried about aging, that all helps with skin and headaches and fatigue, so those all get better. And then you have improved sleep quality even the first week, because alcohol disrupts, it suppresses that rem sleep that you all need. So anyway, you're gonna feel more refreshed, less tired, and your skin's gonna look amazing. Second week of being alcohol free, doctor say, you will absolutely experience mental clarity because you're gonna wake up feeling more rusted. This is what happened to me today. Increased hydration also helps with energy and brain fog. You also, and this is huge, improved digestion because alcohol causes inflammation in your intestines, so it actually starts creating stomach acid backing up, So you know you have acid reflux sometimes like a whatever, you just have a bad stomach. A lot of that has to do with alcohol intake.
Okay, well everybody in the room knows you're having some stomach isissues right now.
Boystomic is always noisy, and with all that lacroix that actually is I'm sure do.
You want to blame it on the local world nor you had? You had a hot chili dog yesterday?
I did not. I didn't put a chili on because when you were giving me so much crab about it, I just used mustard instead, and I didn't have a bun.
So here's me trying to work around having a hot dog. I love them.
But bottom line, after two weeks without alcohol, your stomach lining begins to return to normal. So if any of you out there have acid reflux or heartburn, you will see those symptoms start to ease up or even go away after just two weeks of not drinking alcohol. Third week alcohol free, This is what we have to look forward to next week. Reduced blood pressure, So if you have elevated blood pressure, you will see your blood pressure most likely go down and that reduces your risk of stroke or heart disease, which obviously is huge. And then you also have improved kidney health because drinking alcohol damages your kidneys over time. So after only three weeks without alcohol, doctors say your kidneys can start to heal and function properly. I mean, that's remarkable, But here's like one that really through me four weeks without alcohol. Improved liver health. This is what you were talking about. Your liver actually can scar. That's you know, talk about liver disease if you are an alcoholic or a heavy drinker, but your liver is actually capable of recovering from the damage alcohol caused. After just thirty days, you can restore your liver to its normal function. These are people who are heavy drinkers, not people who have you know, alcohol as a disease. That might be a completely different level of drinking, but heavy drinkers. Thirty days, your liver can return to normal, your glucose levels stabilize, and you have reduced anxiety. And that's ironic because a lot of people, some people may drink to ease anxiety, but actually it disrupts your entire brain, your brain's chemical structure when you're drinking all the time, So you're giving it space to actually function the way it's supposed to, and it will ultimately reduce anxiety.
So thirty days and make a difference. In the point of the thirty days is not just the break. It's great to have the health break, but this is meant for all of us to re examine our relationship with alcohol and ask some of those questions, why can't I go a day without a drink, Why can't I go a week? Why do I drink? And it's a good time of self reflection. And we talk about men and women here, but women particular in particular need to pay closer attention to this for a number of reasons. Women, it takes obviously, it takes less alcohol. So you were saying you and I could drink the same thing right now, you will get drunk faster, and you will stay drunk longer than I will, and during the pandemic they started to notice it. And it happens in the past few years, there is an increase in deaths among women, a sharper increase in alcohol related deaths for women. Still more men are dying, but the increase is sharper among women. This happened around the pandemic and got to the point around on alcoholic alcohol related deaths in that month. Excuse me, during the pandemic, California recorded more deaths from alcohol use than they did from breast cancer and car accidents combined. I just got chills during the pandemic, right, and those numbers and women are the one You really have to pay attention to the alcohol you're taking in when it comes to breast cancer, but also just being able to keep in mind heart disease, everything. It increases your everything. But for women, those increases and how your body takes in and metabolizes alcohol is something you really really have to pay attention.
All Right, So what happens on February one, TJ.
Nothing. I probably won't have a drink until the Super Bowl is how it usually goes, because I start to just, yeah, I'm in a routine. So I'm not planning and want to run right out on February first and get a drink. I have no desire for a drink right now.
What about my birthday?
Ah?
Yes, a little bit before the.
Super Bowl, we gotta go to town. That will probably be okay, that's what I figure it'll probably be.
Yet, But how about, just like in general, are you more aware now?
Are you going to change your habits or just be at least more aware of your habits?
I am aware of them, I just don't take the time I'm taking now to actually do a real assessment. Right. I know how much I drink. I know I drink too much, But now is a time to whar If February first, we should all if you're doing a dry January, have a different habit moving forward, and that is going to be long term beneficial for health. So yeah, that's and you're going to have to help me with that. And I are together all the time and can't remember the last time I had a drink when you weren't next to me.
Yeah.
No, I mean having someone to be accountable to and with is important. And you know there are a couple we'll leave you with some tips that I'm going to try to incorporate for the rest.
Of the year, for the rest of my life.
So you can do something as simple as choosing one or two days a week where you say I am not going to drink, so designated dry days.
No matter what, just pick them and go with it.
Also, you could pick a time that is your cutoff. So during the week, I'm not going to drink after eight pm, or during the weekends, I'm not going to drink after ten pm. And while i may still be out, I'll just switch to club soda. And if you may that specific rule for yourself, you're more likely to follow it, So be specific. You also can set a drink maximum for the week, like I'm not going to go over ten drinks this week, whatever it is. And then and Andrew, you said you were doing this in between drinks, and I've done this in the past. Don't just get a second round. It's so easy to say I'll take another instead, skip a beat, have a full glass of water in between your drinks, and that will also set you up for success and not drinking more than you wanted to or more than you should.
And they do say, folks that about seventy percent of folks who do a dry January do in fact end up drinking less for the rest of the year. They actually do make changes and reduce their alcohol intake. So if you're doing it now and you make it through the month of January, chances are you're going to be better off, all right, And.
Let us know how you're doing. We love to hear feedback on our Instagram podcast page, Amy and TJ. We'd love to hear from you how you're doing what your doing, And it's good to know you're not alone. It's good to know there are other people doing it with you. There is something about that safety and numbers. So cheers to all of your efforts in just improving your health in any and every.
Way you can.
And be kind to yourself. It's okay. If you've already slipped this month, it's okay. You can start up again, but don't be too hard to yourself. Be a little kind to yourself about it. You're trying at least, and that's okay. So enjoy the rest of the month. Happy health to you all. But for now, Amy and TJ, here cheers is what you said.
Cheers Cheers to the new year
