One Month: No Alcohol or Coffee. What I learned.

When I first set out to cut out alcohol and coffee from my life for the month of April, I was looking to reset my body. I wanted to finally see how I would feel by eliminating the two things that I knew were holding me back from truly healing my gut. I faced the harsh reality that unless I actually changed the things I knew were preventing my success, I would continue to be in this weird state of half-assed healing. 

I’m a firm believer that in order to make radical changes to one’s health, radical changes need to be made. My situation was that for years, and realistically, it hasn’t just been years, but my entire life, I have battled digestive issues. Looking back, my symptoms began when I was very young. I also remember having tummy troubles and other symptoms associated with gut damage. I didn’t know that until about a year ago. 

So for the last year, I have done almost everything I could to alleviate those symptoms. I tried alternative treatments, chiropractics, supplements up the wazoo, yoga, food sensitivity testing, elimination diets, giving up gluten, giving up soy, giving up ever food that came back from those tests as “problematic”, resolving past trauma, and managing my stress. One of the benefits of being a nutritionist is that I can create a holistic health plan for myself. One of the curses of being a nutritionist is that I can create a holistic health plan for myself. I am not a good client. In fact, I would have likely quit a long time ago if the tables were turned.

But I didn’t quit and here I am. Some of the things I tried did work and helped to get me to a place of being able to say that I am no longer a person with digestive issues! Woo hoo!!! I actually remember saying that to myself in January of this year. And I was ecstatic! But I still could feel that something was still hanging on that was preventing me from healing completely. Gut damage is a tricky thing. There are so many aspects to it and it can feel like a rollercoaster of feeling great and then having symptoms return. Usually, that is an indication that there is still some work to be done.

I knew what was causing it, but I didn’t want to make those changes.

Then February happened. Lots happened in February. It caused a tailspin of stress, and sadness, and brought on another bout of depression. During that time, there was so much good that was happening, too. It has been a confusing few months, to say the least. But that is always the way things go, right? 

And, back came my digestive issues….right on cue. [insert massive eye roll here]

I knew this was the perfect time to finally make the change I needed to. The problem is that I’m human and human nature tells us that we “deserve” to eat and drink the things we want because of [insert whatever excuse you want]. I use the word “excuse” intentionally because it’s such a heated word. It brings up powerful emotions. But at the heart of it, the reasons why we do not make the changes we know we need to are really just excuses.

For me, I realized that two triggers of my gut symptoms were coffee and alcohol. (Why are all the fun things bad for us?) But for so long, I used excuses to justify the continued consumption of these two things. I continued to drink coffee because I liked the smell and I had already switched to decaf because I knew and accepted the fact that caffeine does not jive with my body. But I told myself that it was okay to keep drinking coffee because it was decaf. I knew that was just a lie and an excuse.

Alcohol is REALLY damaging to the gut and despite a pretty hefty marketing campaign by Big Grape, no amount of alcohol is healthy. In fact, any alcohol consumption at all increases all-cause mortality and increases the risk of cancer. And no, red wine is not healthy. Hard truth, I know.

But I told myself that it was okay to keep drinking alcohol because it helped me cope with the craziness of the past few years. And I made it okay because I wasn’t drinking nearly as much as when I was younger. (Which is really no big accomplishment. All I had to do was not get sh*tfaced every weekend and I would be drinking significantly less. Ahhh….college years….And yes, I do owe a lot to my liver. She’s a trooper and has done a magnificent job with all I have thrown at her during my college years!!)

Anyways…it’s a tough reality to face when you finally realize that you are the one causing the damage to your body through your choices.

So, I decided to give up my two nemices for the month to see how I would feel. Turns out, that this was a very tough month to do it. I took away my two coping mechanisms so I needed to get creative to manage my stress. I actually did better than I thought I would! After a particularly tough day, I did have a drink and my husband and I inadvertently ended up at a hard cider brewery while driving around one weekend. And you can’t not sample the goods at a place like that! Oh, and I did have a margarita when we went out with a few friends - but just one, I swear! But this is a lot less than I had become accustomed to. No more wine with dinner, No more old fashioneds on Friday nights. No more White Claws when out with friends.

Coffee was a little more difficult. I was doing really good until the past few days. I didn’t have coffee in the house up until that point. It’s hard to drink it if you don’t have any! But then we bought some in anticipation of company coming over. When plans changed, I just could not let that coffee go unused. (See that pattern of crazy excuses?!) So I’ve been making my way through it, knowing full well what it is doing to my gut. 

During the weeks that I was alcohol- and coffee-free, I felt really great. Most of my gut symptoms vanished and I was sleeping really well. After that one drink, I felt it. I couldn’t sleep, I woke up with the worst headache (after one drink!), and I felt like I spent the night in a bar. Not to mention I was incredibly disappointed in myself. 

Now what? Where do I go from here now that Dry April is over? I don’t know exactly. I do know that it was tough giving up two of my triggers but when I did, I felt so much better. I like the analogy Dr. Michael Greger frequently uses - Continuing on with the behaviors that harm your body is like continually banging your shin on the coffee table. You keep allowing it to happen and just deal with the pain. But the reality is that there is a very simple solution. Move the coffee table. Problem solved.

Why is it so damn difficult to just move the coffee table? I think it’s because we’re human and humans are creatures of habits. It often seems more radical to make changes than to just keep going with the same behaviors that, in many cases, we know are so damaging. 

I came away from this experience with a few tips and tricks I thought I would share with you. Maybe one or a few of these will resonate with you.

Change is hard. There is not going to be a right time to start making a change but you can do your best to prepare yourself and your surroundings.

If you are trying to stop eating/drinking or something, don’t keep it in the house. In my case, not having coffee in the house was a game-changer. If it’s there, you’re going to eat/drink it. This is not a time to test your will-power. That will come. But make it as easy on yourself as you can by making it as difficult as you can to get your hands on whatever it is that you are trying to give up. If you want it that badly, you can drive to the grocery store. Even at 2:00 am.

Have alternatives lined up. Again, by preparing your surroundings, you will help to curb those behaviors you’re trying to give up. Have healthy foods or drinks around and eat when you’re hungry. You know that saying, “Nothing good happens after 2:00 am”? Well, nothing good happens when you’re hungry, even if your goals have nothing to do with food.

Give yourself grace. You will not be perfect, and this will likely be a bumpy road. If you fall off, just jump back on. Don’t give it all up just because of a few missteps. Being ultra-tough on yourself is not the way to support your body or your mind. In fact, negative self-talk has been shown to promote poor choices and reluctant behavioral changes. There’s nothing wrong with starting over or stopping to regroup. Maybe a change in perspective would be helpful, reminding yourself why you want to make these changes, or figure out a new approach could also help. Trial and error is key here, and there’s no way around it.

Hopefully, those tips and tricks can be helpful to you and your situation, whatever that is. If you don’t need this right now, file it away in the back of your brain somewhere and come back to it when you do. I can wait!

Have a wonderful week and best of luck to you on your wellness journey!

Peace, love & kale!

Lindsay