Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Alcohol

Titling this post made me reminisce about Brad Paisley...

I am medicine and I am poison
I can help you up or make you fall
you had some of the best times
you'll never remember with me
Aaaaalcohol

Since I began my weight loss/health journey I have cut way back on my alcohol consumption. That's not to say I drank like a fish before, but I drank socially and had the occasional glass of wine after work with dinner. Once I became more conscious of everything I was putting in my body I realized that alcohol is really just empty calories that I don't need, and I haven't had anything to drink in a while.

Two nights ago, we decided to make a delicious salad and have light brie and artichoke/parmesan dip with the most amazing french bread. Wine seemed like the perfect accompaniment so I had a glass of Riesling with dinner. It was weird not having only water with dinner! After dinner my husband came up with the brilliant idea to make vodka slushies out of Trader Joe's pink lemonade and after trying a sip of his I had one of my own.

Bad idea, no bueno. Sure, it tasted good as I was drinking it, all sugary and with no actual taste of alcohol, but I went to bed with both my head and stomach hating me. The next morning, I still had that icky feeling. Not a hangover, but my body being utterly pissed at me. No more alcohol for me, I declared! My husband tried to reason that the large amounts of bread and cheese we consummed probably were part of the problem but I would never, ever scorn freshly baked amazing bread and creamy brie like that (even though deep down I knew he had to be at least a little right). I'm sure if I stuck with the glass of Riesling and a little less bread/cheese I would have been fine, but that drink just pushed me over the edge.

I couldn't help but think of how my body must have changed over these last few months, and even though I'm a wee bit bummed that the nights of late night partying may now be long gone, feeling great when I wake up in the morning is well worth it.

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