The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Been reading up on various health related subjects, now I'm fairly interested in vitamin supplements, monitoring vitamin and mineral levels, certain kinds of fats. Also been trying to hit 12k steps + 20 minutes of daily jogging.
As I've been going through all this stuff I feel a bit silly. Does any of this actually matter while I drink 2/4 bottles of wine a day?
Genuinely looking for feedback about what to do for health while dealing with persistent long term heavy drinking. Besides the obvious "just stop heavy drinking".
I once asked a similar question and was very disappointed because everyone said "just stop drinking" and didn't provide any actionable advice for how to mitigate the damage.
In the spirit of answering your question in the spirit in which it was asked, it sounds like you are consuming 1000-3000 calories of wine every day. This is a lot, and many alcoholics are malnourished because they get such a high percent of their calories from alcohol. So I guess try to get enough protein and vitamins in the food you do eat, and avoid high sugar foods which create a lot of the same problems as alcohol. I'd also recommend frequent blood testing to keep an eye on the damage and see if things are getting worse.
Now I'm going to be annoying and share a couple resources that helped me stop drinking. I haven't had a drink in 2 months which is the longest I've gone without drinking since college, although I was drinking only 3-4 drinks a day as opposed to 10-20.
The book that I read which helped me quit was "Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Drinking".
It's weird that it works because there's not much to the book to be honest. But a lot of people have said that it helps, and it worked for me. The key realization is that drinking doesn't help you. It only temporarily solves the cravings caused by drinking, but then creates more of the cravings later. I was not as heavy a drinker as you, but for me the physical cravings stopped after about 1-2 weeks. I still get the urge to drink from time to time, but there are no longer any physical cravings.
I have switched to non-alcoholic beer and mocktails which fulfill some of the "need something to do" at night urges. This also helps at restaurants, bars, and other places that I used to associate with drinking.
There's also a whole school of people who quit using the Sinclair method. This involves taking a drug called Naltrexone before drinking which prevents you from enjoying the euphoria of alcohol. I think there is merit to this approach. As a comedian once said, "the best part of cocaine is the drive to my dealers house". If you reflect, you'll notice that the only truly pleasurable part of drinking is the first sip. Your brain feels good before the alcohol even hits your system. Drinks 2-infinity only make you feel worse. So breaking this connection can remove your addiction.
So far, I'm not missing alcohol. I've lost a little weight, but the biggest difference has been in sleep quality. I now sleep soundly throughout the night and wake up rested.
Best of luck!
The quit smoking book by Allen Carr worked for me for a long while.
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