5 Benefits to Cutting Alcohol out of Your Diet

From beer, wine and spirits to other mixed alcoholic drinks, one thing they all have in common is the fact that they are all depressants. That’s why you’ll find a drunken person talking in slurred speech, unsteady movement, and distorted perceptions. Some of us run from the realities of life by abusing alcohol.

Despite the few benefits associated with taking alcoholic drinks, too much of them prove detrimental to your health. Distorted sleeping patterns, obesity, high cancer risk, anxiety, and depression are some of the results of excessive alcohol consumption. In worst case scenarios, death resulting from alcohol poisoning is a possibility.

This piece will look into the benefits of eradicating alcohol from your lifestyle. For persons already into heavy bingeing, we recommend they start by moderating their alcohol intake or better still, learn how to stop drinking.

Let’s look into a few of the benefits of cutting down alcohol intake.

1. Reduced weight

Alcoholic beverages contain lots of calories, and that’s people who drink experience increased weight. A glass of white wine contains about 121 calories, while a bottle of beer contains upwards of 150 calories.

With such high-calorie figures, it’s no surprise that occasional drinkers, those who take a few bottles of beer weekly, battle with weight gain.

An American Journal of Preventive Medicine study revealed that people who drank alcohol at least once every month were more likely to become overweight over time compared to non-drinkers.

2. Improved sleep

Alcoholic drinks interfere with your sleep pattern. Hangovers resulting from drinking lead to weariness and discomfort, which decrease the number of hours you sleep or insomnia.

A survey conducted by Alcohol Concern revealed that 62% of people who abstained from alcohol during a UK anti-alcohol campaign dubbed Dry January reported significant improvements in their sleeping patterns.

3. Better stomach health

Alcohol, even in small quantities, results in increased acid production in your stomach. As a result, you might suffer from gastritis, a condition characterized by inflammation of the stomach lining.

The condition causes diarrhea, stomach pain, and vomiting. In extreme cases, excessive alcohol intake leads to stomach bleeding.

4. Reduced cancer risk

Alcohol is associated with seven cancer types, namely: pharyngeal, breast, laryngeal, liver mouth, oesophageal, and bowel cancers.  Your chances of developing any of these cancers significantly lower when you refrain from taking alcohol.

5. Better mood

The feel-good factor resulting from taking alcohol is temporal. Unfortunately, especially for heavy drinkers, alcohol interferes with the functioning of mood transmitting neurotransmitters, resulting in sudden mood swings.

Alcohol lowers serotonin levels in the brain which inhibits your ability to control your moods, and the potential to experience happiness.

Often, we take alcohol to feel good, which seems odd given the previous statement. If alcohol curbs the production of feel-good hormones, why do we get a feel-good feeling after a few tequila shots?

Well, the reason for the good feeling after your favorite beer is a sort of catch-22; alcohol relaxes you and lowers your inhibitions, resulting in increased disposition to experience anxiety and depression.

The benefits of quitting alcohol are apparent, consider the above issues and lead a healthy it’s high time you put your well-being first.