Sober October: NO ALCOHOL for one month!

I decided to Go Sober for October for the second time this year in October . Not because I am a serious boozer, anyone who knows me can vouch for what a light weight I am, but because I can’t remember the last time I gave up drinking alcohol for any length of time. (Apart from a four week detox last year in Australia). 

 Even though I don’t drink much more than a couple of glasses of Prosecco on a meal out and not more than 3 times a week, you know as well as me that it all goes out the window on holiday, at a wedding or a party or even at home alone when the TVs particularly  bad!

With my nutritionist’s hat on, I knew that the human body can unlearn any bad habits in just 21 days yet I hadn’t lived without my favourite tipple, Prosecco, for more than a week or so.  And as I had promised to donate to MacMillan (who have helped too many of my friends to mention) the money I saved on Prosecco or wine for the month of October, thought it would be a win win deal. And it would be interesting to see how social events went without a glass of fizz in my hand.  Would life still be fun? Would I lose weight? How would I feel?  Would I even be able to do it?

THE RESULT .

I found it amazingly easy! That was the biggest shock.  I went to Glyndebourne, a ball, lots of meals out, a book launch and the only time I was gagging for a drink was one very cold night meeting a friend for dinner and was overcome with the need of some red wine to warm me up.  The rest of the time I just became a non-drinker in my head. I guess this is what people do every January, just get into the mind set and it's easy, mind over matter and all that jazz.

My eyes and skin looked brighter, my energy levels went up, and I felt so  much clearer in the mornings I was tempted to become tee total permanently!  I didn’t lose much weight but I did save an awful lot of money.  I cannot believe I would have spent nearly £200 that month (but £40 of that would have been Champagne Cocktails at an expensive London restaurant.) Bloody hell that’s a lot of money!

AND NOW……..

I’m not going to lie to you….at the end of the month I coincidentally went on holiday for a week and had to celebrate the second we got on the plane. Weirdly, the first glass of  Prosecco went down like nectar but the second didn’t! My  tolerance to alcohol was even worse than before.

After this holiday……..I will probably carry on much like before – a little of what you fancy does you good –  but  have more days off ’cause I just love the feeling of waking up in the morning with a clear head.  And I will definitely do Sober October again next year.

Meanwhile, I don’t need a clear head on holiday and there’s a cocktail waiting for me!

Cheers!