Take a walk on the mild side

Never planned to do this, but near the end of September, I felt some strain at my zipper, so scanned my plate for empty calories. Guess where they lurked: in my wine glass.  

I quietly altered my nearly daily habit of a glass or two with dinner. Le Duc was entirely supportive but continued his usual moderate consumption. Not one server at our local raised a brow when I ordered a Fauxhito; friends simply said, "Oh, right— Sober October!" A month later, I had lost 2kg.  

The holidays rolled in with the usual dinner parties, and a rollicking Girls' Night. Getting back on track after New Year's Eve took a little discipline and renewed my respect for friends whose sobriety has required effort for decades. 

Andi, an AA sponsor for nearly 40 years, told me she thought it was useful for a social drinker to periodically examine their relationship to alcohol by either recording consumption or going without it for a while. "We all thought we could control it", she said.

The experience has been like buying a red car and then seeing red cars everywhere. 

First, I found more company than I expected within my age bracket (Boomers); they cite various reasons: doctor's orders, certain diets, training for a ski marathon (at age 79!) One woman recounted driving herself home after a New Year's Eve party, and once in her garage, realized she should not have been on the road. She binned every bottle in the house the next morning. Several others stopped drinking to support a family member or friend.

Then I noticed that Gen Zers (now age 14-29) were not drinking like my gang did at that age; they have been called "the sober-curious generation". Drinking is less important, less character-defining. A 2024 Environics Research paper reported that in Canada, 40% of Gen Z respondents indicated they drink mocktails or non-alcoholic beverages compared to 10% of Boomers. (Source, Environics.) 

Perhaps it is they who have caused bars to offer a variety of alternative drinks, which cost as much as a boozy one—but fine, I'll pay to enjoy a Virgin Mary, and can't taste the difference. (Not everyone agrees; a son stopped drinking on January 1 and refuses to pay $15 for cranberry juice and soda.)

During this semi-dry (some call it 'damp') period, besides seeing what a 250 calorie deduction does, I also learned my triggers: no urge whatsoever for wine when I eat fish, but red meat, whoa! It's like my brain, already plopped into a deck chair on the saturated-fat Titanic, says, "Oh, why not pull up that big sunbed?"  

But plenty of my compatriots are clearing the deck furniture; Canadians' consumption has dropped more than ever seen in the 20 years since StatsCan have kept track:

My reduced intake conforms to Health Canada's 2023 Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines. This latest recommendation is much stricter than in the past; now, zero drinks are deemed best for health and safety, and for women, two a week is the low-risk threshold.  

I studied that limit and thought, If everyone stuck with the no to low-risk levels, phone calls that happened years ago had would no longer be part of life; two friends' beautiful young sons killed by drunk drivers. 

I cast a beady eye at the no-risk zero; it still seems severe. If ordered to excise alcohol completely, I now know that I could—however, to paraphrase St. Augustine, "Oh Lord, make me abstinent, but not yet."