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Ep 31: Dry January
44 Plays1 month ago
Dry January isn’t about restriction — it’s about awareness. In this episode, we explore what Dry January really is, why taking a break from alcohol can be powerful for your health, and how even a short pause can help you better understand your relationship with drinking. We talk about the physical effects of alcohol, social pressure, hormones, gut health, and how to approach a reset in a way that feels supportive and intentional for YOU.
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Email us at: wmaapod@gmail.com
Where to find Tanya:
IG @tlcholistic / FB @tlcholistic
https://www.tlcholistic.ca/
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https://tlcholistic.janeapp.com/locations/tlc-holistic
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https://www.patreon.com/tlcholistic
Where to find Kim:
IG @kimdesmarais.nutrition / FB @KimDesmarais
https://www.kimdesmarais.com/
Book with Kim:
Complimentary Connect Call
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Background
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to What's My Age Again, the realest podcast for women who are done chasing trends and ready to feel empowered. Hi, I'm Kim. And I'm Tanya, holistic nutritionists and childhood best friends who've been there, done that, and bought the collagen.
00:00:16
Speaker
more than once.
Podcast Goals and Themes
00:00:17
Speaker
Each week we provide actionable steps that you can start today to help you thrive through every decade to come. We're cutting through the wellness noise to bring you honest conversations about aging, hormones, health, beauty, mindset, and everything in between.
00:00:33
Speaker
You see, we're also on a mission to age gracefully one WTF moment at a time, backed by research and real life. We're here to share what actually works, what's a waste of time, and how to truly thrive through the messy, magical midlife transition.
00:00:49
Speaker
We're so happy you're here.
Catching Up and Time Perception
00:00:51
Speaker
Let's dive in. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to What's My Age again. Kim, how are you? I'm good, Tanya. How are you? I'm deep into January now. How is that even possible halfway through January? Like it's wild how fast time goes now.
00:01:08
Speaker
I know. It's crazy. I feel like after the holiday break, it was like, okay, I can like take a breath, get back into things. And then all us, I mean, it's a positive thing. My business is going well. Like things are happening. Like it's busy. It's very positive.
00:01:24
Speaker
But oh my gosh, time is flying. Yeah, busy good
Exploration of Dry January and Alcohol Consumption
00:01:28
Speaker
is busy, but at the end of the day, it's still busy. And yeah, time flies, especially as we get up there in I'm not even saying mid-age, especially as we get into our mid-40s. Let's just leave it at that. Ain't nobody here mid-aged.
00:01:44
Speaker
It's true. It's true. And today, I'm excited about this podcast. We're going to talk about dry January. And for those of you like... Girls, you just said it's mid-January. We know in true Kim and I fashion, there actually is intention behind us being fashionably late about dry January in mid-January. Like it's actually planned this way.
00:02:11
Speaker
For sure. Well, and you know what? Like we talked about excuses. We talked about fear last week, which we thought was really important. And now, I mean, i just did a quick look up before, well, Tanya and I were just like getting settled.
00:02:26
Speaker
And actually the average, on average, I mean, this is what AI is telling me. Most people abandon their New Year's resolutions around the second Friday in January. So with intention, it actually works works out that, you know, if you've been doing dry January and it's starting to feel hard and we're we're moving into mid-January now, we're here to encourage you why to keep going.
00:02:54
Speaker
And if you haven't done dry January and haven't even really considered dry dry January, We're here to give you some thoughts and some information as to why potentially it's worth considering. And it doesn't have to be dry Jan. It can be dry Jan and Feb or however you want it, um including like the effects of alcohol on our bodies and what taking a break can help with, even in terms of helping you better understand your relationship with
00:03:28
Speaker
with drinking in the first place and alcohol in the first place. Yeah, absolutely, Tanya. And I like what you just said. Like, yeah, you can you can decide to pause alcohol, examine your relationship with alcohol, leave alcohol behind any time of year. But what I do love about January is, first of all, both Tanya and I believe that whenever you are making a health change for the better, we're we're behind you any time of year.
00:03:55
Speaker
But what I do love about dry January is number one, I like when people make a conscious decision because it takes this decision-making power out of it.
00:04:06
Speaker
You know, some people, when they're kind of going back, I know for me at the beginning, when I first was examining, and we can talk a little bit about our own personal experiences later, but when I was first examining my own, you know, relationship with alcohol, it was hard for me to be like, well, I may not drink tonight.
00:04:25
Speaker
I'm, like It was like I would go in there with the full intention of not having a drink, and then someone would say to me, oh, you're not having a glass of wine. How about just one? And then sure enough, i would have my glass of wine, and things would fall off. So what I love is when you make a conscious decision, be it in January, anytime, to eliminate alcohol because it takes the decision-making right out of it.
00:04:51
Speaker
You're right. like you What you're saying is that exactly – it's more socially acceptable to take a pause in January. Cause people are like, oh yeah, yeah, dry January.
00:05:02
Speaker
And you're, you know, have to do it in July where they're going to like, July, why aren't you having a drink? You know, now it's like dry January. Okay. Got it. Oh my gosh, Tanya, you make such, that was like, that's absolutely, yes, absolutely. It's like, oh my gosh, so much just who went off in my brain right there. But but that social piece is so important because it's it makes it so difficult. Like I said, like it's...
00:05:32
Speaker
it's it's it's part of the social fabric, right? Like it's like we wine a clock. It's have you had your glass of wine today? If you're going through a hard time, let's let's take you out for a glass of wine, Tanya, or I'll bring over some wine and we can chat. Or Let's celebrate, crack open the champagne, let's party tonight. It's like, it's like woven into our social fabric.
00:05:55
Speaker
Right. And it's woven into our social fabric, just like food is. All of the things that you're saying, you can be like, let's celebrate, let's go out to dinner. Let's, you know, oh my God, you know.
00:06:09
Speaker
Here's a cake. Happy birthday. Here's a cake or, oh, he dumped you. Let's have some ice cream. So like when we have things like alcohol, which we're obviously talking about today and food. So, you you know, you can feel the weight of both of that when you reflect on your own life woven so deeply into, you know, society and into the norms. It often becomes very difficult.
00:06:34
Speaker
yeah. to remove it, like you just said in that situation, Kim, someone's like, just have a glass. You're like, okay, even if you went with the intentions of not having a glass and A, to remove it and B, to understand what purpose it's serving in our lives beyond that social interaction. What's the deeper reason? And taking that pause kind of allows us to examine it more. And we think about It being with woven into society, alcohol, let's just talk exclusively that. And when you think about it, different, um what is the word I'm looking for? Age groups, I want to say. Generations, that's the word. Thanks, Brian. Different generations have different...
00:07:19
Speaker
alcohol consumption like sprinkled into it ties like you know now you're saying yeah you know you talk to your mom friends or whatever like oh have you had your glass of wine today girl they're not like hey did you go out buy the two for beer go to the forest and get slosh that's for like the teens Kim, Kathy Newton, Nicole Church sorry we know a lot about that but the whole point is that it's woven in from it can be woven in for every decade and every decade is you know different reasons why it can be in our lives.
00:07:53
Speaker
Oh, for sure. Absolutely. and And you also mentioned that you know that piece of examining why And it's interesting because when you pause alcohol, you you can do that reflection, right? Of like when you feel the pull to have alcohol. And for me, a lot of it was um to kind of calm down my brain.
00:08:21
Speaker
Right. I used it a lot of times numbing and didn't realize it until I took that pause and until, you know, i felt the great health effects of taking that pause and until I like really dug deep into why.
00:08:35
Speaker
And then, you know, it kind of goes with our last couple episodes, like when you figure out the why behind it, then you can make other decisions. You know, there are other ways to calm your brain. We talk about nervous system support all the time. um I was just doing it in a very unhealthy way for a long time.
00:08:53
Speaker
And it was until I paused alcohol that I realized what I was doing. I love that. And I love that perspective.
00:09:05
Speaker
It's very different from my journey with alcohol and my perspective, but it's relatable in so many ways to other things. So my journey with alcohol was just to drink the most possible and party through like my late teens and like my twenties. That was just fun for me. And I was never a glass of wine person. I was never a weekday wine person or drink person or beer or whatever. It was that
Personal Stories and Alcohol's Health Impacts
00:09:33
Speaker
social aspect of going out with your crew, getting drunk. And that was it. But
00:09:41
Speaker
I love how you say when we take the pause, the why becomes apparent or the relationship becomes apparent. Because as I was listening to you talking about why you have that glass of wine and what it was, what ah what it used to be for you, that's the same thing about what food used to be for me. And we're not talking broccoli. We're talking like I wasn't sitting down every night on the couch with like a glass of wine. I was sitting down every night on the couch with a bag of Doritos and a my friend Cadbury and everything. And just like, you know, so it's so interesting when we take a pause from anything so woven into our lives, especially, you know, alcohol and food, something we have access to daily, we really start to see the relationships and we really start to understand what role they're playing in our lives and do we need them there?
00:10:30
Speaker
Absolutely. And it's, yeah, it's like, I remember feeling like, you know, when I started cooking dinner, I could have a glass of wine and it was like this calm down time. And maybe you can relate to that with like, okay, I'm sitting down watching TV. Yes. Now this is my calm down time. awesome perception And it's like, it's, we need that calm down time.
00:10:54
Speaker
Absolutely. But we need to figure out other ways of doing it. And it's taking that pause and investigating into the why in when we realize, why we're using alcohol as a crutch or sugar or food, whatever it is. You're right. And then we go further from the why when we start to get curious, there's that word again that I love that we've been using for the past couple episodes. And we start to see you know why it's inter inter intervened in our life or intertangled into our life. And then we look at further, firm what effects is this having beyond the why on my body?
00:11:35
Speaker
Absolutely. And let's get into that in a second. But one thing i also love when you just said that, we're not only, when we take that pause for alcohol, what I love about dry January, it's not just like, okay, I'm not going to have a drink this weekend. It's like, I'm not going to have a drink for 30 days.
00:11:54
Speaker
right And in those 30 days, you're going to really start to feel the effects of what it's like when you pause alcohol. It's going to change your sleep. It might change your skin. It's going to change your energy. like All these things. So You know, if you're listening out there and you're considering taking a pause for alcohol, we would absolutely encourage you to do it. And if you're just starting now, i would give yourself three to four weeks at least, if not more, um and see how you feel because we would love you to actually be able to feel the effects of what you're doing.
00:12:30
Speaker
For sure. Absolutely. And also, i think it's important to state too, it goes without saying, but it's still something I'm going to say, that if you're someone who wants to do this And it's become a big struggle. And you realize that you can't do it on your own. There's a lot of resources out there. And if you're not sure where to reach out, start with us. And we'll be able to direct you to the proper professionals in your area that can help you, you know, with taking a pause from alcohol.
00:12:57
Speaker
Absolutely, Tanya. And yes, that is, it is a big deal. And if you are thinking, if it is, if it is something that is, um,
00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah, if you are concerned about alcohol abuse of any kind, it's actually quite dangerous um to your health unless you are working with a practitioner. So if you're taking a pause of alcohol, wonderful. But if you think you need the support of a practitioner, absolutely reach out to somebody, as Tanya mentioned.
00:13:28
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. So important. So if we're looking now at all the wonderful things that you've just mentioned, Kim, that we're going to start to notice with a pause in alcohol, it's because of the things that alcohol does to our bodies.
00:13:45
Speaker
In the absence of it, we start to feel a lot better. So I think the number one thing that is a big beacon of red flashing light for me every single time I think about alcohol is the fact that it's a carcinogen.
00:13:59
Speaker
And that's not hidden. This isn't a conspiracy theory. This isn't, you know, some studies suggest. It is out there for everybody to read that alcohol is classified as a group one carcinogen, which is the highest risk group.
00:14:16
Speaker
Yeah. And actually, I just, um as you were talking there, Tanya, I just pulled up Health Canada's guidelines, which they updated in 2023. So quite recently, you know, and they say, um you know, I remember there were days where people were like, well, you know, red wine has antioxidants in it, red resveratrol, right? It's, we should have that glass of red wine a day. no.
00:14:40
Speaker
that the The guidelines, even Health Canada have updated to recommend recommend reducing alcohol intake, stating that no amount is truly safe. With risks increasing with consumption, especially over two standard drinks per week, and emphasizes zero alcohol is is always best for health.
00:15:02
Speaker
And I'm going to go and say it, because if anyone's going to, I'm going to. if Health Canada is saying that... yes Let's just go with if Health Canada is saying that, it's a thing. And also just talking about what you brought up, Kim, the benefits of wine that we've heard. Again, red wine is one of those things. It's so nuanced. But when you actually take the time. to look into red wine, you will see the words may.
00:15:32
Speaker
So that's really important. A glass of red wine may offer benefits like improved heart health because it could it may reduce, sorry, raise your good cholesterol. It may reduce the you know um risk of blood clots. It might lead to better gut diversity due to the antioxidants that you just mentioned.
00:15:55
Speaker
Make sure we look at the words may and we look at the words r do, and you put your scale hands out. Sure. There may be some benefits to red wine, but on the other hand of your scale hand here, it is a group is is a group one carcinogen. It knowingly causes cancer.
00:16:15
Speaker
And the alcohol piece of it wipes out all those benefits. Absolutely. man Because let's face it, alcohol also is a disinfectant and kills the bacteria in our microbiome. So whereas whereas some of thes some of the properties of red wine might be a benefit and um to our microbiome, the alcohol part of it kills that right out. So there's so many other ways to get those benefits without the wine.
00:16:43
Speaker
Right. It's like taking the sweet potato and saying, well, the sweet potato fri fries have sweet potato in them after they have been deep fried in printed oils. Kind of not the same thing anymore. So ah thousand people. Exactly. And let's face it. Let's just call it. Like, let's just face the facts that, we and we've all been there. I've done it. I've been like, yeah, well, it's it's benefit. I can have this once a day.
00:17:05
Speaker
When we're starting to do that, that's a chance to get curious as well, because what does that sound like? It sounds like an excuse. It's like, It sounds like you're justifying why you should have that great ah um glass of wine. So instead of coming for a place of intention where, you know what, I'm going to go out and have a glass of wine tonight because I feel like having a glass of wine in this situation. Instead of coming at a place of intention, you're coming at a place where you're trying to justify why you're making a decision that for some reason you're feeling a bit sticky about.
00:17:38
Speaker
Yep. That gut feeling is always there for a reason. So that is such a good point. Okay, back to the, sorry, we took you right off track here. So we talked a little bit about the cancer risk.
00:17:51
Speaker
We did. um What if we talk about the risk too, which is very clear about the relationship between alcohol and our hormones? Because we know that's a big one here, especially again with the wine o'clock and the, you know, that wine culture. And again, this is not... um This is not anybody wagging a finger or, you know, demonizing any of these things at all. This is just the reality about alcohol, our hormones and the culture around drinking in our mid age when our hormones are completely changing. I don't know about you.
00:18:26
Speaker
I don't need anything else to disrupt my estrogen production or I am going to snap. I'm already enough with the disrupted estrogen production. Thank you. Without alcohol.
00:18:38
Speaker
Totally. Well, you so it can, it as you mentioned, can disrupt estrogen projection perbolua production that we don't need. It also affects our sleep.
00:18:49
Speaker
I remember like if i if I go up with a group of women now, like we literally joke, it's like, okay, I can choose to have a glass of wine or i can choose to sleep through the night, either or.
00:19:01
Speaker
Can't do both. And actually, since I've been wearing the aura ring for a few years now, Whenever I have alcohol, if I choose to have it, my heart rate does not lower. um It stays elevated during the night, which absolutely disrupts my sleep. And you see it in the numbers. It's so interesting. It completely disrupts sleep, um which, again, also affects our hormones.
00:19:25
Speaker
For sure. And obviously, we've talked about many times that all of our hormones are connected. So it's going to affect other hormones aside from the sex hormones, it's going to affect our insulin.
00:19:37
Speaker
It's going affect our cortisol, especially if your aura ring is actually showing that your heart rate is staying elevated. And then things like this um continue on, you know, when it's affecting our nervous system, obviously our central nervous system,
00:19:52
Speaker
That's not even... I'm jumping ahead here, Laker. There's so much. So we're talking organs, we're talking liver, but it's a thing. It's super, super hormone disruptive from the sex hormones all the way through to our basic building block hormones of the nervous system.
00:20:10
Speaker
Well, absolutely. And like you mentioned insulin there for a second. And what I... What um I always mention to people too is if there's actually sugar in alcohol, right? like it's So usually also you might notice, side note, if you take a pause on alcohol and alcohol seems to be a part of a bigger part of your life, you might start noticing a few more sugar cravings. And so just being conscious of
Alcohol's Effects on Brain and Body
00:20:36
Speaker
that... and being aware of that um as you take this you know pause. um
00:20:43
Speaker
But so that that sugar piece, especially because likely we're having alcohol usually later on in the day in the evening. So you're ending your day with your blood sugar being up.
00:20:54
Speaker
What's going to happen? You've probably heard of this in our blood sugar episode. Your blood sugar comes down. You have you wake up in the middle of the night. So it's it's affecting your blood sugar. It's affecting, as Tanya mentioned, your insulin.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's all of this is so related. And this is again, ties back to um as you do decide to take that pause. This is the reasons why you'll see things start to increase and you'll have better quality sleep. um It's just really, really noticeable.
00:21:25
Speaker
hmm. Absolutely. And I mean, we talked about it a little bit at the beginning, but like you might notice your skin improving, your immune system. Again, we talked about the immune system and the effects sugar has on it, the effects sleep has on it. All of the things that we just discussed weaken the immune system. Alcohol literally weakens our immune system. um you know, our weight, our nervous system.
00:21:50
Speaker
um We talked about the microbiome briefly, but alcohol is a disinfected a disinfectant. So it literally, we have that alcohol, it kills off the bacteria in our gut.
00:22:01
Speaker
Exactly. So it can lead to more of like a dysbiosis in your gut and also in your mouth. A thousand percent. And let's think about for a second,
00:22:13
Speaker
When we drink to, I want to say to excess, but we all have different tolerance levels, right? i but I can't drink at all these days, but what I could drink back, you know, in my teens and my twenties, like was a lot more than I can drink now. But we've all, well, more I'm presuming a lot of us have felt drunk, right?
00:22:34
Speaker
And we know when we're drunk, we are completely non-functional. What does that mean what's going on inside? Your central nervous system is actually being depressed by the alcohol. Your brain function has been completely slowed down, right? You have impaired coordination and your communication actually is being disrupted between your brain cells. We know the slurred speech, all of this stuff. And that is absolutely crazy in itself when you actually stop to think about it. Did you ever think about that in your 20s? I never thought about that in my 20s, why was drunk and what was actually happening to my body for me to be drunk.
00:23:17
Speaker
You would have to pry a drink out of my hand. Oh my gosh. there were like I remember they'd be like, last call, and I'd be like, need to get to the bar to get as many drinks as possible. like it's It's scary to me. like Yeah. like If I think back, I'm like, oh. And now that I have kids of my own, I'm like, please. Please. I'm actually really encouraged by the decreased number of kids and like in their 20s drinking nowadays. I feel like so many people are sober curious and are going sober and understand these risks that we're talking about. But I digress because we're talking about the brain. And it's absolutely true, Tanya.
00:23:58
Speaker
we Our neurotransmitters are affected, like the calming GABA, for example. So I know you know when i used to drink to the state that we were discussing just now, to the state of being super drunk, the next few days, I would feel depressed and anxious. My anxiety level was heightened.
00:24:18
Speaker
And that's why, because it alters our brain chemistry. Literally alters our brain chemistry. Think about this too. the The words, blackout drunk. Right.
00:24:30
Speaker
ah And, you know, like, so what that actually is, is literally that little part in our brain, the hippocampus, it's, it's inhebernated this, you know, it's so intoxicated from this alcohol that we're preventing memory formation. Right.
00:24:46
Speaker
And scary it's so scary. So I know we're digressing a little bit, but we're still talking about it Like these are some of the top things that go on in your body. And we could have a 10 volume podcast to talk about head to toe. I think by now you get the gist like alcohol definitely takes a huge toll on our body. Number one, if the word
Positive Outcomes of Reducing Alcohol
00:25:09
Speaker
carcinogen doesn't make you a little bit leery, the rest of the stuff that we've just discussed, like, I mean,
00:25:15
Speaker
There's not really a positive effect that I'm going to go out on a limb and say for alcohol consumption on the body, sorry, i don't, the antioxidants, that doesn't mean anything to me.
00:25:29
Speaker
when they come and i And I think you're right. Like it's every, I think we can all agree that there is a definite case and why you should, why you should consider pausing alcohol. And I think like we always say with everything when sometimes these things can be hard and and if alcohol has been a big part of your life, it certainly was for me for a while. And I had to really dig deep into the why, um like I said at the beginning. But what we what i love is that...
00:26:03
Speaker
you know Like with anything, like when you change your your diet, when you start moving your body, when you focus on stress management, it's the effects that you start feeling that is going to kind of give you that reinforcement. And if you start if your mood starts changing, if you start to feel more resilient, if you don't feel like you're like,
00:26:22
Speaker
on like a tight wire and about to snap all the time, or if your anxiety calms, you start getting better sleeps, your skin clears up, all these little effects of stopping or pausing alcohol can really help you to kind of dig deep to see if you want to make this more continuous.
00:26:42
Speaker
Absolutely. And I don't think that there is one person that... has taken sobriety into their lives, you know, whether alcohol was an all-consuming issue or, you know, that it's just looking for that pause that will ever come back and say that they regret doing that, or, you know, they haven't seen the benefits. They're going to tell you that it was probably extremely hard at the beginning, but as time passed, I don't think anybody will say, I regret taking a pause
00:27:17
Speaker
on alcohol. I regret being sober, right? Absolutely. Well, and and it's like you figure out when you do, you also realize that like you can have fun without it. You can calm your mind without it. like All the reasons that you gave yourself of why you want to have that drink,
00:27:38
Speaker
You know, you can you can make those changes to say, like, I can do other things. Like, I don't need alcohol to have fun at a party. I don't need alcohol to be social. I don't need alcohol to calm my brain down.
00:27:54
Speaker
and In fact, it does the opposite. It does the opposite. And I get that all of these things that you're saying are easier said than done. They sound really beautiful, you know, and rainbows and sunshine. So we never really leave the conversation.
00:28:10
Speaker
without kind of trying to share frameworks and how to get there on your journey, not just being like, feels great. Good luck. Like
Setting Boundaries and Alternatives to Drinking
00:28:18
Speaker
whether you're doing dry January or you're just going to take some time potentially to examine your relationship with alcohol and maybe just cut back a bit. I think the first thing that you really need to um commit to is being intentional with this choice.
00:28:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I love that, Tanya. And it it goes from at the beginning, we're making a decision before you go out, making a decision at the beginning of the day, making a decision now that, you know, I'm going to be intentional about not drinking alcohol or... If it comes to the end and you decide that you are going to have alcohol in your life, but, you know, less often, be intentional about when you're going to have that glass. I think the worst thing that we can do is show up somewhere with the intention of not and then being like, oh, just one glass. Like, you need to realize what your intention is and then, you know, making moving forward with that decision.
00:29:18
Speaker
And I see that so, so often with my clients, right? that, you know, every good intention about showing up and not having any alcohol and a glass turns into three and then, you know, so it's something that we all, most of us have, you know, gone through, struggled with whatever, but if you can stick to that intention. And I think you often can't have intentions without having boundaries, right?
00:29:49
Speaker
So with that, like, if you feel comfortable, Tell people. I don't mean get up on a soapbox and like scream out, if you'd like you can, that you're doing, you know, dry gin or whatever. But like, and you don't have to list all the things, the health effects that we discussed at a party.
00:30:07
Speaker
fact you You might not be the most popular person there. So you might want to hold on to that. But tell someone you're going out with your three girls. Say, hey, Kim, you know, um just so you know, just so you know, like, I'm not drinking tonight.
00:30:24
Speaker
And that's a boundary. And that's why I say boundaries are often linked with intentions. And I know setting boundaries are hard. But it's a practice. So start with those little boundaries, make it knowing what you're doing. And you know what?
00:30:35
Speaker
Others might be waiting for you to do that. You might be the inspiration and they're like, oh Kim, I'm so glad you said that. I don't want to drink either. Right? Yes. You might be giving other people permission to do the same thing and it's so much better. Like we said before, it's nice when you have an accountability partner and someone doing it with you. And the other way, if you do find that someone's like, oh, like no fun or like, come on, like just one glass.
00:31:03
Speaker
Remember like what we talked about in the boundaries episode, you might be coming up against someone else who are also considering their relationship with alcohol. And so just be be wary of that as well. You can come up against somebody else's sort of stickiness when it comes to alcohol. That's so such a good point to bring to this. So relevant. um And also, i want to say, fill your time and fill your glass with something else. So I guess what I mean by this is anytime that we're trying to, you know, give ourself distance from something that is so woven into our lives, so routine, something that gives us permission to relax, gives us permission to have fun, to celebrate, it's hard not to fill that with something else. So
00:31:51
Speaker
phil Either your time differently. So if you're always having a drink at a certain time or, you know, always this drink signals this, find something different, something nourishing to fill that time. Maybe you're going for a walk. Maybe it's something completely different or.
00:32:09
Speaker
Fill your cup with something different. Lord knows there are so many yummy mocktail ideas that don't have to be loaded in sugar. Kim has talked about them a lot with her ginger water and all of this. So fill your time and fill your cup with something different. Take the edge off of that.
00:32:27
Speaker
I love it. Actually, Tanya, it's funny. When I first started changing my relationship with alcohol, i like I said, I used to have a glass of wine making dinner. And um instead of doing that, I made myself a maca latte. Maca also is super good, as we discussed, for the nervous system in that episode. And I would get excited for this, like especially in the wintertime, this warm cup that I enjoyed drinking. And I would drink it slowly and I would be making dinner. So it's like...
00:32:57
Speaker
that replacement piece, which I love, um instead of that glass of wine, change it to something else that you can get excited about too. Amazing. And that speaks to me on volumes when it comes to food. Because, you know, as I started to, you know, wean down with snacking in the evening and whatever, the first step was changing it to something that i still looked forward to before, you know, I, you know, you continue changing things as you go on. I
Tracking Progress and Managing Cravings
00:33:25
Speaker
love that so much.
00:33:29
Speaker
Love it. And like we said before, I think, you know, notice what's going on in your body. know what's Notice the symptoms that may be going away. Notice maybe how good you're feeling. It's a great time to keep a journal um and really pay attention um and celebrate um these changes that you're making in your in your health and your mental health and your physical health.
00:33:54
Speaker
Yeah. And while you're at it, exactly. Your mental health, you just said, and your physical health, pay attention to the big shifts as well. And if some shifts are problematic and one that is most likely going to be the most problematic can be sugar cravings. Because as you said, Kim, sugar is a part of alcohol and works the same way in the body. i And you're having that craving and it's problematic and you're not feeling like you're able to fill that with something, you know, that's nourishing like the maca latte or something different. um That's important because remember, your body might be out of balance, especially if you're coming off alcohol and it's been a regular in your life for some time.
00:34:36
Speaker
And sometimes it needs a little bit of tweaks. It needs it a little bit of love um and support beyond what you might know. So that's
Final Encouragement and Wrap-Up
00:34:44
Speaker
again, where a practitioner can come in like him or myself, a nutritionist to help you fill the gaps that as you come off of, you know, something that's been in your life for so long.
00:34:56
Speaker
Exactly. No, that that's exactly help stabilize that blood sugar, help rebalance that gut microbiome. um But guys, I hope that you're still with us. I hope that you didn't turn us off. Thank you for listening. um And we, if you are doing dry January, keep going. and if you haven't, and you are looking at at sort of investigating and digging deep into your relationship with alcohol, we encourage you to do that. um And take a good, you know,
00:35:30
Speaker
Look at maybe doing it for three to four weeks to just see how your body can can heal. Absolutely. I think you said it so good, Kim, when you said, regardless of all of the things we've talked about today, there's definitely a very strong case against alcohol. So again, even if this is just a little niggle to help you dive deep and maybe even cut back, we support any positive change when it comes to reducing or eliminating alcohol for all of these reasons and more.
00:36:02
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, guys, happy January. And we will talk to you next week. Thanks, Tanya, for this conversation. Bye, Kim. Bye.
00:36:13
Speaker
Hey guys, thanks so much for hanging out with us today. If this episode resonated with you, we would love it if you would hit like, subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend. We love to hear from you because let's be honest, this show is for you.
00:36:27
Speaker
If you have a topic you'd love us to tackle or want to learn more about something we talked about today, send us a message. We got you. Stay connected with us on social media at whatsmyageagain.podcast for even more knowledge and inspiration between episodes.
00:36:45
Speaker
Kim and I aren't doctors or your healthcare practitioners. Everyone's body is unique, so always consult your own healthcare care provider before starting something new.