I read an article this morning on alcohol consumption – our reality and what we tell our doctor. Probably more especially interesting to those of us who unabashedly enjoy a few glasses of our “bevvie-of-choice” regularly.
I won’t recount the article here, you can read it for yourself Here.
What is it about alcohol consumption
What is it about alcohol consumption that creates guilt and subsequent lies in the life of an adult person who does not have dependency issues?
I have my rules:
- I don’t often drink mid-week. (that may come as a bit of a surprise to my fortnightly online community who know I do often enjoy a glass of wine with them 🙂 )
- I never drink at lunch (that’s because now that I’m older I’m asleep by 2 in the afternoon after even just one glass of wine midday).
- I never drink if I’m driving someone else.
- I never drank if I was on my motorcycle.
- If I’m driving by myself I’ll have one drink – or maybe two if I’m there all evening.
Friday and Saturday evenings are mine however. A glass of wine while I’m making dinner and a top-up when it’s ready. Another glass when I sit down to relax and, as those nights are later, it’s easy to have another glass or two while I watch a movie. And Bing! the bottle is done. By Sunday there are two empty bottles lying in my recycle bin.
It’s 4 glasses of wine
Another way of looking at it is 4 glasses of wine, each less than 200 ml (6.5 oz. for those who don’t do metric). Yes, I pour tall glasses because once I have my feet up, it’s a pain to get up repeatedly to fill a small glass. Eight glasses of wine each week, which is still more than the suggested 1-2 per day recommended for women by the health department.
Even as I write that paragraph above, I feel like I’m confessing some deficiency. I feel the non-existent raised eyebrows of the doctor. I feel the downcast eyes of several friends who don’t want me mentioning their names.
Yes, I lie
Back to the article that prompted this post… yes, I lie on those forms or when the doctor asks. I say I have a “coupla” drinks on Fridays and Saturdays, as if using that non-word blurs the definition of “couple”.
Why is there such stigma around enjoying alcoholic beverages? I’m all “growed up” now and responsible and like my creature comforts… including a bottle of Shiraz!
How about you? Have you noticed a stigma around alcohol consumption? If you want to join me in a movement to treat ourselves as adults, tell me in the Comments what your “bevvie-of-choice” is and unashamedly declare your per week!
Just for the record, it’s Monday and I’m off to a friend’s place for dinner tonight – I’m bringing the wine!
I completely enjoyed and related to this post on so many levels. I won’t go into the details here, but I thank you for your transparency. I feel less judged…
Molly, if you’re ever on Vancouver Island, stop by for a glass of wine! I only pour the first one, then you decide for yourself… and I have a guest bed in case we enjoy our evening a lot!!
As I started reading the post, I realized it was closing in on five o’clock. Happy hour. 🙂 With that large glass of Shiraz and a cracker or two, time to make dinner for Mom and Boo (the dog) and me. That’s one more with dinner. Pretty standard around this house. About the only time that varies is if we are entertaining. Then happy hour comes early and stretches out a bit. Ditto dinner. Then add the after dinner visiting. Well, there’s a trip to the bottle recycling depot every week. No guilt here. About the doctor, though….I do confess… Read more »
Haha, one of my partners in crime! Yes, lovely long dinners and visits with good friends can happen any night of the week! Glad to see you are still flipping off the medical authorities!! 🙂
Hi Agnes, if I had read this 9 months ago I would have said that my husband and I would enjoy scotch and soda and red wine almost daily. Unfortunately, it came to the point where he decided that he was drinking far too much and booked himself into a detox program. Since March neither of us has consumed alcohol and yes I do miss the odd glass of wine or bubbly. I agree that we should be treated as adults and not feel that we have to fudge the figures lest we be judged. Cheers and thanks for sharing… Read more »
Thank you, Sue, the thread of “responsibility” is intact. Most of us know how much is enough, and if we wander over that line, we decide whether stopping alone or with help would be the most efficient. There are so many delightful beverages available now that not imbibing can be quite fun!
You have a lovely week too!!
LOL, I lie to my doctor, because I figure that he is assuming I am lying, and padding my number by a few! I enjoy my wine, but I tend to gain weight, so I have to make sure I track my points when I do indulge!
#mlstl
Yeah… let’s not discuss waistlines here, Bethany…. 🙂
I’m loving finding so many unabashed wine enjoyers here!
I love wine, and indulge whenever I feel inclined. Having said that, I am a responsible drinker and know my limits. You’ll get no judgement from me for lying on the forms.
Thank you, Suzanne! I think it is about responsibility! Perhaps I shall be completely honest next time and see what happens… be another blog post no doubt! 🙂
I could’ve written this! I rarely drink during the week but the weekends, and particularly Saturday, are MINE! I drink responsibly and refuse to allow anyone to make me feel guilty about it. #MLSTL
Thank you, Kim! I ran the article by a few friends before I pressed Publish and all gave the same response you did!! Perhaps we need to ask a few doctors how they fill out those forms! (I feel my devil forms protruding just a wee bit!) 🙂
The funny thing is that I don’t drink alcohol at all (alcoholic father turned me right off) – but see how I had to explain myself there…. When you don’t drink you get just as many raised eyebrows and condescending looks – more so when I was younger, but even now, my wine-y friends can’t understand why I don’t like the taste of wine – I’ve tried it many times, but it tastes like vinegar to me. I think we are of an age where we can just let everyone do their own thing (responsibly) and stop trying to put… Read more »
Interesting reading your comment, Leanne, as I was leaning more to being impressed with your abstinence and hoping you weren’t judging me for my lack of same. It’s no wonder the field of psychology is so huge!! Humans!! 🙂
Great post 🙂 I do think there are so many rules and regulations about how we should live our lives, what we should eat, what diseases are going to kill us, what tests we must go for regularly that it all becomes a bit too much. If we enjoy a glass of wine or two, and we drink responsibly and don’t harm others, then I think we shouldn’t feel guilty or feel the need to fib about our consumption. But we do fib to our Drs because we don’t want to feel like we don’t know the rules!
I agree, Johanna! Every time I read about wine practically being a staple in the diet of long-livers, I get frustrated that there are so many rules for us, the consumers, and so few rules for the Twinkie makers and McDonalds developers!! 🙂
So, first of all, as a nurse I will tell you it is soooooooo important to tell the truth about alcohol consumption.
Now, that being said, most people under exaggerate how much they drink. (Myself included)
Perhaps, Michelle, we should all be completely honest and have doctors take sensitivity training that includes never using the raised eyebrow thing. and mothers may never train guilt into us! (easy to say now my children are grown and I have done a masterful job of developing their guilty conscience!) 🙂
I have a theory about ‘Doctor’s Forms.’ I believe for their questions about alcohol and diet they fully expect you to fill in half of what you actually consume. e.g., 2-3 glasses of wine per week…they automatically change it to 6! Same thing with food. When you say you have the “occasional” sugary snacks…they instantly add extra hostess twinkies to the equation. So, in my theory, you really shouldn’t tell the full truth on Doctor forms. It just confuses everyone!! Great post! 🙂
Aha! so perhaps we feel guilt around our “indulgences” then. I eat very few sweets so never need to lie. I think a psychologist could have a hayday with this subject!! 🙂