I’m confused.
For years, I have read and seen reports that a drink or two a day is good for you. Now, the surgeon general has issued a warning about cancer risks from alcohol.
Originally, we were told that up to 14 drinks a week for men and seven for women is a healthy number. Now, “my guidelines would be that drinking fewer than seven drinks a week would be a healthier way to use alcohol,” primary care physician and medical educator at Northwestern University Aashish Didwania told NPR, based on his interpretation of the surgeon general’s new report.
The fact of the matter is that nobody can really say how much is a good or unhealthy amont of alcohol to drink. For one thing, the types of alcohol are different. Slugging down whiskey cocktails is not the same as having a few beers or glasses of wine. People are different, too. They have different tolerances, different metabolisms, different heredity health issues and different lifestyles.
“I don’t know that we’re ever going to be able to get to that level of precision,” Timothy Rebbeck, professor of cancer prevention at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, told NPR. “So there will always probably be some question about whether a certain number of alcoholic beverage drinks a day is going to be the right answer.”
Here’s what I think.
You should drink what you can handle. Your body tells you things and you should listen to it. If you feel nauseous or have other ill effects, then either don’t drink or don’t drink a lot. If you don’t have any side effects, then you are likely okay to be on the higher end of alcohol consumption.
One’s lifestyle also plays a big part into how much alcohol is healthy to drink. If you sit around and stuff your face with food – particularly sweets – then you should not drink as much as someone who exercises regularly and eats a reasonably healthy diet.
I am one of the latter. I run or ride a bike three to six days a week when my schedule permits, don’t eat a lot of red meat, limit fatty or fried foods, don’t eat sweets (that’s right, no sweets!) and never go to fast food restaurants. I do, however, splurge on occasion in my non-ending seearch for the world’s greatest burger – so far, the dive bar Ercoles in Manhattan Beach, CA, is the clubhouse leader – and some other culinary pleasures such as Dreamland Ribs in Tuscaloosa, AL.
I usually drink several days a week, tho sometimes it’s just a glass or two of wine. And, according to my latest doctor’s visit and blood test, I am in excellent health.
The Bartender is PubClub.com’s columnist. He writes about things he sees from the viewpont of a barstool. This post was written by a human with no assistance from AI.
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