MY VIEWS ON ALCOHOL 
(Take 'em or leave 'em)

Alcohol is not good for you.

"But red wine is good for you!" Nope, sorry, not true. Just because grapes are high in antioxidants does not make wine good for your heart. Yes, I know, there was a famous study that said so, but if you’ve read my blog post on nutrition misinformation, then you’ll understand that it isn't so.⁠
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So, what does alcohol do to your body?⁠

-As it is toxic, your body will prioritise burning it as fuel and store carbs and fat away while doing so. Not good if you want to lose weight!⁠
-Causes inflammation⁠
-Can cause you to lose control of your eating urges⁠
-Is a diuretic and contributes to dehydration⁠
-It stresses the liver (actually the entire body)⁠
-Reduces deep sleep, suppresses REM sleep, fragments sleep during the second half of the night, and shortens overall sleep duration⁠
-Depletes vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12 and K, and copper, magnesium and potassium⁠
-It decreases zinc absorption and increases urinary zinc excretion. Zinc is needed to produce stomach acid. (Over 50% of people who drink moderate to high amounts of alcohol are severely zinc deficient.)⁠
-Can exacerbate symptoms of yeast infection
-Can increase blood sugar levels
-Is a major contributor to higher uric acid levels and tends to increase the incidence of gout
-It is addictive

⁠According to Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride (@GAPSyndrome), in her book Gut and Physiology Syndrome, alcohol and sugar addictions are two sides of the same coin. She says that to overcome an addiction to both alcohol and sugar, you need to eat lots of animal fats at each meal.

If you choose to drink alcohol, know that it is toxic and that it will in any amount put stress on your body’s cells, organs, and systems. If you have healing to do or weight to lose, then it might just be something to think about.⁠