Nutrition

Managing Alcohol Intake - Tips to Reduce the Negative Effects of Alcohol 

Huberman Lab Breakdown

Last week, I felt like I completely bashed alcohol.

And well, I kind of did. Last week’s podcast I talked all about how alcohol negatively impacts our brain, our gut, and more.

But today, I’m going to give you the real stuff.

Today I’m going to talk about how we can all manage our alcohol intake effectively so we can manage or reduce the negative impacts that alcohol has on our health.

I’m about to get pretty personal with you with regard to my relationship with alcohol and where it has been in the past compared to where it is now.

Personally, I’m not going to stop drinking. Or at least I don’t feel called to at this point in my life. And that’s because I enjoy it for one, but it’s also because I feel like I’m in a pretty darn good spot with my alcohol intake and my relationship with alcohol.

I don’t drink during the week - most of the time. Unless there’s a specific event that I will allow myself to drink at. Most of the time if I’m drinking, then I’ll drink to feel a buzz and feel a little drunk, but not excessively.

And every once in a while, I would say that I partake in what would be considered binge drinking, which for men is defined as 5 or more drinks on one occasion and for women it’s 4 or more drinks on one occasion.

I might have done that some during the Fall on some Saturdays when I was watching football all day long. I may do that when I go to a wedding or am on vacation. But outside of some of those times, I don’t participate in binge drinking. And when I do fall into the category of binge drinking, I’m not getting belligerent; I’m not regretting my actions and I’m not putting myself or others in harm's way.

But that’s not how it always used to be.

To be completely transparent with you, when I was in college, I drank a lot. It was so normalized back then to drink heavily on multiple days of the week and I definitely partook in that myself.
I’m somewhat embarrassed to say this but when I was in college, drinking until the point of blacking out was somewhat of a regularity for me. For some of you, that is very scary to hear. But for some of you, you know what I’m talking about.

That was pretty normal and wasn’t frowned upon when I was in college, and so I continued to do it.

Now…

The thought of blacking out scares the crap out of me. And I haven’t done that in years and years. And it’s almost even hard to believe that’s how it used to be for me.

But my body’s relationship with alcohol has dramatically changed. And what I mean by that is back when I was in college and I was drinking I could always keep going. I felt like my body was staying alert and awake and the sensation of drinking and the dopamine and serotonin release kept moving in the right direction.

Nowadays, luckily, it’s not like that. After I have a few drinks, most of the time I start to get tired and don’t desire to keep going. And that has actually changed due to the decreased frequency and severity of my drinking bouts. That’s not a factor of getting older, it’s actually a matter of my neurochemical response to alcohol being different because of drinking less.

I say that to give you hope. Because if your relationship with alcohol or consumption of alcohol is not yet where you want it to be, then know that you can change. Your body does have the ability to actually desire less alcohol, when you drink less of it.

While I don’t condone my level of alcohol consumption when I was in college because it was too excessive, I don’t beat myself up about it either. I take full responsibility for my consumption but it was normalized based on my environment, and hey…I was in college.

But I’m so happy that my consumption of alcohol is nowhere near what it was back then.
And I promise I will get to some practical tips with regard to what you should eat to lessen the detrimental impacts of alcohol, how to regulate your blood sugar more effectively, how to replenish your gut, and how to reduce hangover effects, but first I want to dive into two mindset shifts that have allowed me to manage my alcohol intake more effectively.

1. Productivity

After graduating from college, I became an entrepreneur pretty quickly. And when you’re an entrepreneur and running your own business, you are the only one - at least in the beginning - who is going to move the needle forward.

So, I couldn’t afford to be hungover or feel bad due to needing to be productive to run my business.

The desire to grow my business and be productive on a regular basis, really helped me to manage my alcohol intake.

2. I’m Not In College Anymore

“You’re a grown man, Nick. Act like one.” I needed to have that conversation with myself a number of times.

When I was in college, my responsibilities were still somewhat limited. I still wanted to get good grades, I had a job my junior and senior year, but still compared to the real world, my responsibilities were a whole lot less.

And I know that might not be the case for everyone in college but it was the case for me.
And I knew that once I graduated, that kind of college mentality wasn’t going to allow me to achieve my goals.

That lack of responsibility wasn’t going to be a good or legitimate excuse anymore.

It was time to grow up, put my big boy pants on, and quit acting like an immature college kid.

Okay, now that we have some of my personal story out of the way, let’s dive into some practical tips based on the science presented in the last episode, for how to manage our alcohol intake and reduce the negative impacts it has on our health.

1. Eat Something Before You Drink Alcohol

I’m 100% guilty of wanting to drink on an empty stomach so I can feel the buzz sooner. 100% guilty of that. And to be honest…I’ll probably be guilty of it at certain times in the future as well. But I certainly don’t want to make that the norm.

When you drink alcohol on an empty stomach, the alcohol will be absorbed much more quickly into your bloodstream and the buildup of acetaldehyde will be sharper making the negative impacts more severe.

And eating something after you’ve had alcohol, doesn’t help. Alcohol gets absorbed into the bloodstream so quickly, that eating after you drink won’t bring down your blood alcohol content like you might think.

And when alcohol gets absorbed into your bloodstream quickly, it’s my understanding that more of it has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, increasing the negative effects alcohol has on the brain.

Tip: Eat something before you drink. More specifically, have a well balanced meal with protein, healthy fat, and fiber prior to drinking to lessen the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream.

How to Apply: When going out to eat, wait to order your alcohol beverage to come with your meal.

2. Manage Cravings By Regulating Your Blood Sugar

In my interview with Dr. Brooke Scheller - author of How to Eat to Change How You Drink - she mentioned how so often when we get the urge to drink, it’s because our blood sugar levels are low.

The low blood sugar levels provide us with the craving of an alcoholic beverage, when we really might just be hungry.

Tip #1: To regulate our blood sugar levels throughout the day, make sure you’re eating well-balanced meals with protein, healthy fat, and fiber. A well-balanced meal will lessen the severity of a post meal blood sugar spike, and therefore lessen the severity of your blood sugar crash. It will keep a much smoother blood sugar curve.

Tip #2: If you have a craving in the afternoon for a sip of alcohol, try eating a healthy snack instead and then see if you still want the drink.

3. Reset Your HPA Axis By Eliminating Alcohol for 1-2 Months

Our body has something called the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis. It’s essentially our bodies' link between the brain and body for how we perceive stress and then our corresponding physiological response to stress.

When you drink regularly, your HPA axis is impacted by making you feel more stressed and more anxious during times when you’re not drinking.

Your body can perceive greater levels of stress and then create the physiological response inside of your body of producing more cortisol.

But our HPA Axis can be reset by eliminating alcohol for a certain period of time.

Tip: If you feel like you’re stressed and anxious a lot, and you think alcohol might be playing a role in this, try eliminating alcohol for 1-2 months to see if that helps.

4. Replenish the Gut Microbiome With Low Sugar Fermented Foods

It is well documented that alcohol consumption damages our gut microbiome.

Alcohol can lead to dysbiosis - an imbalance of the good and bad bacteria in our gut.

And it can lead to leaky gut aka. Intestinal permeability - which causes unwanted food particles to leave the gut and move into our bloodstream increasing levels of inflammation.

Dr. Andrew Huberman of The Huberman Lab Podcast, talks about studies that show consuming 2-4 servings of fermented foods per day can help restore your gut microbiome.

Not only would it help to consume these after drinking to replenish the gut, but it’s also important to have before drinking so that you’re in a more optimal state before destroying some of the good bacteria.

Tip: Consume low sugar fermented foods more regularly in the amount of 2-4 servings per day when you can. This low sugar fermented foods can be from things like kimchi, sauerkraut, nato, kefir and yogurt.

Side note: This is something I’m working on doing more of myself. I personally eat yogurt a decent amount but am wanting to add in sauerkraut more regularly.

5. Reduce Hangover Effects With Electrolytes And Probiotics

There are a number of reasons why we feel hungover the day after drinking. Some of the biggest reasons are because of sleep disruption due to alcohol, dehydration or electrolyte depletion, and breaking down of the good bacteria in the gut.

In order to tackle the latter 2 - electrolyte depletion and breaking down of the gut - it would help to ensure your electrolyte levels and gut microbiome are in a good spot prior to drinking.
And then it will help to replenish these things quickly after drinking as well.

When I say electrolytes, I mean things like potassium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, and calcium. And to help you out, I have taken a list from Web MD of foods that are high in these electrolytes which are:

Potassium: Bananas, beet greens, salmon, white beans, avocado, potatoes, milk, mushrooms

Sodium: Dill pickles, clams, table salt, cheese, dry-roasted sunflower seeds

Magnesium: Spinach, pumpkin seeds, lima beans, tuna, brown rice, almonds

Phosphorous: Yellowfin tuna, tofu, milk, chicken, scallops, pumpkin seeds, quinoa

Calcium: Milk, cheese, spinach, tofu, yogurt, okra, trout, acorn squash

I also mentioned low sugar fermented foods that are high in prebiotics in the previous tip.

Tip: Consume foods high in electrolytes and probiotics before and after drinking to reduce hangovers.

6. Reduce Hangover Effects By What Alcohol You Consume

This tip is coming straight from Dr. Andrew Huberman and what he talked about on one of his podcast episodes.

He essentially talked about how there is this belief that sugary drinks are the ones that will make you feel most hungover.

And it turns out that’s not the case. It turns out that yes, some drinks that are very sugary will make you feel severely hungover, but other drinks high in sugar, don’t cause as severe of a hangover.

He recites from a particular study a spectrum of different alcohols that lead to least severe hangovers to most severe hangover and the list is as follows from least severe to most:

-Ethanol diluted in Orange Juice (know idea what that is but that’s what he said)
-Beer
-Vodka
-Gin
-White Wine
-Whiskey
-Rum
-Red Wine
-Brandy

I know I don’t have tequila on there but he didn’t mention it in his episode. Sorry for all you margarita lovers out there.

Tip: More regularly choose alcohols that have a smaller chance of giving you a terrible hangover.

7. Communicate With The People You’re Spending Time With

Nowadays people are much less judgmental when it comes to alcohol consumption or I should say less judgmental if you decide to not drink alcohol.

I know personally, I’ve felt this before. I didn’t want to be the only one at the party or the game not drinking.

I didn’t want to tell them I’m not drinking and then lead them to thinking I have some sort of a problem.

But nowadays people don’t see it as, “oh, they must have a problem.” They’re more likely to see it as, “that person is on a health journey.” They’re more likely to be curious rather than demeaning.

And remember if they criticize you, then one, maybe you should evaluate that person’s role in your life. And two, they’re probably just jealous that you are staying healthier, that you have the discipline, and that you’re going to feel great tomorrow when they’re not.

They’re just envious of you.

Tip: Communicate openly with people you spend time with about your alcohol consumption. Don’t feel shame; feel pride in your ability to talk about it.

Conclusion

Phew, alcohol…it’s always quite the conversation.

I try to attack the conversation about alcohol carefully. Because I know we all have unique experiences with it and a unique relationship with it.

But look, the science is the science and the facts are the facts. Alcohol is not healthy for us.
A lot of the science on alcohol that I’ve discussed are studies done with people who report drinking on average 1-2 drinks a day or 7-14 per week. Therefore, my recommendation would be to consume 7 drinks or less or if you can do 5 or less, that’s even better.

Alcohol is something we all have to continually navigate. We’re never finished with it. We’re always working on it.

Sometimes I choose health and won't drink. Sometimes I choose quality of life, and enjoy an ice cold Modelo, or some Red Wine, or a Moscow Mule or Margarita.

We would all benefit from more effectively navigating that balance of health and quality of life in a manner that works best for us.

Let me know what your favorite part about this episode was or what your favorite tip was. Feel free to DM me on Instagram @carrier_bestyou and let me know what you thought.

And if alcohol is holding you back from achieving your health and fitness goals, then I’d love to help you in the next 10-Week Transformation starting April 22nd.

And if you’d like to try out our 1-Week FREE Trial, then you can do so at nickcarrier.com/freetrial today.

To getting closer to your Best You,

Nick

P.S. Be sure you’re following me on Instagram, the show on the Apple Podcast App or Spotify, and you’re subscribing on YouTube so you don’t miss out on future episodes.

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