Dry January 2024

[ZiziPB]

Thought I would start this thread a couple of days ahead so that people can plan and prepare :-)

Last year, I did a dry January that lasted through the end of February.  The rest of the year, I reduced my alcohol consumption significantly - went from daily couple of glasses of wine to having a glass or two on special occasions only.  But there are a lot of special occasions in December (in addition to the holidays, several close family members have birthdays, including myself).  Overall, I'm happy with the greatly reduced level of consumption, so I'm planning to continue in 2024, starting with at least a month or two of no alcohol at all.

So who is in?

[Sanitary Stache]

I’m in.

I started having an alcoholic drink a night since DW gave birth last week. I haven’t felt great and am associating it with the alcohol. Like a pain down my left skull into my neck.

I’d like to not drink anything for a month and see if I feel better.

[NotJen]

In.

I had a lot of dry months in 2023, and hope to continue in 2024.  I had 5 drinks in December - probably the most of any month this year.

[Chris Pascale]

In. There is currently a glass of bourbon in the freezer for later tonight, but it'll be my 2nd, and I've been snacking on liquor-filled chocolates today, too.

Generally, there's no liquor in the house, but I hosted friends on Christmas and for the time it's in the house, I may drink it as much as daily until it's gone.

[ZiziPB]

Dry January benefits I noticed last year:
- much better sleep
- a lot more clear headed energy in the mornings
- various joint aches and stiffness that I associated with aging, simply gone
- face less puffy and not as prone to redness as before

One thing I was also hoping for that didn't materialize was weight loss.  But I eat to many sweets for that, I guess...

[RetiredAt63]

Technical question - if recipes call for wine, and they are definitely better with the wine, does the wine negate the dry month?  Theoretically the alcohol evaporates in cooking.

Because if cooking wine doesn't count, I'm in.

[Metalcat]

Technical question - if recipes call for wine, and they are definitely better with the wine, does the wine negate the dry month?  Theoretically the alcohol evaporates in cooking.

Because if cooking wine doesn't count, I'm in.

I personally have never stopped cooking with wine.

[Sanitary Stache]

I will buy grape juice to have some fruit of the vine to drink on Shabbat.

[Dibbels81]

In. I've been a moderate, likely heavy drinker for 20+ years (~3 beers or glasses of wine daily). I rarely ever drink to the point of getting drunk, and my overall health is good, though I'm sure the effects of daily drinking will catch up to me eventually (age currently 42). I've been drink-free since Christmas day already--no huge changes noted aside from improved sleep. Short-term goal is to drop 20 lbs. Long-term goal is to eliminate daily drinking. I like wine way too much to become a teetotaler. Will be sugar-free this month too! Down ~2 pounds this past week.

[RetiredAt63]

Technical question - if recipes call for wine, and they are definitely better with the wine, does the wine negate the dry month?  Theoretically the alcohol evaporates in cooking.

Because if cooking wine doesn't count, I'm in.

I personally have never stopped cooking with wine.

OK, I'm in.  I'm not much of a drinker anyway, but I want to really cut back on carbs in January and alcohol is an easy target. 

[Dicey]

We're not really drinkers either, but I'm in for moral support.

[Midwest_Handlebar]

I'm in. My body needs a break from alcohol.

[Metalcat]

Technical question - if recipes call for wine, and they are definitely better with the wine, does the wine negate the dry month?  Theoretically the alcohol evaporates in cooking.

Because if cooking wine doesn't count, I'm in.

I personally have never stopped cooking with wine.

OK, I'm in.  I'm not much of a drinker anyway, but I want to really cut back on carbs in January and alcohol is an easy target.

Same, I'm cutting sugar, which I do periodically, but lately my digestive system is just not having it.

I'm 4 years no alcohol tomorrow though, which is pretty nifty.

[Cawl]

Only ever got drunk once, but I support you doing this.

[RetiredAt63]

Technical question - if recipes call for wine, and they are definitely better with the wine, does the wine negate the dry month?  Theoretically the alcohol evaporates in cooking.

Because if cooking wine doesn't count, I'm in.

I personally have never stopped cooking with wine.

OK, I'm in.  I'm not much of a drinker anyway, but I want to really cut back on carbs in January and alcohol is an easy target.

Same, I'm cutting sugar, which I do periodically, but lately my digestive system is just not having it.

I'm 4 years no alcohol tomorrow though, which is pretty nifty.

That is a lot!

I'm the kind of drinker who thinks a glass of wine with dinner would be nice, and realizes as she is brushing her teeth before bed that she never had that glass of wine.

Sugar and seriously starchy stuff is also on the cut list.  Gluten-free pasta is still pretty carby, no comfort mac and cheese this month. I can't do without sugar entirely or I will be drinking only water, but there is lots of room to cut.   

[Log]

I am in - my intention is that these first few months of 2024 are time to really make a push in my career, so avoiding alcohol to be as clear-headed and well-rested as possible just makes sense.

[Frankies Girl]

I'm in.

Up until about 3 years ago, I was practically a non drinker. Hell, I usually was the designated driver as alcohol just didn't appeal to me. But this past year, my consumption has become a many times a week thing, and noticed some weight gain, feeling blah and general lazy/unmotivated behavior in this same time. I would like to do a hard reset to get it back to a very occasional occasions again.

I'm also going to be moving my diet back to low carb/high protein as I felt really good and had great maintenance for close to a decade before we started letting simple carbs and eating out too much creep back in this year. 2023 was the year of F this, gonna be indulgent and boy howdy did that bite me in the (unfortunately larger) butt.

[the lorax]

Also in with the exception of cooking with wine etc. Haven't done a dry month for a while so will be interesting to see if there's much of a change, I usually have 1-2 beers 4-5 nights a week

[RetiredAt63]

DAY 1.  I think giving up chocolate is going to be a lot harder than giving up alcohol.  I do love my chocolate.  This feels more like Lent than a January resolution.   ;-(

Fortunately it is winter, there is my David's Tea hot chocolate tea and I can make hot chocolate.  So I will get a little hit of chocolate flavour and theobromine still.

[ZiziPB]

@RetiredAt63 - same as you, I have no trouble giving up alcohol (last year, it was more of a challenge since I used to drink daily), so I will join you in the challenge of giving up sweets for the month of January, starting today.

[RetiredAt63]

@RetiredAt63 - same as you, I have no trouble giving up alcohol (last year, it was more of a challenge since I used to drink daily), so I will join you in the challenge of giving up sweets for the month of January, starting today.

Oh good, we can suffer together and cheer each other on!

I'm not 100% giving up all sweets, since there will still be sugar in my tea (about half of usual) but no others. So 95%?

[redhead84]

I'm in for dry January. I'm not a big drinker, but it is definitely a part of my social routine. I want to challenge myself to attend those social events without a drink or two.

[LifeHappens]

My Dry January starts today (January 2). I don't find it too much of a challenge, especially with so many pubs and restaurants stocking non-alcohol beer and serving mocktails now. I like starting the new year on a more healthy note.

[ZiziPB]

@RetiredAt63 - same as you, I have no trouble giving up alcohol (last year, it was more of a challenge since I used to drink daily), so I will join you in the challenge of giving up sweets for the month of January, starting today.

Oh good, we can suffer together and cheer each other on!

I'm not 100% giving up all sweets, since there will still be sugar in my tea (about half of usual) but no others. So 95%?

95% sounds good to me. I won't give up a bit of honey in my yogurt :-)

[use2betrix]

I’m in!

I actually haven’t drank since a 75 day challenge that started last April, and I didn’t return afterwards. I wasn’t an alcoholic, but had been drifting towards the “heavy drinker” classification. It wasn’t uncommon 4-5 nights a week to have a couple beers, glasses of wine, old fashions, or margaritas. Unfortunately my beers were usually 7% and mixed drinks would have 2-3 shots a piece.

I tore my hamstring in 2022 during a waterski (margarita) incident. That should have been more of a wake up call than it was. According to my Strava, I still exercised 404 hours in 2023, which was a pretty average year in exercise. In reality, exercise is one of my passions and alcohol definitely interferes. I generally run/bike early in the mornings, and alcohol made an impact on my sleep and how I would feel.

I don’t plan to never drink again, but haven’t decided exactly how to re-implement and what boundaries are around it. I have no issues setting boundaries and sticking to them, I just have to determine exactly what those boundaries will be.

[Metalcat]

I went out for dinner last night with someone with a pretty serious drinking problem who was sober last year for 10 months then had an epic relapse, and is trying again with Dry January.

We went to an upscale Indian restaurant with an impressive non-alcoholic beverage selection. She's always looked up to me so it was so nice to set an example as someone who is very happily a non-drinker, but that she was also able to talk freely without judgement about her addiction and the process of quitting.

It felt good to be a positive reinforcement for someone so early in the stages of trying to take control back over her drinking. We'll see what happens with her, time will tell how things turn out, but I know that those first few days can be instrumental because that's when it's easiest to say "maybe I'll start tomorrow instead."

[Chris Pascale]

In. I've been a moderate, likely heavy drinker for 20+ years (~3 beers or glasses of wine daily). I rarely ever drink to the point of getting drunk, and my overall health is good, though I'm sure the effects of daily drinking will catch up to me eventually (age currently 42). I've been drink-free since Christmas day already--no huge changes noted aside from improved sleep. Short-term goal is to drop 20 lbs. Long-term goal is to eliminate daily drinking. I like wine way too much to become a teetotaler. Will be sugar-free this month too! Down ~2 pounds this past week.

It will be interesting to see what this one change does. I had a year where I started drinking black coffee (I used to have 8 packets of sugar-in-the-raw per workday) and the result of that 1 change was losing 7 lbs.

[ZiziPB]

I wish I could say I'm feeling better not eating sweets... but I have a cold and am feeling like #*&#

Other than that, the Dry and Unsweet January is going well.  I lost a couple of pounds in less than a week. 

[Sanitary Stache]

I haven’t had any of the headaches associated with having a drink at bedtime.

I did try drinking grape juice at Shabbat, but it wasn’t very pleasant and I only narrowly averted a meltdown from the 4 year old who wanted a full glass of straight grape juice. I only give the kids watered down juice. They usually have a tablespoon of wine on Shabbat for the kiddish.

I haven’t had any of DWs tinctures which are alcohol based either.  I doubt a sip of wine at Shabbat or a dropper full of lemon balm tincture would have a negative effect but I’m going no alcohol at least for January. I am still drinking our ginger bug probiotic soda which does have a fermentation step and might have an alcohol content. Hmmm. I’ll think about that.

[Metalcat]

So far no sugar is going well for me.

I went out to a restaurant where everyone had beautiful desserts, so I had a pineapple lassi with cardamon, which was a drink off of their impressive mocktail menu, and it was amazing.

It's pretty easy for me to avoid sugar/sucrose right now because the whole reason I'm cutting it out is that my body goes through phases where I simply cannot digest it and it makes me horribly sick. Like gut-rot after drinking too much coffee on am empty stomach.

Last time it was this bad, it lasted for 3 years, so we'll see.

[the lorax]

Dropping all booze has been very easy so far, haven't missed it at all, but today I started back at work so that might change things :(

[RetiredAt63]

Dropping alcohol has been as easy as I expected it would be.

Sugar . . . . sigh.  Cutting way back on sugar has been as hard as I expected.  Cutting back on starches has been a bit easier.  Still harder than booze.

[LifeHappens]

It is stout (beer) season in Florida. This is a short window of time and I do love stout on a cold day. Fortunately, Guinness 0.0 actually tastes good! I was pleasantly surprised.

[Metalcat]

Sonofabitch.

I forgot that David's Tea puts frickin' sugar crystals in a bunch of its teas, which should be a crime, IMO.

I was feeling ill last night and had a nice pot of herbal tea, but then woke up with my characteristic "you are sugar again dummy" stomach pain and remembered the David's crime against tea.

[Cassie]

I went from being a non drinker to a drinker at 50 and non drinker at 65 and now it’s been 4 years. It made it fairly easy to lose 50lbs. I never ate sweets when I drank but I do now.

[ZiziPB]

Day 10 today, how is everyone doing?

My cold seems to be easing a bit - yay!  As I expected, the no alcohol part of the challenge is going well.  I have no desire to drink.  It appears that I have developed strong non-drinking habits over the last year and I'm very happy about that.  And my partner has significantly cut down on alcohol consumption too, so that's great! 

The no sugar part is actually going quite well too.  My partner ended up slowly eating any leftover sweet snacks/chocolate we had in the house, and I haven't bought anything sweet since last year, so now all sugary snacks are gone from the house. I never put sugar in my coffee or tea and I don't drink soda, so that part is easy.  It seems that "out of sight, out of mind" works for me :-)

[Log]

This has been lovely for me so far. I’ve already had 5 separate opportunities this month to drink for free, and I think that’s what gets me a lot of the time. It lightens up the decision-making burden to just have an unambiguous “no” instead of being tempted by the promise of ~free!~

Socializing has not felt any less enjoyable, and I’ve been sleeping pretty well. I had some early mornings last week that nudged my internal clock a little earlier, so on some mornings I’m waking up around 7-7:30, but when I manage to sleep to around 8 I’ve been waking up feeling very well-rested.

Realizing I have so many opportunities to drink for free, perhaps my new rule after January will be “no spending money on alcohol.”

[Frankies Girl]

Doing pretty well and discovered I REALLY love kombucha and now have a glass or two of that when I have any sort of "hey a drink would be nice thought" as it sounds better than any liquor. I've gone days without even thinking about drinking tho, and I consider that very successful. The husband is on board too, and we're discussing maybe just seeing about a dry February and beyond. We have a social think coming up this weekend where there will be lots of drinking but no one is at all judgy or anything and we're not expecting any worries about it.

[Sanitary Stache]

I went to a social thing, a kids birthday party. I wasn’t considering drinking alcohol at an 8 year olds birthday party in the middle of the afternoon, but I did naively  think parents would hang out. I am so used to 4 and 5 year olds party’s. This was my first where the parents weren’t expected to stay.
Anyway, I actually wanted to hang out with most of these parents. Especially the hosts. So as some other parents that I also like talking to were leaving, I made some comment about the parents not hanging out. The response was that it was dry January and no one was drinking. I guess I get the immediate reference to alcohol because I partied pretty hard with some of these people like 20 years ago so we have that shared experience. But I just wanted to hang out. So I did.

I said, you’ve got seltzer though. And they gave me one and then the Diet Coke came out and that’s what I really wanted so I switched to that. Then we talked about how great pebble ice is and then the homage jerky came out and I took home a doggy bag.


So many things better than day drinking at an 8 year olds birthday party.

[Cassie]

I have read that there’s lots of drinking at kids birthday parties, taking kids trick or treating, etc. I was really surprised because that never happened when I was young and had kids.

[rosarugosa]

A few years ago we unearthed some old films of birthday parties from me and my sister's childhood, and the tables were covered with birthday cake, booze and overflowing ashtrays. My mother was a nurse and my folks weren't really partiers.  I think that's just the way it was back then.

[Metalcat]

A few years ago we unearthed some old films of birthday parties from me and my sister's childhood, and the tables were covered with birthday cake, booze and overflowing ashtrays. My mother was a nurse and my folks weren't really partiers.  I think that's just the way it was back then.

Yeah, there have always been more drinky folks and less drinky folks. It just wasn't *women* drinking a lot culturally until relatively recently. The same way there have always been smokers and non smokers, but women didn't really get on the action until the 60s.

Both of these events happened because of aggressive marketing campaigns to women.

I would imagine that into the past, drinking at birthday parties probably depended, on average, largely on whether men were involved in those parties. I stipulate "on average" because my mom and her friends definitely drank and smoked heavily at kids' parties, and of course there were men who didn't drink.

But if there was some kind of party before the 2000s, even if it was for a child, your chances of booze being involved was much, much higher if there was a gathering of men. Also, if only men were drinking, they would often do it together off somewhere else at the party, like in a den or garage.

So yeah, I don't doubt that many people here never saw booze at their birthday parties growing up.

Once alcohol started being aggressively marketed to women, but particularly to moms as the key to coping with their children, it absolutely became a "must have" feature if you wanted parents to stick around.

The 2000s marked this aggressive turn in alcohol marketing in a naked repeat of the tobacco industry's "You've come a long way baby" exploitative "feminist" campaigns of the 60s. It was so transparent, it's kind of embarrassing that we fell for it AGAIN!

I sure as shit did. I literally became an adult in the era of marketing alcohol as "empowering" to women, and then as "coping elixir" to moms as that independent women market had kids.

So it was just inevitable that it became a prerequisite for kids' birthday parties.

[RetiredAt63]

My parents both smoked in the 1950s, but my Dad more than my Mom.  Kid's birthday parties did not involve alcohol in my area, but the amount of sugar the kids ingested at them was massive.

Birthday parties for my kid and her friends did not involve alcohol either.  Or parents hanging around except when the attendees were very young. By the 90s smoking was starting to go down.  Most of our friends didn't smoke.

But adult drinking (and DUI), oh my yes.  I look back and am amazed at how much we all drank, and my parents drank.  Not the 8 drinks in one evening kind of drinking, but a drink here and another there and 3 after curling kind of drinking.

[ZiziPB]

Half way there!  How are you all doing?

I slipped up last week on my "no sugar" challenge and ended up eating some pastries that my mother-in-law made specially for me.  Even though I told her that I'm not eating sweets this month! 

As to alcohol, I'm not even thinking about it.  Sometimes I have a brief moment of desire when I see someone pouring a glass of wine on TV, but it doesn't translate into any lingering thoughts or wanting to drink.

[Dicey]

A few years ago we unearthed some old films of birthday parties from me and my sister's childhood, and the tables were covered with birthday cake, booze and overflowing ashtrays. My mother was a nurse and my folks weren't really partiers.  I think that's just the way it was back then.

Uh, I think I have a picture just like that, and my mother was a nurse, too. Thankfully, my folks quit smoking when we were still pretty young. Mom was always a lightweight drinker, but dad didn't stop until he retired. At least he retired at 50, so he had a lot of clean and sober years after that.

Just popping in to say that I've actually had a slight craving for the Costco boozy eggnog that I bought before Christmas and haven't opened, which is weird.

Good luck to everyone: January's over the hump!

[redhead84]

I haven't had any issues with dry January so far. DH has been struggling a little bit more, but he is very committed to making it through.

[Log]

I basically haven't even thought about it for the last week.

[Frankies Girl]

Still hanging in there. Husband had a social thing that I bowed out on and he said that it helped him to not have just a beer since he was driving to/from, and he didn't really think about it once he was there.

I am still occasionally thinking about having a glass or two of wine here and there, but I am not feeling at all deprived.

[Metalcat]

I'm doing well with no sugar, although it is shocking how much my brain floats the idea of eating something sweet. I'm happy to be aware of it, I deeply dislike any vestiges of addictive thought patterns since quitting alcohol and coffee, so I'm ultra sensitive to them now.

Happy to be taking this solid break from sugar to recalibrate my brain about it.

Usually 6 weeks breaks the addictive pattern, and then I can keep it broken if I strictly follow a protocol where I never have sugar two days in a row and never more than twice a week. Then I can usually enjoy it whenever I want, but could take it or leave it. It keeps sugar just not that interesting.

[RetiredAt63]

I've also had the idea of a glass of wine with dinner float in my head.  Then I remember this is Dry January and it floats out again.  Last night I cooked with wine, and just put the wine bottle back in the fridge.  Didn't even think of pouring a glass.  So that is coming along.

Carbs is harder.  When I first went low carb and gluten-free, over 20 years ago, there were not all the gluten-free substitutes available that there are now, so I got used to no pasta, and very little to no rice and potatoes.  Those had all crept into my diet.  They are gone.  Sugar - a bit in fruit is fine, I am not eating a lot of fruit.  I've cut my sugar in tea by half.  In another week or 2 my taste buds will have fully adjusted and I will cut it back again.  My HbA1C was high at my last blood test and I want it back to normal (or at least to the slightly elevated pre-diabetic levels it has been at for the last 20 years).

So I am cheering everyone on - we can do this!   happy our livers must be, no more detoxifying this poison.