What We’ll Cover:

• How alcohol impacts general health and your metabolism
• The effects of alcohol on mood, motivation, relationships, and food choices
• Why alcohol can interfere with fasting and your Roczen health journey

Introduction‍

Enjoying an occasional alcoholic drink is a common part of life for many people, and there’s no reason you can’t enjoy a drink while on Roczen. However, the effects of alcohol on health and weight management are often underestimated. Regularly drinking above the recommended limit of 14 units per week can negatively affect your health, and even this "low-risk" intake carries some degree of risk. As we’ll explore, alcohol can also make achieving health improvements and weight management goals more challenging.

Alcohol influences several key parts of health and metabolism:

• Hydration: Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it makes you urinate more, leading to dehydration. This can disrupt vital processes in your body, including how you process food and nutrients.
• Blood sugar control: Alcohol initially spikes blood sugar levels but later causes them to crash. For people managing diabetes, reducing alcohol can lead to better blood sugar control.
• Metabolism: Your body prioritises processing alcohol over other functions like absorbing nutrients or detoxifying your blood, which can again have negative impacts on your metabolic health.
• Blood pressure: Excessive alcohol consumption can raise blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases.
• Gut health: Alcohol disrupts the balance of bacteria in your gut, causing inflammation and poor digestion. Cutting back can restore balance, reduce inflammation, and improve your overall gut health.
  

Impact on Mood, Motivation, Relationships, and Food Choices‍

Alcohol doesn’t just affect your physical health, it also impacts your emotional well-being, energy levels, and relationships:

• Energy Levels: Alcohol often leaves you feeling fatigued and sluggish. Cutting back can boost your energy, making it easier to stay active and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• Mood and motivation: Increased energy often leads to better mood and higher motivation, encouraging more physical activity and positively impacting your mental health.
• Food choices: Alcohol can trigger cravings for high-calorie, energy-dense foods, this can take affect whilst you’re drinking and often the day after. Reducing alcohol intake can help curb these cravings, making it easier to maintain a balanced diet.
• Sleep: Alcohol interferes with your sleep cycles, leading to poor quality sleep. By reducing alcohol, you can enjoy deeper, more restful sleep, which benefits both physical and mental health.
• Erectile dysfunction: Alcohol can interfere with blood flow, hormone levels, and nerve function, contributing to erectile dysfunction. 

Alcohol’s Impact on Fasting ‍

If you have been recommended a fasting guide, then it’s important to understand the impact that alcohol can have on the potential benefits. Fasting works by giving your body a break from digesting and metabolising our food, encouraging it to burn stored fat for energy whilst blood sugars stabilise in the process. However, alcohol can interfere with this process.

• Calories from alcohol: While alcohol doesn’t provide nutrients, it is high in calories. For example, a beer contains around 200 calories, and a glass of wine has over 100 calories. These "empty calories" provide energy that interrupts the fasting process by shifting your body from burning stored fat to metabolising the alcohol instead.
• Breaking your fast: Even though you aren’t eating solid food, consuming alcohol essentially breaks your fast and limits the benefits you might otherwise gain.

Summary:

While enjoying an occasional drink can be part of a balanced lifestyle, it’s important to be aware of alcohol’s effects on your health and weight management goals. Reducing alcohol intake can improve your physical health, enhance mental clarity, and support emotional well-being, aligning perfectly with your health goals.

Look out for the next article in this series, where we’ll provide practical tips and strategies to help you cut back on alcohol and stay on track with your health goals.