Rochdale Observer

Eat, drink... but maybe try getting less merry

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Author Annie Grace talks to

about her relationsh­ip with booze and offers 10 tips on how to curb your intake this Christmas December 2014.

During this time, she set out to understand why she was in control in every other area of her life. Through research she learned about alcohol, the brain and body, which resulted in her book This Naked Mind.

It examines how the unconsciou­s mind has been conditione­d about the benefits of alcohol, how alcohol is the only drug you have to justify not taking and how not drinking is seen as being boring. She explores the reasons people drink and offers ways to find freedom and discover happiness without alcohol.

Today, at 42, Annie is in a very different place, working full time running a freedom from alcohol movement, offering people strategies to cut back on or give up alcohol altogether. She suggests the following strategies for anyone who wants to cut down their drinking over the festive season. about not drinking is that it’s going to be miserable. Put that aside and get curious how mocktails might work for a night, which can interrupt that pattern of thought so much.”

“CREATE two big lists – one which is all the reasons you like to drink and the other is all the reasons you’d like to cut back,” says Annie. “Compare those lists and decide which one is the more important in your life. Then get curious about the reasons you like to drink and are they true?”

“HAVE a (alcoholic) drink and time how long it makes you feel good for,” Annie suggests. “The truth is that a drink will probably make you feel good for maybe 20 to 30 minutes, when your blood alcohol content is rising. As soon as the blood alcohol content starts to fall, your body says ‘We are purging the alcohol’ and your body starts to feel quite bad, restless and upset.

“When you see that – and want to reach for a second drink because you feel worse than you did before you poured that first drink – you can understand that alcohol isn’t actually giving you an evening of euphoria, it’s giving you 20 minutes and then making you a bit miserable.”

Don’t compromise on that.

“Often we say, with total ambiguity, ‘I’m just going to drink less’ and we don’t give ourselves tangible, manageable goals we can achieve. “If you break those limits, make yourself super curious and not judgmental of yourself. Work out what you were feeling, why you wanted a drink, why you kept drinking. Curiosity without judgment is the number one tool to changing your behaviour because it awakens self-compassion, which is the catalyst for change.”

“TREAT yourself in another way, whether it’s treating yourself to a fancy dessert or a bit of time alone. If the relatives are stressing you out, go for a walk. I’ve done that, I’ve gone outside and phoned a friend. It’s so much better than being drunk.”

“CONFIDENCE is your ally. We don’t like to say no, so if someone offers you a drink, I like to say, ‘Yes, I’d love something, can I have a big glass of water because I need to hydrate before anything else’ or ‘Yes, I’d love a Coke, I need some caffeine’. A yes instead of a no can be really helpful.

“Also, having a drink in your hand that looks alcoholic is really helpful. It’s very rare that people will come over and sniff your drink.

“It might be a mocktail or a glass of elderflowe­r cordial which looks like a glass of wine. People won’t hassle you.

“Or you can be self-deprecatin­g. If they try to get you to have a drink, say something like, ‘I drank enough over the last three Christmase­s to do me

“THEY believe your decision is some sort of judgment on them and that you are sitting there on your high horse judging them. To make people comfortabl­e, especially if I was hosting, I would get everyone a drink and then get my own non-alcoholic drink, which sends out the message that you are not here to judge them. People will then relax.”

“IN the early days of not drinking, I would order a vodka tonic and then go to the waitress and ask her to leave out the vodka and just bring me tonic for the rest of the evening. It proved that I could be fun without booze. Then at the end I’d tell them I’d just been drinking tonic all night. It viscerally showed them that nothing was changing.”

“YOU may think, ‘I’m just doing this to fit in and is that a good enough reason to feel physically ill the entire next day with a hangover? Is that a good enough reason to give up my festive memories this year?’ Curiosity is your best friend in changing your behaviour.”

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