Despite so many modern-day health and weight challenges, alcohol continues to be one of the most perverse and destructive substances that continues to be promoted in every aspect of our lives. From social gatherings in the workplace to family get-togethers, from celebrating good news to trying to deal with bad news, from sports events to academic events, and on and on the lists goes. Whether you are rich and using it to assert your status or celebrate your accomplishments, or poor and using it to numb your pain and cope with your impoverished living conditions, alcohol impacts every pppulation in our society. Perhaps the worst part is that most young people accept cannot wait to try alcohol and incorporate it into their lifestyle all the while their brain is still in its critical development.
Taking a step back to understand the foundation of alcohol, the reason for its pervasive presence in our society is obvious — money. Alcohol was and continues to be one of the biggest business markets that is making money off of the decline of our physical, mental, emotional, and social health.
When it comes to our health specifically, one of the most misleading ideas that continues to attract people to alcohol, including health-conscious people, is that some alcohol and in some amounts is considered as “healthy”. Yet the skewed and biased studies that are used to promote this message always overlook the fact that alcohol is toxic to our body and brain in ALL amounts — small or large. And worse yet, people who do not drink regularly but engage in “binge drinking” experience EVEN more dangerous effects on their health and life span.
The Public Health Institute provides a 2017 report that highlights a study, which found Americans Are Drinking More Than Ever and It’s Costing the U.S. Billions.
The 2023 alcohol statistics in Canada indicate that there are 47,000 alcohol-related deaths in Canada each year and 66% of Canadians aged 15 or older reported consuming alcohol at least once in the previous 30 days.
MADD Canada offers tragic statistics on driving and alcohol consumption, especially in youth.
Why People Consume a Toxin like Alcohol
There are 4 main reasons why most people consume alcohol:
Most people lead very unconscious lives. They are essentially on auto-pilot and do not take time to reflect and consciously consider their everyday actions and choices.
Most people don’t know enough about the human body and how it is impacted by everyday toxins like alcohol. They take for granted that the human body can only cope and adapt up to a point. After a certain threshhold, which is different and unique for each person, various symptoms, diseases. and system failures result, which most people do not attribute or connect with their poor choices, such as consuming a toxin like alcohol.
Many people just don’t care or don’t have the capacity to care. This is usually the case for impoverished populations or people who are under high stress where the risks of alcohol are ignored or seen as smaller than the everyday problems they face.
Many people think that drinking is the norm. This is an outcome of the billions of dollars poured into alcohol advertising campaigns, along with the promotion of alcohol by medical industries and professionals, the entertainment industry, the sport industry, and son on.
The truth is that drinking is not the norm. From a chemical basis, alcohol is not conducive to our system AT ALL. We can excuse it as “just 1 drink” or as “just for this special occasion” or whatever idea or excuse applies to each person. However, to our body alcohol is a poison and there are no two ways around that. Every drop of alcohol must be detoxified by our liver and can damage our brain cells, digestive system, immune system, and even our fertility.
Binge Drinking Effects
Many people do know that alcohol is somewhat harmful. Unfortunately, most do not realize or understand why it is binge drinking, which happens as part of social events, that is even more dangerous.
During excessive drinking, people quickly lose their judgment of how much they had, which further impairs their ability to make good choices. During binge drinking, a person is putting their body into an extreme state of stress and shock. There are guidelines which only some adults know when it comes to how much alcohol the body can handle to safely detoxify per hour. Unfortunately, during binge drinking these levels are seldom adhered to and hence bodies in these states often go into various “overdrive” states in order to keep the major organs safe and working. This is all even more stressful and destructive for one’s health.
These are the times that people start to lose sensations to pain, temperature, vision goes, etc. Why? Because your body cannot do its normal tasks and try to empty out this toxin in such high levels at the same time. Since there is too much of it, there is a higher than what body can handle level in your blood and hence it gets carried all around the body and contributes to the various ill effects.
Think of it through the following example of your house is being infested by ants. If there are 1 or 2 ants in your kitchen, you can easily eliminate them. If there are dozens of ants, you have a bit of a harder time, but eventually you mange to get them all. But if you have thousands of them crawling all over each wall, you may go into a panic attack and try to scramble to kill one at a time, meanwhile being overwhelmed by the experience. The latter cases is what happens to your body during binge drinking when it is overwhelmed with the poison of alcohol.
Alcohol and Metabolic Syndrome
Another risk factor that is overlooked by most people today when it comes to alcohol consuption is Metabolic syndrome (MS). This condition is a clustering of some cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertriglyceridemia (high cholesterol), obesity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and hypertension (high blood pressure). Metabolic syndrome patients are at a risk of serious cardiovascular problems and shorter lifespans.
The condition itself was identified some 35 years ago and has since been on a drastic rise throughout the developed countries. Metabolic syndrome is now considered a global epidemic that impacts people of all ages and races. However, one can see that metabolic syndrome is nothing more than a name given to a common condition where the subject exhibits several of the above ailments which are very prevalent in various combinations today.
The seriousness associated with this condition and why it leads many people to die much earlier than they need to is the fact that obesity on its own reduces one’s life span. The same can be said for high blood pressure, diabetes, and the rest of the above named symptoms. Hence, one can imagine the seriousness of this condition when you subject your body to more than one of these critical problems.
So what does this have to do with drinking alcohol? Everything. Alcohol is high in calories, which leads to weight gain, and excess weight leads to the other disease symptoms. Alcohol causes intoxification and inflammation, which puts a strain on all cells, tissues, and organs, which leads to the other disease symptoms. And ultimately, alcohol is a neurotoxin and carcinogen, which leads to even more health risks and disease symptoms
The positive part is that metabolic syndrome is highly preventable. You can easily reduce or eliminate your risk of metabolic syndrome by sticking to the following healthy habits:
1. Avoid drinking alcohol
For optimal health, alcohol should be avoided completely. Low, occasional drinking will create average health, where you are okay with having to deal with one or more of the common disease conditions. However, heavy drinking (anything over 2 drinks per day for men and 1 for women) and binge drinking is very destructive and should be avoided at all costs if one wants to avoid serious health issues. The destructive effects of alcohol, despite us often trying to ignore them, are well established, and metabolic syndrome is just another negative consequence that alcohol can lead to where our health is concerned.
2. Keep a healthy weight
The entire body is able to work better, more efficiently, and do what it needs to do to clean, detoxify, grow, and replace old or diseased cells, tissues, and organs when it is of the right, healthy weight. The more stress we put on our body due to excess weight, the more we impede its ability to keep us healthy. By avoiding the extra calories and inflammatory effects of alcohol, we reduce our risk of weight-related problems.
3. Avoid refined sugars
Any foods high in sugar, which today almost all processed products are, can lead to insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and type II diabetes. The biggest culprits in today’s diet are soda products, candy bars, and refined carbohydrates, like cookies, cakes, ice-cream, boxed cereals, etc. All such foods increase our risk of weight and disease issues, especially metabolic syndrome.
4. Avoid high sodium foods
Almost all heavily processed and refined products and fast foods are high in sodium. These destroy your ability to keep low inflammation levels and a healthy weight, which furthermore lead to blood pressure and cardiovascular health problems.
5. Avoid foods high in bad fats
All fried foods and foods high in seed oils, refined fats, trans fats, and many saturated fats increase inflammation in the body, which also leads the way to weight problems and disease, including cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.
6. Exercise regularly
The benefits of exercise are undisputable when it comes to reducing risks of various diseases as well as to maintaining good health. Exercise is especially important to preventing metabolic syndrome as it helps to maintain a proper weight as well as increasing the good cholesterol, decreasing high blood pressure and keeping an overall healthy heart.
7. Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables help to promote overall good health. Vegetables especially help to regulate healthy blood sugar, are a great source of fiber and together with fruits contain numerous compounds that ensure proper cell division and biochemical regulation.
8. Eat whole, unprocessed grains
Whole, unprocessed grains help to regulate healthy blood sugar levels and directly help to decrease metabolic syndrome. Examples include freshly baked whole wheat breads, unprocessed brown rice, quinoa, steel cut oats and other ancient grains.
Conclusion
If you are a mindful and responsible adult and you are not quite ready to never drink again, it is your choice to what degree you allow alcohol to be a part of your life. Consider your mental health and your physical health and make informed choices that you can live with.
If you are not aiming for optimal health and are okay with average health that comes with common health risks, then yes, the occasional drink will not be the downfall of your health. Do what you feel is right for you and most importantly, take responsibility for your actions.
However, if you are aiming for an optimally functioning body and brain, then no alcohol whatsoever should be part of your lifestyle. Instead, aim for excellence where your health is concerned by engaging and investing in healthy lifestyle habits.
To your best health!