How I Quit Drinking Alcohol

The wonderful Bowie Stover (fitness and nutrition coach) just wrote a fantastic comment on how alcohol affects our ability to lose weight!

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"Generally weight loss occurs when a person quits drinking because they go into a calorie deficit. The liver is not directly connected to weight loss as it's job is to clean toxins from the blood and is not involved with energy creation, however it does store a certain amount of energy in it for use.

The main reason this happens is because when a person consumes alcohol the body immediately stops using stored energy as fuel and will instead use alcohol. This is because i it's an easy fuel source.

This means that any food that is eaten with alcohol will immediately be stored by the body as soft tissue.

Weight loss is not necessarily going to happen however because there are other factors involved. These are things like your hormone levels, particularly insulin.
Insulin is the hormone that is secreted by the pancreas. The role of insulin in the body is to pull sugar from the blood stream ad either use said energy or store it in your liver, muscles or as soft tissue in deposits around the body.

Carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, rice and sugar all influence your insulin levels. The more carbs a person eats, the higher the insulin levels in the body become. When a persons diet is frequently high in carbohydrates then insulin levels stay high. This leads the body to becoming insulin resistant.

Now here's where it becomes quite involved. 

Insulin impacts other hormones in your body, particularly Leptin and Cortisol. Leptin is your hunger hormone. Its job is to tell the body when it's full. Cortisol is the hormone our body releases when it is stressed.

The body becomes insensitive to insulin and leptin when they are at elevated levels for extended periods of time. Now this indicates to the body that it is under attach and cortisol levels increase.

When all three of these hormone levels are elevated the body literally goes into survival mode. This means it will store ALL energy that is put into it (so any food eaten will be converted immediately to soft tissue for storage).

So while stopping drinking can help with weight loss, there are many other contributing factors involved.

I would recommend that you reflect on the foods you are eating. The body is MOST sensitive to insulin in the mornings after a person has fasted overnight while sleeping. So I would suggest avoiding foods like bread, rice, pasta, cereals, sugars and fruits for breakfast. Instead have healthy fats and proteins such as eggs, tofu, lean meats.

The best time to eat carbohydrates is in the evening when the body is LEAST sensitive to insulin.

I would also recommend that you look at your sleeping habits.Most adults need between 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night.

When a person does not get enough sleep they are more prone to overeating, mood swings, low energy, mental fogginess and elevated cortisol levels. So starting a sleep routine. The best way to do this is to pick a time (I'd recommend and hour before you want to go to sleep) and get into a practice each night of following a wind down process.

You could stop using phones and computers, have a cup of caffeine free tea such as chamomile or mint, practice some breathing exercises, read a book, have a warm shower, defuse some essential oils such as lavender, stretch or practice a low energy hobby. Anything that you find relaxing will work perfectly.

Practice this each night along with avoiding carbs until the evening and you will find that your body will come more into balance and weight loss will happen for you.

If you have any questions at all, I'm happy to chat further."

- Bowie Stover