Alcohol Free?
The LA Times runs a story about a fitness instructor who encourages customers to abstain from alcohol for one month. A few excerpts:
The few who made it, successfully braving social occasions and surprisingly intense peer pressure, are now believers in what their boot camp instructor promised all along (although almost all started drinking again after the month was over): No alcohol means better sleep, more energy, healthier eating habits – and improved workouts. . . .
The idea was hatched in October by their boot camp instructor Marco Reed, who had gone without alcohol for a month several years ago with one of his personal training clients and found it gave him more confidence, improved his memory and boosted his energy. "I actually felt amazing," he says. "I felt more clear. I had control over my actions." . . .
"I find that people who drink have trouble getting to their fitness goals," Reed says. Drinking "is really a sabotage. It breaks down their discipline." . . .
Fewer cocktails also meant less food for Alvarez, who works in marketing and sales for Starz. "I found myself more conscious of my eating habits," says the 34-year-old from Burbank. "I wasn't as likely to make poor decisions. It was easier to avoid appetizers. Alcohol makes you so relaxed, so you're thinking, 'So what, I've already had these extra calories in the drink, why not try this?' "
Some experts warn that even moderate drinkers can experience deleterious effects, even the next day. "One, two or three drinks does affect a number of functions," says Dr. Ernest Noble, professor of psychiatry and director of the UCLA Alcohol Research Center. Alcohol, he adds, can affect cognitive abilities, sleep and sexual functions.
What do I think? I think I'd rather hang out with a gang of aggressive homosexuals than with these people.
I can think of many reasons to abstain from alcohol altogether--a zealous pursuit of high holiness is among them, depending on the person. But don't abstain to give yourself the competitive edge, to further your ambition, to make yourself a hard body, whatever. That's just nauseating.
Give me the company of a simple and humble drunk for an evening before forcing me to have dinner with one of these self-obsessed folks.
