Hi friends! Today’s blog post is quite different than the normal recipes that I post here. Mainly, I felt compelled to share my story in hopes to maybe offer some support and help to anyone who may need it. I also find this topic very interesting and I enjoy explaining the process that worked for me. Earlier this year, I stopped drinking alcohol for 90 days. This was a big deal to me and it changed my life. In this post, I will explain to you exactly how I did it. The goal here is to share tips and tricks that greatly helped me. I hope that they can inspire you!
But first, listen to this: If you had told me a year ago that I would be writing this post, I would not have believed you.
In fact, I probably would have chuckled and said, “Yeah…right.” It’s funny how life works. Because I did in fact successfully stop drinking alcohol for 90 days. And this is coming from someone who was drinking every single day! The kicker? Now I drink only a little bit here and there! Ultimately, it was the change in my relationship with alcohol that I am most surprised about. And it’s honestly what I am most proud of. The purpose of this blog post is to help guide anyone who is curious about cutting alcohol out of their life. In return, it might just help to change their relationship with alcohol, too. The end goal is to feel better! If I can do it, you can too.
Before we begin I need to offer a disclaimer: I AM NOT A DOCTOR.
I am also not a therapist. Nor am I in the position to offer professional advice. I am a food blogger and cookbook author that is simply offering my opinion on the topic of how to stop drinking alcohol. This post offers personal insight and tips for what worked for ME. My hope is to help people that are curious on how to cut back and stop drinking. This is not necessarily a solution to help you quit for good. (Although, it can help!) As much as I want this blog post to helpful, it is also not a solution for people struggling with severe alcohol use disorder.
Now that we’ve discussed that, I wanted to fill you in on my previous relationship to alcohol.
You see, for the past decade, I was a consistent drinker. I am skeptical to say heavy because I wasn’t drinking a 5th of vodka every day, but I was drinking 2-4 drinks each night. (And more if I was going out with friends). What started as meeting up with people for a drink or two turned into a nightly routine of drinking by myself. These ‘wind-down’ drinks at the end of the day had become a huge part of my life. They were a way to relax and enjoy the night. The ‘buzz’ of having a few co*cktails was the reward I was craving, seeking, and satisfying every single day. It definitely became a consistent habit and a part of my nightly routine.
SO WHY DID I WANT TO STOP DRINKING ALCOHOL?
One, I wasn’t feeling great. This is mainly because I wasn’t sleeping great.
I would have to wake up constantly to go to the bathroom. (Alcohol makes your urinate more while also dehydrating you!) I would wake up feeling sluggish and groggy. Eventually, I would snap out of it after I started moving around and had my coffee. But it was something I had to work through. These were mornings when I had 4 drinks or less the night before (which was most nights). On the mornings in which I had more than 4 drinks, I would feel hungover. I am sure you can agree, this is awful. I am embarrassed to admit how many days of my life that have been wasted on hangovers. Not fun!
Two, I started to feel bad about my alcohol consumption. Mainly because I felt like I didn’t have control over it.
I felt as though I had to have a few drinks each night to complete my day. This started to annoy me. Especially after realizing the toll it was taking on my health. After a few months of thinking and talking about it, I decided that I wanted to stop drinking alcohol. Just for an extended period of time. The main goal was to prove to myself that I could do it! I also was curious to see how much better I would feel.
Initially, I set the goal to stop drinking alcohol for 1 month.
I found that it was easier to process a big change if I knew that it wasn’t permanent. But after one month, I kept going all the way to 90 days! Just to be clear, this period of time was completely alcohol free… not one single drop! During this time, I learned a lot about alcohol and my relationship with it. And the benefits from removing it were amazing!
I will go into more detail about the benefits at the end of the post. For now, I have broken down the process that worked for me into the steps below. I truly hope that they can help YOU on your journey to stop drinking alcohol.
If you feel discouraged or worried that you won’t be able to learn how to stop drinking alcohol, I am here to say you can do it. I hope that these tips and tricks can help you. I have broken them down into 6 steps.
6 STEPS FOR HOW TO STOP DRINKING ALCOHOL
1. Cut back slowly.
This was crucial for me. As someone who was drinking 3-4 drinks every evening, the idea of stopping cold turkey was a bit overwhelming. I was also concerned that if I removed a substance that my body was used to consuming every day that I would have withdrawals. This didn’t sound very appealing! The solution for avoiding any withdrawals while also making the process a bit smoother was to cut back slowly.
I allowed myself 2 weeks to transition to no alcohol.
This means I used a measurer (aka a jigger) to measure out one (1.5 oz) shot of vodka into one tall glass of sparkling water with ice for each drink initially. I would also add a few splashes of bitters. (Be mindful that bitters does have alcohol, too!) For the first few days, I would allow myself 2 drinks each night. (Now, I know this may seem like a lot. But I was having 3-4 every night with a few extra sips of vodka here and there!) Cutting back to 2 was progress for me.
After the first few days, I started to reduce the amount of alcohol in each drink. For example, I would use one shot of vodka and bitters in the first drink, and then in the second one I would only add bitters and half a shot. Starting on the second week, I cut it back to just one drink total with vodka and bitters and then switched to a Tart Cherry Spritzer (with no alcohol). This way I still have something to drink and look forward to while also continuing that hand-to-mouth sensation. Then, for the last few days of the first two weeks, I would allow myself only one drink with half a shot of vodka and the same amount of seltzer and no bitters, followed by a Tart Cherry Spritzer. Slow and steady!
By the third week, I had completely eliminated alcohol and switched over to Tart Cherry Spritzers and hot tea.
The goal throughout these two weeks is to slowly reduce the amount of alcohol you are consuming each night so that you can begin your period of being alcohol free. Now, I know what you might be thinking. What if you want more alcohol and it’s hard to stop yourself? Well, that’s where the next step comes in. Also, here is a chart to help you!
Download the guide here!
2. Learn how the body processes alcohol.
During my two weeks of cutting back on my alcohol consumption, I spent each night taking a few minutes to watch a YouTube video on how the body processes alcohol. Now, I know that this may seem like a buzzkill and YEAH, IT IS! That’s the whole point, lol. What I realized was that after almost 1 decade of drinking consistently, I never really understood how the body was processing alcohol, which is really crazy if you think about it. Of course, I always heard it wasn’t good for you. But I never really wanted to know exactly why.
During the two weeks of cutting back and enjoying my drinks at night, I would watch these videos (listed below) about how your body processes alcohol, in addition to videos about what happens when you stop consuming alcohol. NOW LISTEN UP BECAUSE THIS IS IMPORTANT.
It was during this time, as I was enjoying a co*cktail WHILE watching how the body processes it, that something clicked in my brain. This is key to how to stop drinking alcohol.
Doing this was incredibly eye-opening and it inspired me to stick to the process of cutting back. It also made it less desirable to want to continue drinking more each night. I had never felt this before! I had a major shift in the perception of enjoying alcohol and I started to understand why I wanted it, the ‘benefits’ I was craving, and just how difficult it is for the body to process it in any form.
Here is a list of videos to watch that will help you learn how to stop drinking alcohol.
Some of them are very scientific and informative and may go straight over your head! That’s ok… each night you should rewatch them until they start to sink in. (I probably watched the first one 10 times!) Make sure to watch them while you are drinking your co*cktail. After you watch one or two, you can watch your regular shows that you enjoy. Imagine this as a little homework assignment each night. 🙂
Should You Stop?
You’re Underestimating Alcohol’s Impact on Your Health
What Alcohol Does to Your Brain
What Happens To Your Body When You Stop
3. Create fun drink alternatives.
Now for the fun part: creating fun drinks to try or figuring out your favorite teas to enjoy! Truth be told, this tip is incredibly important. You have to remember, you are about to change your nightly routine of drinking alcohol. Swapping that out with a non-alcoholic drink is crucial. Once I successfully stopped drinking alcohol, I definitely found myself craving some sort of a bubbly, ice cold drink (that’s probably because my go-to drink was a vodka soda). Because I love wine, I also found myself craving something sour or tart, something with acidity and brightness. This leads me to my favorite non-alcoholic drink: a Tart Cherry Spritzer! This is THE BEST. In addition to this, here is a list of my other favorite non-alcoholic beverages. (Heads up! Some of these are affiliate links.)
Tart Cherry Spritzer
This is my go-to beverage at night! I am obsessed with it. If you are on TikTok, you might have seen the viral ‘sleepy girl mocktail’ recipe that was going around. It included a probiotic soda mixed with tart cherry juice and some magnesium (some would put valerian root extract which makes you sleepy). The idea behind tart cherry juice is that is has naturally occurring melatonin. This, in addition to magnesium, which is calming, and a soda or some sort of fizzy drink makes a delicious and effective mocktail. After trying it myself with just tart cherry juice, magnesium, and sparkling water, I realized that I didn’t need a fancy fizzy drink or even the magnesium. The tart cherry juice with sparkling water over ice was divine on its own! I also like the simplicity of it.
Because tart cherry juice is sour, it recreates the feeling of drinking wine while also feeling a bit more complex than a traditional sweet fruit juice. When making this spritzer every night, I would fill up a tall glass with ice and fill it up 75% with sparkling water and then 25% tart cherry juice. Sometimes I put a little more cherry juice and sometimes a little less, depending on my mood. This doesn’t need a garnish, but some maraschino cherries or these bada bing cherries and a slice of lime make it super fancy and totally delicious.
Kombucha Spritzer
This is another great mocktail for several reasons. First, kombucha is a fermented and slightly funky beverage. Simply fill a tall glass with ice and add half kombucha and top it off with sparkling water. Feel free to play with the ratios here! The complexity of the kombucha mixed with sparkling water feels sophisticated and interesting. I love to garnish it with freshly sliced citrus but that’s totally optional.
Mojito Mocktail
This is a fun and beautiful drink to make and feels quite fancy while sipping on. All you have to do is muddle your desired fruit (I like to use blackberries for this) with some fresh mint leaves and some raw sugar. By muddling the ingredients together with an abrasive texture, all of the flavor is released and you are left with a thick and delicious paste that will be the base of your drink. Add lots of fresh lime juice and ice and top with sparkling water and you are left with a mojito mocktail. Garnish with fresh fruit and a mint spring to make it as beautiful as you’d like! (See image at the very top.)
Sleepy Time Tea
I was always skeptical of these tea blends claiming to make you sleepy but I find that they really do work! There are many different varieties and brands on the market and I like each and every one I’ve tried. I do like to use two tea bags per cup but one might be enough for you. I don’t drink this every night but it’s nice to have some options when you want to change things up!
Aveda Comfort Tea
Although this tea is quite expensive, I absolutely adore it. (So much that I actually make it myself now! This makes it much more cost effective. You do have to order the ingredients to make it worth it and this makes a good amount of tea so if you are in the position to splurge a little and buy some fancy tea- do it!) I love the herbal flavor this tea provides and the licorice root creates a buttery sweetness (without any sugar) that is utterly delicious. There is nothing more satisfying than sipping on a hot cup of this tea at night. It is so very comforting and delicious.
Magnesium
You’ve probably heard of this supplement. Over the past few years, it has become very popular. After trying it for myself, I decided that I didn’t love it. It made my groggy and a bit too sleepy but it definitely does help you to relax. It might be the perfect fit for you. I have friends that swear by it! It is easy to drink on its own or to mix with mocktails. (Do read the instructions on how to successfully dissolve it before combining it with other drinks.)
4. Have sweet treats available.
It might come to no surprise that when you cut out alcohol, you might start craving more sweets. I found that having a small treat at the end of the night was a great way to feel rewarded. In return, this helped me to continue not drinking. I will point out that you want to be mindful of how much sugar you are eating. Once again, I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. But it’s not rocket science to know that binging on sugar at night isn’t the best thing for you.
What I have found is that having a small amount of something goes a long way! A portioned fruit lollipop or a small cookie or granola bar is perfect. These small sweet treats can make the process of stopping alcohol consumption a bit easier as they can offer a nice reward at the end of the day. Here are some of my favorites (some of these are affiliate links, as well!):
GOMACRO Organic Oatmeal Choc Chip Macrobar Minis (Amazon)
YumEarth Organic Pops (Amazon)
Key Lime Pie Cups (You can find these at Whole Foods or natural food stores in the refrigerated section.)
Salted Tahini Caramel Millionaire Bars (A great recipe to make and have on hand- so divine!!)
5. Be strategic with socializing.
This step is very important. When you are making a major change in your life and trying to cut back on something, hanging around places that you used to do the exact thing you are trying to stop is risky business. I am not saying that you can never hang out at the places that you like to drink, but you should avoid them initially for the first few weeks. This means avoiding bars, events with lots of alcohol, and restaurants that serve alcohol. I know this may seem difficult but here are some solutions that worked for me!
DINE AT RESTAURANTS THAT DON’T SERVE ALCOHOL
Instead of dining at restaurants at which you are accustomed to drinking, try going to places that simply don’t offer alcohol. I bet you have a few places that you already love that don’t serve it. Easy peasy!
PLAN A PICNIC
This is a great way to hang out with friends while also socializing during the day when there is less incentive to drink. (I am hopeful that you have some supportive friends that you could politely ask to not bring any alcohol. ) Picnics are also great because everyone can bring something to share. Collaborative meals are always delightful, I find!
SOCIALIZE DURING THE DAY
Piggybacking off of the picnic tip, socializing during the day is a great way to reduce the temptation from drinking. I find that most of the time, drinking with friends happens at night. My tip here is to meet a friend at a lunch spot, preferably one that doesn’t serve alcohol. This works great because you are not tempted to drink and you are also not having to explain why you are not drinking (like when everyone around you is drinking!). By going to places and events during the day that already don’t have alcohol, its a win-win situation.
COOK DINNER FOR FRIENDS
This is a great way to socialize in the comfort of your home and have control over the situation. Obviously, don’t serve alcohol and politely ask your friends not to bring any. Focus the night around delicious food, good music, fun conversation, mocktails, and a nice dessert. I promise, you do not need alcohol to have fun!
HAVE A SELTZER WITH LIME IN HAND
Even though you are trying to stop drinking alcohol, it may come up that you have to go to a wedding or an event where there is alcohol. I have found that having a sparkling water with lime eliminates the question of why are you not drinking. This makes things easier. If you want to know something that’s not very fun, it’s explaining why you are not drinking to someone who is drinking. Try to avoid that!
HANG OUT WITH OTHER NON-DRINKERS
This is a great opportunity to explore relationships with people in your life that don’t drink! (Or to maybe find some new friends if you only know people that have to drink all of the time…) I am not trying to shame anyone here, but it is important to avoid being around people that drink a lot. This will be the quickest way for you to not hit your goal. Which leads me to the next topic…
6. Set a goal.
I find that setting a goal is a good practice for when you want to quit alcohol for a period of time. I would say start with a smaller goal so you don’t feel overwhelmed. (Personally, I decided to go with a month but one week also works!) What I also recommend is to tape a piece of paper to the wall in your bedroom and bathroom and write each day out that you are alcohol free. After you have a few days down, it’s quite nice to see your progress. As the list continues to grow, you might notice yourself hitting your initial goal and you may decide to go longer. I personally went 90 days because it felt right for me. That’s your decision! Point being, even if you need to set a goal for 1 week, set it and mentally prepare yourself for it.
THE BENEFITS FROM NO DRINKING
As I close out this blog post, I did want to go over the major benefits I gained from quitting alcohol for 90 days.
I proved to myself that I could do it.
This has been eye-opening (and emotional) for me because for most of my adult life, I didn’t think that I could do it. The most amazing benefit from doing this is that I continue to not drink! I do allow myself to have a drink at an event or social situation but I really don’t enjoy it anymore. I maybe have 1-2 drinks per month now and this makes me feel empowered! It’s like the less and less I drink, the more I don’t want it. I NEVER imagined that this would have happened. This also excites me to explore other options for healthy living (like exercising and losing weight…) It’s a great feeling!
My sleep is MUCH better.
Now, it’s not perfect. But boy is it better than when I was drinking! The worst part about alcohol was the next morning. Even if I wasn’t hungover, just the feeling of waking up with alcohol still on my breath started to gross me out. I also truly didn’t realize how much alcohol was affecting my sleep. Now, the MAIN REASON I don’t drink is because I don’t want to mess with my sleep. If someone asks me why I am not drinking, I say exactly that… I do not want to mess with my sleep! At this point in my life, it’s too important to me and I need to feel good when I wake up. Period.
My nighttime routine is still all about relaxing and winding down but with healthier practices!
Now that I don’t drink at home, I am more mindful of my meals and I am not eating heavy (and often more processed) foods late at night. I am also more mindful of preparing myself for bed and sticking to my skincare routine. When I used to drink a lot, I would eat pretty close to going to bed while also drinking right before I went to bed, skipping the skincare and preventing myself from sleeping the best that could.
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT DRINKING ALCOHOL
So what do you do after you successfully take a break from alcohol? Well, after my 90 days of no alcohol, I did decide to allow myself small amounts of alcohol here and there. To be honest, I don’t love it like I used to. Not even close. And even though my feelings toward alcohol have changed, there is still great social pressure to drink. It’s honestly a part of life, I find! So before I drink, if I am thinking about it, I always ask myself the question: is it worth it?
I have created a graphic below to show you my thought process.
This graphic is just a rough generalization and is merely to point out that the cons will always outweigh the pros of drinking alcohol. Especially when you look at the time frames of each. Does this mean I will never drink again? No. But it does make me think differently about when I do want to drink. More times than not, I realize that I would rather just relax on my own without alcohol so that I sleep better and wake up feeling my best.
For example, if I am cooking at home and think that it might be nice to have a glass of wine or a co*cktail, I simply think about how it will make me feel and if it’s worth that little buzz. Why put something in my body that is a terrible burden to process for only a small amount of enjoyment? And to potentially mess with my sleep!? It’s just not worth it to me anymore.
I HOPE THIS GUIDE CAN HELP YOU!
Well friends, that concludes my blog post about how to stop drinking alcohol. I hope that you’ve learned something new and feel confident about cutting back or stopping completely. My goal with this post is not to shame anyone who likes to drink. I have no room to judge anyone! But if you are feeling like you’d like to cut back on your alcohol consumption or you think it’s time to take a break, I hope that this post helps you and makes things just a little bit easier. I said it before and I’ll say it again- if I can do it, I bet you can, too! Best of luck and please leave any questions or thoughts you may have in the comments below and I will certainly respond.
–Timothy
