I switched to smoking crack when I started riding seriously; but it's really hard to keep lit while underway.

I abstain from drugs/alcohol/smoking.

Good for you!

I was somewhere around 30 before I had my first alcoholic beverage, and since then, I rarely drink.

No drugs, no cigarettes either.

I just couldn't see the point of spending money on stuff like that. I'd rather buy bicycle stuff and travel around the world. :D

You've made a choice that works for you, and that's fine. Condemning other's choices in this regard hasn't worked too well (i.e. the Volstead Act)

Moreover, there is a growing body of evidence that consumption of alcohol makes you live longer, so it perhaps it's not so evil.

I was never a heavy consumer of alcohol, I never thought it was necessary to drink to have fun while in undergrad, but then again I wasn't a hardcore partier. The few times where I went nuts I ended up doing something I regretted.

At 22 I already feel like an old man, I enjoy the occasional glass of wine at dinner or formal events, and when I go out I just nurse a single beer for the entire night. My colleagues in law school though seem to drink a lot, and many of the people in the profession are alcoholics too.

I've encountered this sort of judgemental attitude pretty much my whole adult life because I don't drink.

The drinkers presume that because I choose not to drink, I am therefore being "self-righteous".

I don't drink for various reasons. That's my choice. I also choose not to eat sushi, not to eat calamari, and to use milk only occasionally. My avoidance of the first two of those is a personal taste thing ... I'm not overly fond of seafood. My avoidance of milk is a health issue. It doesn't sit well with me.

Are there things you don't like to eat and drink?

The wife and I pretty much quit about a year and a half ago. I say pretty much because we'll still have a beer or a drink if we go out but quit keeping any at home, and since we only go out once or twice or month, we drink very little. I drank 2 (or more) drinks (beer, wine, liquor) virtually every night for 35+ years. Like many people, we had no health or other issues with it but it was just too easy to simply veg in the evenings, and as we got older it got more difficult to maintain weight. So, one day we just said let's quit having it at home, and we did. It had been a long term habit with many associations so I certainly missed it at first and was tempted to pick up a bottle or sixpack, a temptation I did succumb to a handful of times. I can't say quitting made any miraculous differences in our lives or anything. It's still work to maintain weight and we still go about our lives the same way. I will say that after being off it for over a year it's lost it's allure and it isn't as pleasurable and relaxing as it used to be... and I'm no longer tempted to pick up a bottle. What we're saving on drinking we're now putting in our gas tanks.

No, you don't need alcohol to have a good time....but we have much better stories.



Sincerely,

Drunk people

To be clear: He didn't condemn ANYONE, he expressed his feelings about the substance directly. What you imply from it is entirely different.

Also it would, in light of BF misinformation, be appropriate to site your sources when everything I have read over the years says the benefits are independent of the alcohol content and the health benefits exist before it even becomes alcohol... where as the ads that advocate the heath benefits are funded by that particular industry... a conflict of interest in my opinion. Nutritionists (non-sponsored) that I have seen over the years seem to believe that the energy content and the damaging effects to you liver seem to outweigh any long term benefits of the anti-oxidants found in the [wine typically]. Again, not that I care personally, but still I feel the body of evidence is about the size of a single celled extremophile.

Ok, some sources off a very quick search:

"Reviews of research evidence report a strong, consistent relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and reduction in cardiovascular disease in general and coronary artery disease in particular.4 On the basis of its extensive review of research, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reported that moderate drinkers have the greatest longevity."

Moderate drinkers tend to live longer than those who either abstain or drink heavily.

•The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has found that the lowest death rate from all causes occurs at the level of one to two drinks each day.10
•Drinking alcohol in moderation (1-2 drinks per day for women and 2-4 for men) was found to reduce risk of mortality significantly according to meta-analysis of 34 studies of alcohol and total mortality among 1,015,835 men and women around the world.11
•An exhaustive review of all major heart disease studies found that "Alcohol consumption is related to total mortality in a U-shaped manner, where moderate consumers have a reduced total mortality compared with total non-consumers and heavy consumers."12
•A Harvard study found the risk of death from all causes to be 21% to 28% lower among men who drank alcohol moderately, compared with abstainers.13
•A large-scale study in China found that middle-aged men who drank moderately had a nearly 20% lower overall mortality compared with abstainers.14
•Harvard's Nurses' Health Study of over 85,000 women found reduced mortality among moderate drinkers.15
•A British analysis of 12,000 male physicians found that moderate drinkers had the lowest risk of death from all causes during the 13 year study.16
•A large study of about 88,000 people conducted over a period of ten years found that moderate drinkers were about 27% less likely to die during the period than were either abstainers or heavy drinkers. The superior longevity was largely due to a reduction of such diseases as coronary heart disease, cancer, and respiratory diseases.17
•A twelve year long prospective study of over 200,000 men found that subjects who had consumed alcohol in moderation were less likely to die during that period than those who abstained from alcohol.18
•A study of more than 40,000 people by the Cancer Research Center in Honolulu found that "persons with moderate alcohol intake appear to have a significantly lower risk of dying than nondrinkers."19
•An analysis of the 89,299 men in the Physicians' Health Study over a period of five and one-half years found that those who drink alcohol in moderation tend to live longer than those who either abstain or drink heavily.20
•An Italian study of 1,536 men aged 45-65 found that about two years of life were gained by moderate drinkers (1-4 drinks per day) in comparison with occasional and heavy drinkers.21
•A study of 2,487 adults aged 70-79 years, who were followed for an average period of over five and one-half years, found that all-cause mortality was significantly lower in light to moderate drinkers than in abstainers or occasional drinkers (those who drank less than one drink per week).22
•A large prospective study found that older men consuming up to about three drinks per day and older women consuming over one drink per day had a dramatically lower risk of dying than did non-drinkers.23
•A large study found that moderate drinkers, even after controlling for or adjusting for numerous factors, maintain their high longevity or life survival advantage over alcohol abstainers.24
•A Danish study of about 12,000 men and women over a period of 20 years found that abstaining from moderate alcohol consumption is a health and longevity risk factor. Choosing not to drink alcohol increases the risk of illness, disease and death.25
•A 14-year study of nearly 3,000 residents of an Australian community found that abstainers were twice as likely to enter a nursing home as people who were moderate drinkers. Drinkers also spent less time in hospitals and were less likely to die during the period of the study.26
•A prospective study of middle-aged Chinese men found that the consumption of two drinks per day was associated with a 19% reduction in mortality risk. This protective effect was not restricted to a specific type of alcoholic drink.27
•Alcohol prevents more deaths than its abuse causes in the United Kingdom, according to research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.28
•Scientists at the University of London concluded that light and moderate drinking saves more lives in England and Wales than are lost through the abuse of alcohol. If everyone abstained from alcohol, death rates would be significantly higher.29
•The Cancer Council of New South Wales concludes that "If the net effect of total alcohol consumption on Australian society is considered, there is a net saving of lives due to the protective effect of low levels of consumption on cardiovascular disease

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/AlcoholAndHealth.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/026207_wi...cy_health.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...817988696.html

http://english.pravda.ru/science/tec...645-alcohol-0/

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/AlcoholAndHealth.html

The post to which I was responding called alcohol "evil". It's not a big step to draw the inference that the poster is at least tacitly implying that the use of alcohol is therefore wrong.

Admittedly the misuse of alcohol causes tremendous harm. However, there are clear benefits to the responsible use of alcohol. Thus, IMHO, alcohol is not evil.

Rather it's proof there is a God, and that he wants us to be happy.

Alcohol is an industrial solvent, do people on this planet really DRINK it?

Water is also an industrial solvent, and I assure you people on the this planet also drink that.

It rains water and you die without it, alcohol kills you and you live without it.

wow, i had no idea this was such a divisive issue when i made this thread. i chose to take it easy because i enjoy drinking ALOT. so im probably one of those people who probably should quit for good reasons. so don't rub anybody's nose in whatever choice you've made, i just wondered how quitting worked out for those that chose to. so if you are good with have a few drinks, excellent, im jealous (really). but if you have given up the hooch for awhile, or for good, thats who id like to hear from.

aspirin? or just certain chemicals per gubbamint recommendation?

To be clear, I'm not criticizing anyone else's choice in this regard. Don't drink and drive, and I don't care whether you drink or not.

But the view that alcohol kills, or that alcohol is evil, ignores the positive effects that responsible use can have.

Actually Noah Sweat put it best:

My friends, I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey:
If when you say whiskey you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.

But, if when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life's great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it.

This is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise

I'm all for toppling christian women from the pinnacle of righteousness and lying with them in the bottomless pit of degradation and despair. That's just plain good fun. Pass the whiskey!

"This thread and all of it's self-rightousness makes me want to drink."

Right. And this thread isn't one big pat on the back for how much $$$ you allegedly save, weight you supposedly lose, and how much healthier and awesome non-drinkers think they are?

With respect to any sort of judgemental attitude towards non-drinkers, the only group I've ever been critical of is the straight-edge hc folks' for all their dogmatic rhetoric. Other than that, please continue doing what works best for you.

nothing at all

ya, alcohol is just like weed

I only drink during the months of November thru mid-January. After the winter, I don't really have a taste for fermented beverages of any kind.

Even during those months, I only drink moderately...

Love these threads. Over two years now, no drinking. The benefits are difficult to understand unless you have made the conscious decision to abstain, not just quit for a while. After half my life drinking, it took over six months to get it all out of my system and fully realize how much better riding was. Not preaching, just imparting my experience.

EDIT: Reading past page one and as I guessed, threads like this always turn into finger-pointing, judgement-filled affairs where pot is almost always introduced for no relevant reason. *sigh*

I feel your pain, Machka. You are not self-righteous, that is a projection from those who think they are being judged by your abstinence. Over the internet and across oceans, to boot.

Alcohol is proof there is a God? lol :):)