#2: Alcohol and Sleep
DAY 4: Dealing with Discomfort
DAY 5: What Are Cravings, Really?
DAY 6: Why Willpower Doesn’t Work for Long
ACT #3: Alcohol, Relaxation, and Stress Relief
DAY 7: Your Experiment and Your Friends
DAY 8: How Alcohol Affects Your Senses
DAY 9: The Power of Self-Talk
ACT #4: Alcohol, Our Culture, and Society
DAY 10: Dealing with Sugar Cravings
DAY 11: The Alcohol Culture Is Shifting
ACT #5: Alcohol and Happiness
DAY 12: Your Incredible Body and Brain
ACT #6: Is Alcohol Healthy in Moderation?
DAY 13: Let’s Talk About Sex
DAY 14: Staying Mindful in the Midst of Chaos
ACT #7: Alcohol and Parenting (a.k.a. Mommy Juice)
DAY 15: Social Life and Dating
DAY 16: The Power of Belief
ACT #8: Alcohol Is My Friend
DAY 17: Relieving Boredom Without Drinking
DAY 18: Why Tolerance Is Literally a Buzzkill
DAY 19: Dealing with Depression
DAY 20: Our Headline Culture and the Science of Sharing
DAY 21: Hey, Good Lookin’!
DAY 22: Drinking Due to Unmet Needs
ACT #9: Alcohol and Sadness
DAY 23: Alcohol’s Effect on Your Health
ACT #10: Alcohol and Anger
DAY 24: Are Addictive Personalities Real?
DAY 25: Setbacks and the Way Forward
DAY 26: Liberation vs. Fixation
DAY 27: Is Alcohol Really Poisonous and Addictive?
DAY 28: The Truth About Moderation
DAY 29: Tough Love
DAY 30: What’s Next?
One Final Word
Acknowledgments
Appendix
Notes
About the Publisher
Introduction
It’s YOUR body . . .
It’s YOUR mind . . .
It’s YOUR choice . . .
During the Alcohol Experiment, you’ll make a choice to go 30 days without alcohol. Just to see how you feel. You’ll become a detached reporter, researching the facts, writing down your observations, and possibly drawing new conclusions. This is an exciting experiment, not a punishment. You’re not weak-willed for questioning your drinking. There’s no judgment or labeling here. You have a unique opportunity to remember how to enjoy life without alcohol. And with this book’s unconventional approach, I’m willing to bet you’ll enjoy the process!
This experiment is for you if you’re curious about your relationship with alcohol, and you’re thinking about drinking less often or not at all.
It is also for you if
• You are of two minds about alcohol—you want to drink less but you also feel deprived or upset when you abstain.
• You drink out of habit or boredom—only to regret it later.
• You are starting to wonder if alcohol is taking more than it is giving.
• You are curious about a life without booze but do not feel you are an alcoholic.
• You want to drink less, but life is just too stressful.
• You have a love-hate relationship with alcohol—and find yourself setting limits and then breaking them when happy hour rolls around.
• You have tried to cut back or stop drinking (possibly many times) using willpower alone and found it ineffective.
• You fell into drinking more than you ever wanted—without making a conscious decision to do so.
• You can stop drinking for a few days but find yourself feeling deprived.
• You are ready to regain control—of your drinking, your life, your health, and your happiness.
• You are looking forward to feeling great on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
• You are ready to be your best self, get in shape, regain your self-esteem, and change your life.
It’s NOT for you if you have a strong physical addiction to alcohol—if you are physically dependent and suffer from serious withdrawal symptoms, such as delirium tremens or hallucinations, when you attempt to stop or cut back. This book may help with your emotional and psychological addiction by changing your perspective and erasing your desire to drink. However, I am not a doctor, and alcohol withdrawal can be extremely dangerous. You should seek professional medical assistance so your detoxification is medically supervised.
Is life better without alcohol? That’s up to you to decide. My own experience with this experiment proved that, for me, life was absolutely better when I chose not to drink. However, your experience might be different. It’s your body. It’s your mind. It’s your choice. I’m simply inviting you to open your mind to the possibility of making a different choice and then encouraging you to see how it changes things in your daily life.
It’s 30 days, not forever . . . Many people ask me if they will have to give up drinking forever if they try the experiment. My answer is it’s up to them. My only goal is to offer you a shift in your perspective and to show you some of the neuroscience behind why you might be drinking more than you’d like to.
You might go back to your regular drinking habits after the 30 days, you might drink a bit more mindfully (and less often), or you might decide to give it another 30 days just for the heck of it. You might also decide you feel so good you never want to go back.
Whatever you decide, I’d love to hear your experience with the experiment. If you’d like to share your story, email me at [email protected].
Since you’re reading this right now, you’re probably questioning how much you drink. Maybe you know you drink too much and want to quit. Or maybe you’re just curious about what