My name is Anthony...
... And I'm an alcoholic.
I'm nearing that step, I really am.
What's weird about writing down everything you imbibe or ingest is that sooner or later you start to see patterns. (That could just be the drink from last night though!). I eat a lot of soup. I eat salmon on a regular basis. I eat a lot of bacon sandwiches. I'm not adverse to a bit of salad. I drink heavily on the weekends, and I'm not one to dodge the "deathvan" on the way home.
Looking back over the first 40 days of this blog, it's interesting to see my consumption of alcohol. I don't drink much, (at least that's how I perceive it), but when you read back through the list of great lakes of Guinness (mainly), and other various beverages which I've drunk, it has started me thinking.
The reason I started this blog was to record what I was eating, in order to confront my food intake. I believed that if I had to write down all the food that I was eating, I would eat less. I think the idea was that I'd be shamed if I had a portion of chips after a night out and conversely I would feel some kind of pride in eating a healthy salad. That in some way my eating habits could be changed for ever. However, this hasn't really happened.
I have cut down in some ways. I have stopped eating two slices of toast in the morning for breakfast, (I now have one) and it is with monotonous regularity that I have my Shreddies first thing (good for the bowels). I have got into a routine of having soup for lunch (something that is healthy enough, tasty, filling, and warming), but now I have to accompany it with a sandwich (mainly containing bacon as far as I can tell) which I'm starting to wonder is perhaps not the best idea.
I have cut out (almost) all chocolate based products. But then it's been almost five years since my last Mars bar, so is that that much of a sacrifice? I've cut down on my portion size, but still eat a "healthy" meal so is there anything else to take out?
Alas, this is where the alcohol question raises it's head. Looking back through the annuls of this blog, it seems that I have had, in the last week, 66 units of alcohol. Now, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that this is a lot. I can quantify it by saying that I had two birthday parties to go to. That I don't normally drink that amount. That I don't really drink too much etc... but when you look at it, I drank more than 3 times the recommended amount of alcohol this week. That can't be healthy. That can't be good for me. And surely, that must mean I'm ingesting a huge whack of calories that I'm not really accounting for.
I drink Guinness as my drink of choice. Now, whilst I love the talk of Guinness having less calories per pint than orange juice or semi-skimmed milk, I can't imagine ever sitting down to a session of drinking 6 or 7 pints of orange juice!! (That would also be a bad thing. If you regularly have more than 3g of vitamin C a day, your urine will turn to salt - I read that on the internet, it must be true!). Guinness has got less calories than most other beers (I'm talking about lagers here), and also provides a high intake of vitamin B6.
But what if I was to cut out alcohol altogether? That would cut out 11-15 drinks a week (on average), and that would reduce my calorie intake by well over 2000 calories a week (which is one days worth). Then throw in the extra sandwich I have with my soup for lunch, that's another 5 lots of 378(ish) calories I can get rid of.
So by taking out my alcohol, and getting rid of my sandwiches at lunch I can save myself eating an extra 4000 calories a week!
Maybe looking back wasn't such a good idea after all...
I'm nearing that step, I really am.
What's weird about writing down everything you imbibe or ingest is that sooner or later you start to see patterns. (That could just be the drink from last night though!). I eat a lot of soup. I eat salmon on a regular basis. I eat a lot of bacon sandwiches. I'm not adverse to a bit of salad. I drink heavily on the weekends, and I'm not one to dodge the "deathvan" on the way home.
Looking back over the first 40 days of this blog, it's interesting to see my consumption of alcohol. I don't drink much, (at least that's how I perceive it), but when you read back through the list of great lakes of Guinness (mainly), and other various beverages which I've drunk, it has started me thinking.
The reason I started this blog was to record what I was eating, in order to confront my food intake. I believed that if I had to write down all the food that I was eating, I would eat less. I think the idea was that I'd be shamed if I had a portion of chips after a night out and conversely I would feel some kind of pride in eating a healthy salad. That in some way my eating habits could be changed for ever. However, this hasn't really happened.
I have cut down in some ways. I have stopped eating two slices of toast in the morning for breakfast, (I now have one) and it is with monotonous regularity that I have my Shreddies first thing (good for the bowels). I have got into a routine of having soup for lunch (something that is healthy enough, tasty, filling, and warming), but now I have to accompany it with a sandwich (mainly containing bacon as far as I can tell) which I'm starting to wonder is perhaps not the best idea.
I have cut out (almost) all chocolate based products. But then it's been almost five years since my last Mars bar, so is that that much of a sacrifice? I've cut down on my portion size, but still eat a "healthy" meal so is there anything else to take out?
Alas, this is where the alcohol question raises it's head. Looking back through the annuls of this blog, it seems that I have had, in the last week, 66 units of alcohol. Now, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that this is a lot. I can quantify it by saying that I had two birthday parties to go to. That I don't normally drink that amount. That I don't really drink too much etc... but when you look at it, I drank more than 3 times the recommended amount of alcohol this week. That can't be healthy. That can't be good for me. And surely, that must mean I'm ingesting a huge whack of calories that I'm not really accounting for.
I drink Guinness as my drink of choice. Now, whilst I love the talk of Guinness having less calories per pint than orange juice or semi-skimmed milk, I can't imagine ever sitting down to a session of drinking 6 or 7 pints of orange juice!! (That would also be a bad thing. If you regularly have more than 3g of vitamin C a day, your urine will turn to salt - I read that on the internet, it must be true!). Guinness has got less calories than most other beers (I'm talking about lagers here), and also provides a high intake of vitamin B6.
But what if I was to cut out alcohol altogether? That would cut out 11-15 drinks a week (on average), and that would reduce my calorie intake by well over 2000 calories a week (which is one days worth). Then throw in the extra sandwich I have with my soup for lunch, that's another 5 lots of 378(ish) calories I can get rid of.
So by taking out my alcohol, and getting rid of my sandwiches at lunch I can save myself eating an extra 4000 calories a week!
Maybe looking back wasn't such a good idea after all...
posted by Deano at
10:40 am
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