You guys are killing me with this "alcohol steals your gainz" talk.
Jack_Smith beat me to the punch for LeanGain's epic takedown.There are tons of health benefits of alcohol. Plus, it helps you get laid, and sex is good for mind, body, and spirit.
Jamie Lewis has a great post in favor of alcohol too. For lagniappe here's a
funny Jamie forum post:
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Anyone else experimented with drinking more?
I know it's a silly question, but provided you rock something like CTD Lab's Liver Armor and chug water, the hangovers are negligible for me and life's pretty awesome. Big as ****, strong as hell, and training like a lunatic six to seven days a week- I've all but abandoned light days.
My take is that alcohol by itself is GOOD, but there are many many negatives that people find themselves in. By being smart about drinking you can minimize the side effects. Disclaimer - I'm 25, and will taper my use down as I get older, but for now, booze is awesome. I write this because I'd hate for some impressionable 20 something to read this and think alcohol is the devil, robbing him of the invaluable life experiences available to us with the sauce.
Enough talk here's the negatives of booze and how you can avoid them.
Beer is the worst thing you can drink. It's loaded with shitty carbs. 12oz of Bud Light has 6.6g carbs. If you knock back 8 in a night you're talking 53g of carbs straight from drinking. Beer is also the worst culprit of xenoestrogens, especially mass produced nonsense like Bud Light (I'm looking at you @Travesty).
Mixed drinks are second worst. Believe it or not the volume of mixer adds up over time, and the health effects of that "splash of coke" will become apparent. Soda of course is terrible, with a 12oz of Coke having 39g of sugar. Pour half of that in a whiskey coke? 18g of sugar in one drink. Diet soda is not much better. Aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose increase risk of cancer.
Coke/diet coke/red bull/energy drinks contain caffeine, which everyone thinks they're immune to until they start having sleep issues. 12oz Coke has 34mg of caffeine. That means after 3 or 4 mixed drinks you've drank a cup of coffee. Would you be walking around drinking coffee at midnight? No, because it messes with your sleep. Sleep becomes even more important when drinking because your body craves the REM sleep in order to reorganize and process the alcohol.
Club soda is good because it's just sparkling water, but tonic water is BAD. It cracks me up whenever girls are drinking vodka tonics. It looks clean so they think it's healthy, jokes on you bitch tonic water has 22g of sugar/12oz.
Drunk food will add to fat gain. When you're drinking your body prioritizes digesting alcohol before all, so if you walk around eating tacos while you drink of course that shitty meal is going straight to your gut. This is also why you shouldn't have calorie laden mixers. Do not eat when you go out.
Away from nutrition there are lifestyle implications to boozing.
Drunk driving is terrible and everyone thinks it's cool until it happens to you. Your life will be defined by a DUI. Spend $15 and get a damn Uber, it gives you freedom to bounce and move with chicks too. "Oh I took an Uber, can I ride with y'all?" Even better, live near the bars so you can walk there. Logistics, baby.
Alcohol is expensive, so bring a flask.
Loss of sleep (quality and quantity) is bad, so make sure you schedule time to sleep 8 hours the next day. This is a great time to have high quality blackout curtains so you can sleep well through the sunrise. I've also stopped staying at bars until 2 AM. By 1 AM if I haven't hooked a girl I'm trying to leave. At 1 AM all the AFC's are drunk and spitting terrible game, while all the hot chicks have left to watch netflix or bang someone. Much better ROI to hop a quick Uber before surge hits and catch some zz's.
I'm not a serious napper. I'm too ADD, I wake up after 30 minutes tweaking out wanting to do something. Enter the vampire nap, which has seriously helped with energy...
http://www.thegmanifesto.com/2013/02/ten...utine.html
http://www.thegmanifesto.com/2005/11/g-m...s-and.html
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Vampire Naps
Many people stop me in the street or reporters come up to me, and ask me “How do you do it? How do you go out every night and have so much success?” Talk about a question that could take a lifetime to explain…………… Well, I will give you one big reason: Vampire Naps. Basically what a “Vampire Nap” is right before you go out, you jump in the Coffin you keep in your house, lie down in it and shut the coffin door. Meditate for 5 to 20 minutes or however long you have before you need to go out again. Do this, and you will feel completely refreshed and ready to stay out for another night. This is almost like some Eastern meditation thing. Now, keep in mind you don’t really need a Coffin, that’s just the image you want to keep in your head when you do this. Keep practicing, and you will be able to stay out night after night like the Fanged Ghoul Himself………..The Rest is Up To You………….
What about the day after? Don't you waste a whole day fighting a hangover?
There's two ways to make sure you don't spend the next day on the couch. One is the
MikeCF hangover cure, which in tandem with a nutrient rich diet and ample supplementation of vitamins and minerals will make your body process alcohol like it's nothing. There's also this great supplement called water, if you drink it constantly through the night and during the day your hangover will decrease exponentially. I have a rule at the bars that I order a water with every drink. I don't let myself drink the booze until the water is gone. Great way to stay hydrated. I also chug a few glasses when I get home.
The other is to actually plan to do something the next day. All too often my friends will get wasted then sit on the couch for hours the next day. What the hell?! I get it, your brain hurts, but do SOMETHING! Go for a walk...ride your bike...walk around the mall and look at clothes you won't buy, spit some daygame...text a chick for afternoon delight. Whatever. You don't have to be a couch potato.
Last but not least you can avoid all the pitfalls of booze by limiting your use. A long time ago Jariel recommended 6 drinks/week maximum. I've found this to be a very good recommendation. This should allow at least one date and one nightgame session.
If you find that you are seriously seeing negative consequences to drinking...stop. Don't stop because "science says," stop because you want to. I've taken long periods off from boozing and the benefits have been small but, we're all different. Do what makes you happy. I recently realized how affected I am by caffeine, so I've seriously tapered off. I experiment on my own body and prioritize my data over anything in a lab.
