What's medically advisable is INCREDIBLY situational.

[xiphias]

My psychopharmacologist is also an psychologist, so he's also a physician. And he DOES mention other health issues to me besides my brain stuff, because he's a doctor, and he feels that my brain is part of my body, so it's part of his job. And he correctly observes that my nutrition is crap.

Which means that he was commenting that he'd like to see me drink less beer.

Not because of the alcohol. The amount of alcohol I consume isn't a problem. It's the carbs.

For me, the dangerous part of a rum and Coke is the Coke. The alcohol in the rum, not a problem. The sugar in the Coke, problem. And, of course, I'm not willing to switch to diet sodas because I think they taste nasty.

So, basically, he's advising me that I need to start replacing my beer with whiskey, scotch, tequila, and the like. If I'm going to drink a soda, a brandy and club soda is better for me than a ginger ale.

Let me be clear. I am ONE human being, and what is true for ONE human being is not true for ALL human beings. But, in MY specific case, I have a doctor who, for good, sound medical reasons, based on genuine evidence-based medicine, would rather see me drink the hard stuff than soft drinks.

Comments

[ron_newman]

how does he feel about wine? (for that matter, are you able or willing to switch to it?)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Just fine. Unless you're drinking Manischewitz, wine has very few carbs, and little residual sugar.

Heck, even if you ARE drinking Manischewitz, it's STILL less refined sugar and simple carbohydrates than beer or soda.

I don't REALLY consider wine, beer, and hard liquor to be fungible. I like all of them, for different reasons. And he's not asking me to cut OUT beer, just to cut DOWN on it. But cutting down on soda is more important.

Basically, for me, dangerous things to consume seem to go: Worst category -- bleach, hydrofluoric acid, and the like: avoid. Second-worst: refined sugar, white flour, white rice, other simple carbohydrates: nowhere near as bad as drinking bleach or sulfuric acid, but way more likely to kill me, since I DO eat simple refined carbs, and a lot of them. Not bad enough to worry about, because the simple carbs are going to kill me first: alcohol, things like that.

If I smoked, smoking would probably be after drinking bleach but before refined sugar. But I don't, which puts the sugar and carbs as the top spot in the "likely to kill me" derby.

[l33tminion]

This article puts sparkling wine at the top of the alcohol-per-calorie list.

[navrins]

You meant to say he's a psychiatrist (who is a physician), not a psychologist (who usually isn't), right?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yes, all of the above. Psychiatrist, psychopharm, psychology training.

[yehoshua.livejournal.com]

Sounds like my (recently retired) GP's advice regarding eating red meat: eat as much as you like, as long as it's really nice kosher corned beef from this little place off Main St. in Flushing. Otherwise, stay away.

It seems like sound medical advice to me.

[firecat]

What's medically advisable is INCREDIBLY situational.

Yeah, my urologist told me not to eat spinach and other leafy greens because they can contribute to kidney stones. Take that, USDA pyramid.

[(Anonymous)]

Club soda with small amounts of syrup can make a tasty soft drink.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Yep, and, as we discussed, lemonade made with one tablespoon of sugar per glass is pretty much on the really sweet side for lemonade -- and it's one THIRD the sugar in a soda.

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Every now & then, particularly if you're having a scotch on the rocks, have it for me, since my medical needs are fairly the opposite of yours :-)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Ayup. I know more than one person who can digest simple carbs perfectly fine with no insulin response problems, but for whom even a single drink would be A Very Bad Idea.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

I'm now trying to reorganize my beverages to minimize artificial sweeteners, due to a study showing that their use in mice caused gut bacteria that promoted insulin resistance. I know all the caveats--one study, in mice--but my body's behavior seems to fit & I'm giving it a try. I always felt lucky that they never tasted bad to me (funny as in unusual at most), never caused headaches or gastric side effects--and now AARRRRGGGH.

Between diabetes and now this, though, I do have to say that while I totally understand your point about foods/beverages not being fungible, you can make them so if you need to. It is possible to go from "this is when I drink CVS soda" (in my case) to "this is when I want a beverage within certain parameters." I suspect that for you, some of the substitutes for beer may have no alcohol as well as less carb.

Also, in my experience, the transition is much harder; once you get the new patterns established, not as hard.

But I really truly feel your pain!

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

While I agree that the "one study in mice, sort of replicated in humans by doing before-and-after bloodwork on about a dozen humans" isn't enough to make medical suggestions upon, it DOES give me pause. And, well, artificial sweeteners taste nasty to me, anyway.

I think most Americans, probably most Westerners in general, would be healthier if we swapped out maybe half of the non-water things we drink for plain water. And I'm TRYING to do something similar. I really am. But it's hard.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

I just made a breakthrough in that today: *really* ice cold water, cold & then with ice in it, is so much more pleasant to me! Drinking even refrigerator-cold water is a chore, but I think iced water may work.

Also, I'm experimenting with how little flavoring makes a difference. So far, I've been able to enjoy Celestial Seasoning fruit tea diluted at least 6 times & use about 1/4" to 1/2" fruit juice in ice water.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I don't like cold water at all -- I drink stuff room temperature. However, a dash of salt and a dash of baking soda are pleasant to me. I purify my tap water, but we humans are more used to drinking water from sources that have some sort of dissolved minerals in them. A bit of salt and tiny bit of baking soda simulates that somewhat.

[stitchwhich.livejournal.com]

I, too, have read the study and changed my "I'm sick of hearing about how bad artificial sweeteners are" stance, because I am also trying to control my diabetes without having to 'move up' to insulin'. I did note that the study did not address Stevia (unless I am mis-remembering) so I am comfortable using a nice cane sugar/stevia mix that I've found.

Earl Grey tea doesn't require any sweeteners for me while every other tea does. It being the beginning of the cold season, I'm going to try to wean myself off of Diet Pepsi before spring.

Although - as an aside, my own physician had me drinking Diet Pepsi during the summers to help with edema. Regular diuretic medications were too strong so he checked out the stats I brought him concerning sodium vs caffeine in the beverage, and okay'd it. And then I spent every summer telling people, "Individual responses to certain foods or drugs are individual... this is not advisable for most people... blah, blah, blah."

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Makes sense to me. And I'm always glad to hear that there are sensible medical people. Our family has been pretty lucky, but some friends' experiences...yikes.