Intuitive Drinking - How Alcohol May Fit Into Your Food Freedom Journey
If you have ever wondered how your favorite glass of wine or your go-to cocktail fits into your intuitive eating journey, this post is for you. Within the framework of intuitive eating, we know that all foods (and drinks) can be included in a balanced lifestyle. And this can (but doesn’t have to) include alcohol.
Everyone has a different relationship with alcohol and your personal relationship with it may ebb and flow. Perhaps you don’t enjoy drinking at all. That’s more than fine! No need to start. Maybe you would like to decrease your alcohol intake. That’s a fine goal too. Or, maybe you could take it or leave it. In this case, I want to address how you can drink more intuitively without pressures from diet culture or people in your life.
If you’re new here, hello and welcome! My name is Hannah and I am a non-diet dietitian here to help you improve your relationship with your body and finally find food freedom.
Alcohol addiction and binge drinking
Before we jump too much further into this topic, I want to address alcohol dependence and binge drinking. This is a very real and very serious situation that is definitely not the same as intuitive drinking.
When abused, alcohol can make changes to the brain’s chemistry and functionality. This doesn’t mean that anyone who drinks is misusing alcohol, but it does mean that there’s always a possibility of alcohol dependence if you’re not mindful of it.
Binge drinking is not the same as binge eating
Binge eating is a disordered relationship with food, but it is not an addiction to food. We can’t be addicted to food as we need food to survive.
Binge eating disorder is strongly influenced by the restrict-binge cycle. The more people restrict food, the more likely they are to binge eat. This is not the same for alcohol - cutting back on alcohol doesn’t predict binge drinking the way restricting food predicts binge eating.
Alcohol and diet culture often cross paths
Alcohol contains calories (7 calories per gram, to be exact). And we know that diet culture has led many of us to believe that calories are bad. So to save calories, some people will skip meals prior to a drinking binge. This can lead to undernourishment, becoming dangerously intoxicated, and it creates a disordered dichotomy between alcohol and food. Saving calories to then drink or not drinking because you are scare of the calories are both considered a negative relationship with alcohol.
It is absolutely okay to not drink alcohol. As a dietitian, I of course would never advocate for people to drink more, as alcohol is a class 1 carcinogen. But if your main reason to not drink is because you are fearful of the calories, that is a red flag in my professional opinion.
Perhaps mindfully drinking alcohol on occasion is a way for you to celebrate, connect with friends, etc. We do eat and drink for more than just physical nourishment and that’s okay!
How to drink intuitively
This all comes down to understanding the “why” behind your alcohol choices. What is your reason behind wanting to have a drink (or not have a drink)? Just like with intuitive eating, we want to feel good! And I’m sure most of us know that drinking too much alcohol does not feel good.
A common question that I get is how much should I drink? Or how much can I drink?
Similar to food, I have found that setting “rules” around how much to drink is not helpful. That said, the recommendation from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is 2 drinks or less in a day for men and 1 drink or less in a day for women (here is what counts as a standard drink).
This of course does not mean that if you are a woman reading this blog that you should be drinking one alcoholic beverage per day. There are perhaps chunks of time where you don’t drink anything at all and then maybe occasions where you have a couple drinks. Again, this totally depends on you, your tolerance, your preferences, and the situation.
For me personally, I choose to drink very rarely. I really enjoy the taste of a fun cocktail once in a while, but I never feel very good when I do have a drink. For me, having a drink is mostly about tasting new things and I can often get that experience with a mocktail or food.
If you drink, drink mindfully
Here are some tips to help you drink alcohol more mindfully and intuitively:
Do not restrict food before, during, or after drinking.
Avoid drinking just to get drunk.
Do not use alcohol as a means of inducing vomiting.
Drink what you want and leave the rest. You don’t have to finish your drink. Just like the clean plate club - you don’t need to finish your food either!
Explore what you like. One benefit of intuitive eating (and drinking) is that you no longer only have to choose the lowest calorie food and beverages and you can find out what you actually like. Plus, when you are satisfied, you will have an easier time stopping with less intake.
When offered a drink, ask yourself if you truly want it. You don’t have to accept a drink just as you don’t need to eat food that is offered to you.
I can’t stress this enough in this post - it’s okay to want to drink less! And “drinking less” can be defined however you want. Maybe this means not drinking at all or maybe this means that you only enjoy a drink at a time because you know if you drink more than that you won’t feel very good.
I know there are some people who may try to pressure you to drink, but I encourage you to be confident in your decision. Only you get to decide what goes into your body. You can simply tell people “I'm just not a big drinker” and maybe change the subject.
Depending on the situation, it can also be helpful to have a different drink instead. Water of course will always get the job done, but more and more restaurants are offering mocktails and alcohol-free craft drinks. There are actually entire TikTok accounts dedicated to making mocktails and you can get really creative and make some fun drinks for yourself. I have also seen alcohol-free wine and similar products for purchase if you enjoy the taste of certain drinks but want to commit to your goal of decreasing your alcohol intake.
On the flip side, if you are at a restaurant and you want to order a fun cocktail but no one else does, get the cocktail! This again goes back to confidence in your decision. Now alcohol and food are not the same, but I would also encourage you to order that cheesecake for dessert if you really wanted it and no one else did. You get to decide what you put in your body.
Bottom line
Alcohol can fit into an intuitive eating approach and be mindfully enjoyed in moderation. Or it can be one of those things you never put into your body again. That is the beauty of food freedom - you have permission to choose what foods and drinks you enjoy.
What are your thoughts on intuitive drinking? Leave your comments below!
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