8 Drinks! Are You Kidding Me???

SunofaBeach14

8 glasses a day maybe alot not a week

I liked your first answer better

Sabine_Stroehm

If it bothers you that much, it might be a good idea to ask yourself why.

This

lol - the "if you have an opinion about alcohol consumption that is north of abstinence then you must be an alcoholic" line of reasoning.

In every thread on the subject on this dieting board. It's quite stunning.

You're clearly in denial. As am I.

Clearly. I have maintained a weight loss for 12 years. I get A+ on my physical. My blood work is impeccable, and when I asked my doc if it was ok if i had wine with dinner most nights she said "no, what about the other nights. Have wine every night". The teetotalers on the board are a hoot.

IMHO, there is a religious component to discussions about alcohol that is particularly prevalent in the U.S. and I think it clouds many people's perceptions of it. Also, heavy drinking has a certain connotation of drunkenness and poor behavior, and to redefine it as slightly more than 1 drink a day is a nothing short of a silly semantic game.

ETA: And on that note, I think I'll have another beer. *waits for gasps of horror*

oh absolutely. No doubt about it. Enjoy.

Beautiful_disaster40

I tend to get it all in on one night, guess I'm a lush. I can live with that

SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish

OK Well...actually this is much less controversial to you probably than recent health research articles saying ANY amount of alcohol is not really safe and that the old one glass of wine/night recommendation is total bunk, there is no good evidence saying it actually can help you, and resveratrol levels are way to low for any reasonable health effect to be seen from it...and not only that but a study showing resveratrol does not reduce CVD risk or prolong life...

All and all the evidence for that alcohol has harmful effects is much stronger than any evidence it has a positive effect. Sad but true, and not many want to hear this. So I'll be leaving now, I'm just the messenger...and I'm still about to go have a drink after my hike.

BinaryPulsar

OK Well...actually this is much less controversial to you probably than recent health research articles saying ANY amount of alcohol is not really safe and that the old one glass of wine/night recommendation is total bunk, there is no good evidence saying it actually can help you, and resveratrol levels are way to low for any reasonable health effect to be seen from it...and not only that but a study showing resveratrol does not reduce CVD risk or prolong life...

All and all the evidence for that alcohol has harmful effects is much stronger than any evidence it has a positive effect. Sad but true, and not many want to hear this. So I'll be leaving now, I'm just the messenger...and I'm still about to go have a drink after my hike.

Yeah, I hear you on all this and have read into it fully. And I had one large drink last night and two small ones tonight. The health benefits are a sham. But, enjoy life in the ways that you enjoy. If it's not fun, don't do it.

jec285

Good grief. The CDC is run by human beings and many of them are not scientists or familiar with the latest research.

Source?

Personally I like to look at the evidence and make my own decisions rather than blindly following the guidelines of a public government organization.

The CDC sets the guidelines, there's no opinions to be had, it's black and white. If you're HIV positive and your t-cell count drops below 200 you officially have AIDS, doesn't really matter what your irrelevant opinion is on the subject, same thing applies here.


That being said, I'm not saying you should feel bad about drinking 8 drinks a week, hell have 20 if you want, to be honest it kind of baffles me why you people are so upset at being labeled a heavy drinker, the amount of guilt and denial itt is sad to see.

tennisdude2004

8 drinks is probably considered heavy!

Although 1 glass of red wine every evening is considered healthy (but I've done the math and that's 7).

SunofaBeach14

Good grief. The CDC is run by human beings and many of them are not scientists or familiar with the latest research.

Source?

Personally I like to look at the evidence and make my own decisions rather than blindly following the guidelines of a public government organization.

The CDC sets the guidelines, there's no opinions to be had, it's black and white. If you're HIV positive and your t-cell count drops below 200 you officially have AIDS, doesn't really matter what your irrelevant opinion is on the subject, same thing applies here.


That being said, I'm not saying you should feel bad about drinking 8 drinks a week, hell have 20 if you want, to be honest it kind of baffles me why you people are so upset at being labeled a heavy drinker, the amount of guilt and denial itt is sad to see.

You need try a bit harder if you're going to troll here

SteveJWatson

I'm fairly sure the last time I went to my doctor, I told him I had 4 pints a week (which is 8 drinks) and I was classed as a 'moderate' drinker.

Also; for what its worth, the last time I checked (and I admit it has been a while) the UK had lower levels of alcoholism than France.

SteveJWatson

OK Well...actually this is much less controversial to you probably than recent health research articles saying ANY amount of alcohol is not really safe and that the old one glass of wine/night recommendation is total bunk, there is no good evidence saying it actually can help you, and resveratrol levels are way to low for any reasonable health effect to be seen from it...and not only that but a study showing resveratrol does not reduce CVD risk or prolong life...

All and all the evidence for that alcohol has harmful effects is much stronger than any evidence it has a positive effect. Sad but true, and not many want to hear this. So I'll be leaving now, I'm just the messenger...and I'm still about to go have a drink after my hike.

That's fine - life is all about calculated risk.

Getting into a car is much more risky (even sober) than consuming alcohol, given the injury and mortailty rate on the roads and yet we do it everyday.

jec285

Good grief. The CDC is run by human beings and many of them are not scientists or familiar with the latest research.

Source?

Personally I like to look at the evidence and make my own decisions rather than blindly following the guidelines of a public government organization.

The CDC sets the guidelines, there's no opinions to be had, it's black and white. If you're HIV positive and your t-cell count drops below 200 you officially have AIDS, doesn't really matter what your irrelevant opinion is on the subject, same thing applies here.


That being said, I'm not saying you should feel bad about drinking 8 drinks a week, hell have 20 if you want, to be honest it kind of baffles me why you people are so upset at being labeled a heavy drinker, the amount of guilt and denial itt is sad to see.

You need try a bit harder if you're going to troll here

Trolling usually involves saying something inaccurate :^)

KombuchaCat

This definately seems more like moderate to me. It would allow for 1 drink/day plus an extra of course, or perhaps they are classifying as heavy because they might assume that people would not have 1/day but not drink every day and have maybe 3 one day and 5 another or something like that? Personally I've cut back to 2-4 drinks/week if that. I never drank every day sitting on the bar stool and having multiple in one sitting started to catch up to me. I think that we tend not to count the occasional binging as a problem in this country but I think it's more detrimental that we realize.

SunofaBeach14

Good grief. The CDC is run by human beings and many of them are not scientists or familiar with the latest research.

Source?

Personally I like to look at the evidence and make my own decisions rather than blindly following the guidelines of a public government organization.

The CDC sets the guidelines, there's no opinions to be had, it's black and white. If you're HIV positive and your t-cell count drops below 200 you officially have AIDS, doesn't really matter what your irrelevant opinion is on the subject, same thing applies here.


That being said, I'm not saying you should feel bad about drinking 8 drinks a week, hell have 20 if you want, to be honest it kind of baffles me why you people are so upset at being labeled a heavy drinker, the amount of guilt and denial itt is sad to see.

You need try a bit harder if you're going to troll here

Trolling usually involves saying something inaccurate :^)

So you really are comparing diagnosis of a viral infection to setting guidelines for alcohol consumption and further identifying the issue as black and white? That's really the extent of your analysis? Okay then. Don't hurt yourself.

gotolam

I'm not sure why this is so upsetting to people. When I was 180, I was labeled as "obese." When I got down to 179, I was labeled "overweight." There has to be a cutoff somewhere. If you're 5'6 and male, you're considered short. If you're 5'7, you're considered average. You have to draw the line somewhere.

I'm not sure why "they" saying that seven drinks a week is healthy while eight drinks a week is "heavy drinking." First of all, I don't think "they" are the same people. Second, I'm not sure if those two things are mutually exclusive.

Sabine_Stroehm

I'm not sure why this is so upsetting to people. When I was 180, I was labeled as "obese." When I got down to 179, I was labeled "overweight." There has to be a cutoff somewhere. If you're 5'6 and male, you're considered short. If you're 5'7, you're considered average. You have to draw the line somewhere.

I'm not sure why "they" saying that seven drinks a week is healthy while eight drinks a week is "heavy drinking." First of all, I don't think "they" are the same people. Second, I'm not sure if those two things are mutually exclusive.

Now imagine being told: you know how you were of normal weight yesterday at your weight? Now you're not. Now you're overweight and have various potential health concerns.

Sabine_Stroehm

I recently read a study stating that even ONE soda a day is bad for your health. In fact, they even quantified the risks. I wonder how many folks on this thread drink a can (or 3) of soda a day and would find that study distressing?

cheers folks. Have a great week.:drinker:

0somuchbetter0

I hate reports like this because they're designed to make the consumer feel guilty for their behavior. Shame on the CDC for wording it the way they did. There are other ways to get the information out, but they're not attention grabbers, so they resort to cheap headlines like you see on the covers of women's magazines. "You SHOULDN'T do X...and if you do you're a BAD PERSON."

The fact is, these numbers are based on public health studies. I'm not an epidemiologist, but my husband and sister are and I recently listened in on their conversation about this... Basically they look at a broad number of people and their health behaviors and correlate them to risk of death from heart failure, stroke, etc., and then they determine what is more likely to make you die earlier rather than later. So after looking at the numbers and comparing multiple studies over time, etc., "they" come up with recommendations. Last "official" word is that for *optimal* health, they're recommending 8 drinks per week for women and 15 for men. The gender difference is not about weight or body mass, but because apparently men and women metabolize alcohol differently. When they say "optimal" health, they mean that consuming this number of drinks will result in the lowest risk for developing related health problems by the time you're X years old, statistically speaking. So in my case, say, if I had 8 drinks per week my risk of dying at age 80 from heart disease or stroke is x%. If I have 6 drinks per week or 10 drinks per week or whatever, my risk of dying at age 80 from heart disease or stroke is x% plus a factor of y. So I might die at age 78 instead. So here's my point ----> SO WHAT? I'm going to continue drinking what I want to drink (provided I'm not a complete irresponsible idiot about it, like driving my kids around while drunk or not making it to work because of killer hangovers or whatever) and I'll just die when I die.

So going from these boring public health data analyses to the CDC coming out and declaring "If you have more than 8 drinks a week you're a heavy drinker" is quite a leap and total BS, IMO.

The_Aly_Wei

Lol @ CNN