Artificial sweetners. Stevia holds a special place, if you like it.

Coffee is not horrible but 40 oz. first thing in the morning is quit excessive. Are you getting enough sleep. 7-9 hours, please.

Alcohol is the big conundrum for people. I do not have time to pull up all the research and link it, so take my word or go look it up. Alcohol in moderation is healthy, even good, but there is confusion about what is moderate. The media screws this up all the time and people follow along. For an adult male, moderation is 4-8 drinks per week with females being around 2-6. The health benefits come from a bit of alcohol hitting the system, after that negative things start happening. If you're drinking multiple drinks every night, you are throwing your liver into de novo lipogenesis--the liver producing fatty acids from the ethanol. This causes two important things: 1) the liver sucks at producing fat and causes the production of small cell LDL particles. This is LDL associated with all the heart disease, stroke, death, etc. 2) Ethanol hitting the liver causes cholesterol to wash away. These two combine to cause cirrhosis of the liver. Also, whenever you are forcing your liver into de novo lipogenesis you're putting yourself into a fat storage state. The difference between this and other fat storage states is the creation of visceral fat. In other words, you're strangling your organs in fat. This is the worst kind of fat. Human foie gras.

The interesting thing is eating a high carbohydrate diet causes a very similar effect. In this case, eating more carbohydrate than you can store as glycogen and burn off in your normal activities causes your liver into a state of de novo lipogenesis. This also creates human foie gras, but mostly you'll hear about non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The main difference is you'll not get the hardening of the liver due to cholesterol being depleted by the action of ethanol.

There you go. Hopefully this will scare you enough, or not. Whatever! I feel like this should have one of those NBC rainbows with the sound along with the tag line... The more you know.

Yeah man once your body adjusts to using fat as fuel instead of carbs combined with a good nights rest you will be able to take a small cup with you on your way to work and never need the bucket again! You will be pleasantly surprised with your energy levels if you really commit to this.

punchgut seems to always have a great response to many threads I read. Nice work punchgut!

If you're looking for weight loss... this is my own personal experience talking. When I had wine, my weight loss stalled for at least a week, sometimes more., before resuming, with no other changes in lifestyle. I don't know why I'd react this way to a glass or two of wine, but I do.

Nothing anyone says can make you do anything.

I used to use artificial sweeteners now the very fact that they are in everything (esp stuff for kids) makes me want to go berserk... so the best action I can take is to NOT CONSUME them or buy anything from those kinds of manufacturers. I drink a lot of water and herbal teas. I like club soda and a dash of lemon or lime juice too (rare treat).

I'm not going to give you a hard time about coffee. The whole stimulant thing (the history and now reliance on them) is very interesting and worthwhile to be aware of, but I think they can be enjoyed in a healthy lifestyle... within reason. My own coffee consumption is not always "within reason".

As for alcohol... the great Paleo exception. I think it's up to you how you choose to use it and whether you can be healthy with it. I enjoy red wine (while it's going down but later on) but I honestly do not think it is healthy for me in any way. Well maybe, mentally to a point. Use it the way that works for you but I would caution against the tendency to justify it or excuse it. You don't have to justify something that you enjoy; it's a choice.

Re alcohol:

First off, I do drink - so I'm not being condescending in my comments...

Nearly all paleo justifications for drinking are just that - justifications. Yes, tequila may be made from non-grain sources (so is brandy) and red wine is from fruit and has reservitrol - but it's moot. Alcohol is a poison, pure and simple, and that outweighs any possible health benefit one can find in (or read into) a liquor.

Distilled alcohols are that - distilled (ethanol vapors and added water). Virtually nothing from the mash makes it into the final product, so it is moot whether the source is wheat, corn, potatoes, grape musts or cactus. Any grain components that make it into the bottle are nowhere near as damaging as the slug of ethanol accompanying it.

So, the decision to drink is personal, and doesn't need to be defended. I will enjoy my single malt scotch or glass of sangiovese when I choose. The rest of my diet will minimize the damage of my sociable poisonings.

I the comments by @monkeydharma‌ and @Akimajuktuq‌

RUSS8780..I will send you the link to a blog post on how longterm use of Artificial Sweeteners are physically altering for humans, a neurtoxin for many. Big fight in the main group forum on this- Diet Coke and (sugary sodas) have a brain clamp with 'dosed' delivery of sodium+Aspartame (or sugar) in each 12 oz can. (remember BigTobacco tampering and 'delivery of single dose' per smoke?

Agree or disagree- may not affect you VISIBLY, but the risk for future generations is unknown, but suspected as IQ lowering for fertile females with decades of impact on ovaries.** Bad news for your future wife.
any web search finds thousands of pages of 'for and against'..if it were so safe, why?

Natural replacements like Stevia (a leaf)- sweet like sugar, no calories, are much safer, and BigSoda is leaping on the wagon now offers 50/50 stevia/Aspartame in roll out tests.

** http://www.butterflybirth.com/how-many-eggs-is-a-female-human-born-with/
A girl is born with 2M nascent eggs, she can grow more, but exposure radiation, chemicals, and ingestion of substances… can alter them all…."ultimately, prenatal nutrition is still super important: