♾️ The Devil’s Juice… the Alcohol Protocol

Read time: 4 mins…

Grand Risings Entrepreneur.

This week’s newsletter is going to cover:

• 👹 🥃 The Devil’s Juice… the Alcohol Protocol

Let’s dive in…👇

I want to talk about alcohol.

I’m from the UK, where its drinking culture means for many socialising = drinking.

In fact all my weekends used to revolve around drinking.

But now I have a very different relationship with alcohol…

It will likely come at no surprise that from a health & performance perspective…

…there are nearly zero benefits to drinking alcohol.

In fact, there are HUGE negatives.

• It wrecks your sleep

• It erodes your mental health

• It messes up your gut biome

• It makes you fat

• It causes inflammation

• It stresses your heart

• It pulverises your liver

…and a dozen other things.

However I do still drink… 😂

Just not very much.

Let me explain… 👇

For me alcohol can be an effective social lubricant.

I can have a great time without drinking.

But I’m not ‘the same’ 

• I’m not quite as relaxed.

• I’m less willing to share.

• I’m a lot less empathetic.

• My silver tongue is slightly less sharp…

Yet each of these things evaporate after I have 1 or 2 drinks.

So I find alcohol can:

• Elevate certain experiences

• Facilitate deep conversations

• Help me make memories I will treasure

So if you’re also going to drink…

…here’s how I do it to negate as much of the negative impact as possible.

The Alcohol Protocol

1. Limit your drinking frequency

2. Choose your alcohol carefully

3. Eat before you drink

4. Hydrate properly

5. Prep your gut with fermented foods

6. Cold plunge after

7. Take B12 & Folate

1. Limit your drinking frequency

• I drink maximum one occasion per month.

• I have maximum of 2 drinks per occasion.

2. Choose your type of alcohol carefully

• Tequila - the most natural & clean from of alcohol that comes from Agave. Our body breaks it down better than other alcohols.

• Organic Red Wine - as an occasional treat.

• Beers & alcohols from grains (e.g. vodka) are the worst.

3. Eat food before your drink

• ‘Lining the stomach’ is a real thing that slows the alcohols absorption into the bloodstream.

• This prolongs the initial positive you get, and slows down the negatives that occur.

4. Hydrate properly before & during

• Before: Make sure you are fully hydrated (with your salty water 😉)

• During: I drink two glasses of water for every alcoholic drink I have

• This helped counter alcohols dehydrating diuretic properties.

5. Prep your gut with fermented food or probiotics

• One of the reasons hangovers are so bad is it disrupts your gut biome.

• Eating fermented foods like kimchi or sauerkraut before you drink can help prevent this.

• I also take probiotic supplements to fill my gut with as much good stuff as possible.

6. Cold Plunge the morning after

• This is one of the best ways to cure a hangover

• This spikes adrenaline & dopamine which can ‘wash away’ most of the negative feelings.

7. Use B12 & Folate to mitigate the cancer risk

• There’s some science now that shows vitamin B12 & folate can reduce the cancer risk in those that drink alcohol.

• So supplementing these is a longevity play to further mitigate some of the cancer risks.

The best way to mitigate the negative effects… is to still not drink at all

There are some interesting alternatives to alcohol entering the market…

• There’s a bunch of ‘No & Low’ alc alternatives that try to mimic the real thing but they don’t make you feel anything.
  

• Now there’s a new age of hemp & CBD infused drinks designed to give you a warm relaxing feeling with non of the pay off.
  
  The best I’ve come across is The Pathfinder (disclaimer: they are also a client of mine).
  

• One thing I am yet to explore is Kava…

  
  Natural, non-alcoholic drink used for centuries in Pacific Island cultures.

  Interestingly… it contains kavalactones that provide relaxing, stress-reducing effects.

  
  I’ll keep you posted as I test it out.

P.S. I share a lot of stuff on Instagram… if you want you can connect with me here.