It’s been a busy old week so I haven’t had time to blog until today…and I’m two thirds of the way through – another milestone in the bag.
We went out last night to friends’ house and the first thing they asked was ‘want a beer?’. This is doubly frustrating; because of doing this challenge and having to say no, and the fact that they actually produce their own beer…which is really good! One time we tried some of the IPA they’d made and the result was that one person had a brain meltdown and couldn’t think of the words he was trying to say, my boyfriend could only remember English words and forgot how to speak Italian and us girls couldn’t stop giggling…potent stuff and a very funny night. God only knows what concoction we were drinking but it went down well.
My friend’s mom was also there last night and when I gave one of the reasons why I’d given up booze as helping my ‘fat’ liver to rest, recuperate and regenerate she practically told me off by saying that one month isn’t going to do anything and that I’d need a year off! Not on your nelly!! Respect to those who do go dry for one year but it is not for me.
Medicaldaily.com reported that a team at New Scientist carried out an investigation together with the Institute for Liver and Digestive Health at University College London Medical School whereby some staff gave up alcohol for 5 weeks and others carried on drinking as they normally would, specifying that they didn’t particularly see themselves as heavy drinkers. The tests taken after the experiment showed that the liver fat fell by 15% on average and almost 20% in some individuals. Furthermore, the abstainers ended up reducing their glucose levels by around 16% on average.
How smug do I feel now? Pretty much as smug as you can get. My friend’s mom doesn’t drink anyway and had a very light beer last night, only 2% (gnats piss, as my mom would call it) and offered me some. Me, thinking it was alcohol free, almost had some until my boyfriend told them that I would lose the bet. Bless him!!! That means that he cares enough about the bet (or the challenge) that he wanted to stop me from swigging.
So, anyway, at least now I’m armed with scientific (kind of) data to back up my claim and I’m ready to tackle the next person who dares to contest me. And I reassured my friend that I’ll be drinking on his birthday, which is 4th October, and he promised me he’d put aside a couple of bottles of his home brew for me. There’s something to look forward to. Oh, and referring back to day sixteen…I can confirm that I was soooo boring last night I could’ve sent myself to sleep!!!
