Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2020. While I thought it would be great to post on some New Years’ beer testing, since it is January, I am also reminded of the social media phenom of Dry January. What is Dry January? In a nutshell, you abstain from alcohol for the month of January. Actually, I like the way the UK charity foundation called Alcohol Change UK puts it:
Dry January is the UK’s one-month booze-free challenge that helps millions reset their relationship with alcohol every year
Alcohol Change UK https://alcoholchange.org.uk
The foundation was created in response to a growing need to educate the UK public on the dangers of alcohol and to reverse some of the larger patterns of behaviors associated with drinking that could be harmful. They are the originators of Dry January, and whether you are UK or other, it is a great idea.
If you are headed for a Dry January this year, or other month, here are a few tips to consider:
Start With a Dry Goal
There are many reasons to start a Dry January, but your first step should be to outline what are your personal goals are with your Dry Month. For instance, do you want to loose weight? Spend less on alcohol? Have a competition with your friends or co-workers? Or perhaps just to understand your body better.
I tried Dry January for the first time a couple of years back. My Goal? I was training for a half-marathon in February and thought, maybe it will help me train and prepare for race day. I can’t say that I felt a signifiant difference the first year I did it, but I did note sleeping better and feeling more rested in the morning. That said, the second year I tried it, I felt much better mentally and physically in the weeks leading up to my race.
Once you know your goal, you might also formulate a hypothesis, something you can test. I thought I would lose 2 more pounds before race day, which should help me run faster. Ends up, I did not lose 2 more pounds, and its really not clear if I ran faster. But what I learned was:
I liked how I felt when I was doing my hardest training runs and that was a good enough reason to do it again.
KJM
Have a Strategy
Once you know your goal and have formulated your hypothesis, start to think about what obstacles you might encounter and strategies to negotiate those obstacles. For instance, when going to a friends house for dinner (update: at the time of this writing we were not in pandemic lockdown, but do look forward to the day when we can all safely come together to celebrate whatever we like. Until then keep safe), some Gluten Free options are to bring your host a 6-pack of GF non-alcoholic beer, Kombucha, sparkling cider, or sparkling water. Or if they are coming to your house, try a mocktail competition or taste test of non-alcoholic beers.
Gluten Free, non-alcoholic beer
If you fear the taste of the non-alcohol brews or think they are not Gluten Free, have hope, things have changed since Near Beer! There are a growing number out there, for instance Glutenberg produces a Gluten-Free, non-alcoholic Blonde that has only 59 calories. It is 100% Gluten Free and carries the GF seal on its product. Check out this detailed review on Beercrank.com. In Europe, Damm produces Free Dam, a Gluten Free and non-alcoholic Lager. This beer is certified GF and the bottles carry the stamp of certification. The Damm.co website has a great explanation of the process and science behind it! Heineken also produces a Gluten-reduced, non-alcoholic pale lager called Heinekin 0.0. This lager is not GF certified, as it is created from gluten-containing grains and then the gluten is reduced. So if you are seeking Low Gluten instead of pure Gluten Free non-alcoholic beer, this may be an additional option for you. Many of the Beer Delivery apps also delivery non-alcoholic beverages including some of the beers in this post, so you can even order from a friends house and get it delivered in under an hour.
Keep a Diary
I highly recommend keeping a journal of your experience. I keep a diary of my running activity, I augmented that with Dry January data; in other words, I kept a daily tracking of if I drank or not that day and a recording of how I felt, how I slept, and how it affected my training. I used a calendar-based hand-written journal, so could count down the days to both race day and and my celebratory drink.
Or Use A Dry January App
If you’d prefer a digital experience in tracking your Dryness, there are several apps out there. The charity that runs Alcohol Change UK produces a nifty app called Try Dry and its free. This app lets you visualize your calendar and successes over your Dry Month. You can choose a month or other longer duration. It also helps you track calories saved and money saved as well. Every day you stay dry, you get an Atta Boy to keep your positive energy on the high! You can also earn badges for number of consecutive days Dry. Progress charts and alcohol quizzes are additional neat features to keep you focused in meeting your goal. In addition, you can pledge some of your tracked alcohol savings to the foundation, which will support research
Don’t sweat the small stuff
If you have a less than Dry day, don’t worry, look to what you have achieved up until that day and give yourself a pat on the back for getting there. Also, use it as an opportunity to reflect on how you feel, how you slept, or perhaps how you think you performed at work or at sport. Can you sense the difference with and without alcohol. You can also start to understand the reasons why you accept a drink. Are social events your achilles’ heal? Once you know, you can develop strategies for the next time you are in a similar circumstances and use them to keep your Dry streak going.
Invite Friends
Peer pressure certainly adds to the flip side of Dryness, where you may feel compelled to break your Dryness for social reasons. Why not flip it the other way? Invite your friends to do Dry January with you. According to Alcohol Change UK, 1 in 10 drinkers plan to do Dry January. You’d be surprised how many may say “yeah, let’s go!”. Chances of being successful also go up when we help each other and are unified in a goal.
Into 2020
The Dry January challenge is a fairly short and highly achievable goal, so it’s definitely something you can do if you want to go after it. Having a goal and a strategy will help you achieve it. Whatever your Dry Month approach, do reward yourself even if it wasn’t a perfectly Dry run (and you might just find you don’t want to reward yourself with alcohol!). And if you are not doing a Dry January, support your Dry friends by learning more and providing options, like non-alcoholic beer, for them to be successful at social events.
If you have a Dry January story to share, post it here and inspire others. Cheers and have a Happy and Healthy 2020!
Update: See updated post on Dry January 2021 for new NA beer options.
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