Mother's Ruin

I’m not a religious person.  I went to catholic schools and was raised in the faith, but I wouldn’t say I particularly follow any of the religious teachings and I’m eternally undecided about the afterlife.  I understand that people of faith enjoy having it, and I would never say they were wrong, just as I’d never say that atheists were wrong.  I don’t know.  I’ve never had a profound religious experience, and I’ve also never died, so I don’t know what happens after we peg it.  Lent however is a weird tradition I always seem to get sucked into.  Not because of the religious connotations but because it’s kind of a second chance for me to put my failed new year’s resolutions back on the table, and have another stab at them.  This year I have decided to give up red wine.  Wine in general is my tipple of choice, but red wine is pretty much my vice.  There’s something about coming home after a long day, opening a bottle of full bodied red, and slowly mellowing into your evening.  There’s also something deeply comforting about the light haze you develop after a couple of glasses that means when it’s time for bed sleep comes easily. 

A girlie night at Jonesy’s last night saw me on the gin and tonic’s instead of my usual Merlot, and the first thing I noticed was that by drinking spirits, it took me a lot longer to get drunk than I usually would.  Given that I was drinking the gin with mixers, I also stayed relatively hydrated, so this morning’s hangover was...well it wasn’t.  I didn’t feel particularly rough, I had no headache or nausea.  I felt tired, but I’d been up until 1am, so that was understandable.  Could it be that switching to the spirits really is the best option for me?  Wine in all its variations has always given me heartburn, so for any night out when I know I’m going to be consuming a lot of alcohol, I always make sure I’m prepared by carrying antacid with me.  Last night was no different, however I never needed to break them out.  I wasn’t affected by heartburn at all.  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think my body is exactly thanking me for plying it full of gin last night, but it does seem to at least appreciate the fact that I didn’t drink wine.  All the usual post-drinking side effects and ailments have not made an appearance, and this has got to be my body giving me a silent nod of gratitude.

Now having dieted A LOT over the last ten years, I know that most healthy eating plans would always recommend spirits over beer and wine, due to the fact that spirits are made up of far less “empty calories”, due them containing less sugar.  I’ve always drank wine because I think it’s more ladylike than beers or alcopops, but a G&T or a Vodka and diet coke is definitely still a demure drink.  Granted gin is nicknamed “Mother’s Ruin” due to the fact that in 18^th Century London, gin became the opium of the people because of how cheaply it could be produced.  Gin joints became the first places where women and men could drink together, and many believed this led women to neglect their children, and turn to prostitution in order to be able to buy more.  Hmmm..okay well maybe it’s not that ladylike or demure (!!)

The biggest seller for me on the whole spirits front however, is that I don’t actually think I drink as much of them as I do wine.  I tend to drink a bottle of wine quite happily, and also, I could quite happily do this every night of the week.  On gin or vodka I’d only have two to three glasses in the same period of time, for far less calories than the wine.  When I write all of this down, two things strike me.  One, is that I’m clearly a borderline alcoholic, and two, that the majority of my calorie mistakes and dieting failures come from booze.  Perhaps I should revise my lent promise for the remaining thirty six days and thirty six nights, to include white and rosé too?  Well...let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but it’s certainly something to think on!