hbsmummy

Hi there,

I hope this is in an appropriate section. I'm sorry if it isn't.

I joined this forum three days ago. I have been a problem drinker for about 12 years, and I am on my 4th day of no alcohol.
My husband likes to have a beer in the evening a couple of days a week and he is the kind of person who can have one, thoroughly enjoy it and not even consider a second. He would stop completely if I asked him to, and if it was affecting my self-control, but it doesn't seem to be. However, I have started having a non-alcohol beer while he has a real one. I like the drink and a chat in the evening with him. The no-alcohol beer is really yummy, and is actually zero percent alcohol. I'm wondering if this is a bad idea, because it is still reinforcing and romaticizing that first evening drink. I'm having no desire to have actual alcohol after it and I'm feeling pretty darn good, actually. One of the reasons I ask is because I quit smoking cigarettes about 5 years ago using nicotine gum. Stopping the cigs was easy, but it took me 2 years to wean off the nicotine gum!!! Wondering if 'alcohol repacement' has worked for anyone, or if I'm just playing with fire.

MycoolFitz

For me its a bad idea, like focusing my time and energy on a picture and thoughts of an ex-lover then wondering why I can't get over her. Addiction is more than just drinking, its a culture of its own. Sobriety is also a culture incluing many facits not just not drinking. I'm just speaking for me.

hbsmummy

Thank you for your input.

CarolD

Welcome..

Congratulations on your decision to live sober..:

I'm wondering why you can't enjoy a social time with your husband while drinking something else?
Iced Tea has been my favorite for years...and it has no drinking memories for me...

All my best to the 2 of you

hbsmummy

Hmmm....good question. I do sometimes have tea or something instead. No problem. I do, however, like the zero alcohol beer very much. It is like a fizzy honey drink! Where I'm living overseas, there is a huge market for non-alcohol drinks, and companies put a lot of money into it. So, the beer doesn't taste like beer, but it doesn't take horrible like other non-alcohol drinks I've tried. And there aren't even trace amounts of alcohol like many of the marketed non-alcoholic beverages in my home country. I guess it is definitely a psychological thing, but since I'm not craving real booze, I thought it might be OK. Just wondering if anyone has done like this and had/didn't have any relapses because of it.

CarolD

For me...it would be all about playing head games....
Surely there are other things to drink where you are that taste yummy..

And if you are not concerened...I really doubt you would be posting about it...it would be a non issue.

hbsmummy

It could also be the fizziness, I think. I don't drink soft drink (not sure what people in the US call it, soda? pop?) - stuff like Coca-cola etc. so I think it's the fizzies I need!!!!!

CarolD

Yes ..they are called POp or Sodas ...things like Coca cola.
We also have plain fizzy Soda Water and Tonic Water that are not so sweet.

If I am in a social situation where drinking is going on...and I don' have Tea
as an option..I ask for a Tonic with Line.

It looks like a mixed drink....but I always smell first in case by mistake alcohol was added...
My favorite alcohol was Scotch...so again...no head games.

hbsmummy

I would consider tonic and lime! I'm a bit confused at the moment, though. I feel like everything I drink in the evening is a *subsitute* for beer or wine. I do drink a lot of water, always have, but still like something else with/after dinner. oooh, the psychological aspect of all this is the toughest. Physically I feel great.

Ghostly

Bottom line is - If alcohol is a problem for you, and you have chosen to abstain, then you need to stick with it. If you are able to stay sober while drinking 100% alcohol free beer, then go for it. If it tempts you towards alcohol, then don't drink it. Personally, I do think you are playing with fire, and you should skip it. Find a different drink.

Good luck and congrats on the sober time.

north

First, I would double-check to see whether the non-alcoholic beer really is alcohol-free or not. It depends on where you live in the world. In the US, having less than 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) allows you to call it "non-alcoholic" while in the UK, "no-alcohol" or "alcohol-free" is defined as less than 0.05% ABV. They also have another category "de-alcoholized" which is between 0.05% and 0.05% ABV. A few years ago, Japanese brewers, starting with Kirin, developed the first 0.00% alcohol-free beers - and I found them a lot more drinkable than the standard US brands.

My point is that in a worst-case scenario, someone unwittingly sucks back a 12-pack or even 24 pack of "alcohol-free" beer with 0.5% and discovers they've gotten the tiniest of buzzes. Yeah - of course, downing 20 drinks sounds unthinkable to most normal people, but for many of us problem drinkers, killing a case or two of the real stuff was nothing.

On the other hand, not to get one too paranoid, keep in mind that even fruit juices have naturally occurring amounts of alcohol. It depends on the study - and on the type of orange as well as how long its been stored - but one indicated ranges between 0.07% to 0.39% ABV. However, hardly anyone is advocating one ditch natural fruit juices because of this.

Depending on what I'm eating, I'll chose from 0.00% alcohol-free beer, iced tea and recently, sparkling water. If I have a soft drink, then ginger ale but after two, I get sick of sipping sugary drinks. Over time, I also found myself naturally cutting back on the alcohol-free beer in favor of ice tea or sparkling water. Even if it was a fraction of the calories of real beer, I decided I didn't want the extra carbs and gas. That way, I manage to keep a 'six-pack', not a keg, under my t-shirt.

SSIL75

That would be a bad idea for me. What would I think of while drinking non-alcoholic beer except beer? Maybe you would not but I would.

In recovery I had to teach myself to move my mind off the obsession. Snap myself out of it. A non-alcoholic wine or beer would have been feeding the obsession for me.

instant

Never worked for me in the long run. The associations are all "beer" related- and it softened me up for going back drinking after a few months

thisisme

I just don't see the point.
For me it's like an ex smoker getting comfort from holding a smoke and a litter.

Tippingpoint

I've got 28 days under my belt. This past weekend I picked up a 12 pack of "de-alcoholized" beer from the grocery store. The label said - "less than 0.5% alcohol". Pretty much a worst case scenario based on the comments in the previous post.

My thoughts going into it was that if I all of a sudden felt the desire to down all 12 trying to catch a buzz or if I found myself craving bigger and better forms of alcohol, then it likely wasn't a good idea.

On saturday night when I was BBQ'ing for some friends I opened one. This is a situation in which a beer had been a mainstay in my life. The non-alcoholic beer satisfied the craving. I was able to enjoy it...forget all about wanting a real beer...and when it was done I didn't feel any enhanced desire to have more...in fact, just the opposite...without the alcohol there is no reason to have another one - at least in my mind.

Just because I don't have a problem with them doesn't mean that everyone will have the same experience. I just think you have to into it with eyes wide open and make an honest assessment of yourself.

thisisme

What would have been the difference if you had popped a coke?
I'm curious.

laurie6781

Well, I never did figure out 'what the point was' lol And have tasted both the NA Wine and Beer and it didn't taste very good.

With that being said, however. I do keep a 12 pack of O'douls in the pantry. Why? To boil the Bratwurst in. I come from Wisconsin, and the ONLY way to grill brats is after they have been boiled in beer. Yes it does give them a different flavor We tried boiling without beer and they just did not taste right.

So, since I have the Bratwurst shipped from Wisconsin, Sheyboygan Brats, I use the O'douls to boil them after putting 'poke holes' in them with a fork. Since they are boiled, at a 'rolling boil' for about 25 minutes I do believe the teeny bit of alcohol is boiled away.

As to drinking it ................................ yuck!

J M H O

KathP

Some years ago, my husband & I, who'd both been sober for several years, thought we'd try some of the de-alcoholised beer. It didn't taste very good, so after a few months of that, we turned to each other & commented that maybe we should just get some proper beer, but not over-indulge. You can guess how long that lasted! It took another 4 years for me to have the courage to get sober again, and he is still drinking.

So for me, it would definitely be playing with fire -- and these days, I'm done getting burned.

doggonecarl

That's probably going to be the case for a while. I know that everytime I opened the frig I was looking for something "instead" of beer. Frankly, in those early days of recovery, there is no replacement for that which we crave. But it gets better. Really. Now when I open the frig, I'm drinking what I'm thirsty for. Which these days is a lot of sparkling mineral water.

ImReadyToQuit

NA Beer led me back to real beer which led me back to a liter of whiskey daily.