What's a "drink"?
 

You read the literature and posts on this forum, and you see "xx drinks per day." But what's a drink? Is it a glass of wine (how large a glass?)? Is it one beer?

The whole notion of "drink" seems so undefined generally that it's dangerous.

"I only had two drinks tonight" might mean that I only filled my water glass up half full twice with whiskey. Half the bottle is gone, but I only had two drinks.

Welcome Jauburn :)

I don't know about anyone else...but I consider any amount of alcohol is dangerous for me - you can measure it in thimbles or buckets, but it's still dangerous :)

D

A drink is a 12 oz beer, a 5 oz glass of wine or a 1-1/2 oz shot of hard liqouor. Regardless of what else you mix these with, thats a drink. These all contain about the same amount of alcohol.

A lot of people that drink at home will say they had 4 beers, but if they were 16 ouncers, they really had 5+ drinks. Similarly you could pour yourself 5 mixed drinks, with a "heavy hand" and easily consume 8 drinks.

For me it was simple . . . just one drink per day - all of it. Can't be that bad, right?

For me it was 3 glasses of wine = the whole bottle = really 8 std drinks.
6 beers = 1 1/2 std drinks each = 9 std drinks

= 17 std drinks a night, recommended for woman.....2! Gulp!

Just wanted to work it out for myself, but if u go by medical guidelines a standard drink is very small. A sip for me actually ;)

Maybe you should look into what's "no drink".

For me, my nightly "drink" consisted of a half pint of whiskey poured into a one liter Diet Coke bottle and filled the rest of the way with Diet Coke. Sometimes I even had 2 "drinks" (whole pint of whiskey). Real ladylike, huh? Once started I didn't stop til I passed out or ran out. Like Dee, today there is not a safe drink amount for me except ZERO!

Some beers are much stronger than others. Those were my favorites.

I can drink three glasses of wine - 175ml size glasses - and feel absolutely fine the next day without any hangover at all. But for me to stop at that amount is virtually impossible because I would get the flavor after the second and third glass and would want more. That's my problem.

LOL. Another moderate drinker!

Is whether you get a hangover the determining factor in whether you consider your drinking to be a problem? I drink a lot of water while I'm drinking booze, and that limits my hangovers.

Well they say that if you get a hangover that determines that you have drank too much for your body to handle. Drinking water in between is sensible and healthy and I would say denotes a " normal" drinker. For me once I get the flavor the idea of water soon goes out the window, and I can get the flavor usually after one drink. Sometimes I get the flavor after the first couple of sips depending on how delicious the wine is, my mood, etc etc.

Jauburn I think you are wrestling with the argument we all had, ie "I can drink in moderation". If you can, you have no need to be here, if you cant, then stay and chat.

Really and truly, it doesn't matter about the label "alcoholic", to me if alcohol is damaging your life, and like me, too much drinking, with usually disasterous consequences then I decided to he'll with this life I don't want this any more. My hangovers were like nervous breakdowns, I used to feel so I'll, I couldn't face the day, yet alone function, that's without all the histrionics from husband and family. Drinking caused havoc in my life and nearly destroyed me and my marriage and my daughter. But, it's staying stopped that's the problem for me. If I could stay stopped I would never need to read another self help book again, or post on this forum again, I could just get in with my life and move on, but it's not as easy as that.......

What's a "standard" drink?

Many people are surprised to learn what counts as a drink. In the United States, a "standard" drink is any drink that contains about 0.6 fluid ounces or 14 grams of "pure" alcohol. Although the drinks below are different sizes, each contains approximately the same amount of alcohol and counts as a single standard drink.

12 fl oz of regular beer = 8-9 fl oz of malt liquor =

5 fl oz of table wine = 3-4 oz of fortified wine (such as sherry or port) =

2-3 oz of cordial, liqueur, or aperitif = 1.5 oz of brandy

(a single jigger or shot) = 1.5 fl oz shot of 80-proof spirits ("hard liquor")

source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, USA
What's a standard drink? - Rethinking Drinking - NIAAA

Also from NIAAA: Alcohol Myths

The consequences of my drinking - whether they be emotional, physical and social - were the determining factors in me deciding whether my drinking was a problem, Jauburn :)

D