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Thoughts on Non Alcoholic Beer

Old 07-29-2017, 03:06 PM
  # 21 (permalink)  
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[QUOTE=August252015;6554712]So many reasons to just say no here, not the least of which is that there is actually alcohol (not fruit alcohol, say)

I understand why people with drinking problems would avoid an non alcoholic beverage that has associations with an alcoholic beverage but I wouldn't avoid them simply because there is trace alcohol. You find that everywhere and I think it extreme and unhealthy to start worrying about it to that extent. The below contain trace ethanol,
Yeast
Vinegar
Fruit
Fruit-based drinks
Energy drinks
Vanilla extract
Kombucha Tea
Soy Sauce
Protein bars
Vitamin tablets

Anyway, each to their own of course, extremist or not.
The non alcoholic beer I drink tastes great to me, non alcoholic beer has fantastic health benefits (all scientifically proven) so it just comes down to the psychology for me, I feel at present it benefits me greatly, if that changes I will change to retain my sobriety.
Thanks for your opinions everyone :-)
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Old 07-29-2017, 03:37 PM
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I have seen loads of people relapse over the years,thinking Alohol free beer and wine is OK for them to drink.T
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Old 07-29-2017, 03:41 PM
  # 23 (permalink)  
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Stay away from Alcohol free beer and wine,if you are serious about your sobriety.Have never seen it end well.
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Old 07-29-2017, 04:54 PM
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Originally Posted by maverickspoint View Post
It's not just the physical feeling of being drunk that I'm addicted to it's the culture, taste, habitual process of cracking open a beer after a hard days work.
Recovery takes change. Often big change. So ask yourself, is NA beer enhancing your recovery, or enforcing the aspects of drinking that you yourself say you are addicted to: the culture, taste, and habitual process of cracking open a beer.

It may feel like NA beer is replacing alcohol in a healthy manner. But if your mindset while you are drinking one is the same as when you were drinking alcoholic beers, that doesn't seem healthy.

There are people on SR who say they drink NA beverages, no problem. I take them at their word. I can't. That's not a minority view, and the responses here seem to support that. But if you can, then kudos to you.
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Old 07-29-2017, 06:15 PM
  # 25 (permalink)  
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[QUOTE=maverickspoint;6554747]
Originally Posted by August252015 View Post
So many reasons to just say no here, not the least of which is that there is actually alcohol (not fruit alcohol, say)

I understand why people with drinking problems would avoid an non alcoholic beverage that has associations with an alcoholic beverage but I wouldn't avoid them simply because there is trace alcohol. You find that everywhere and I think it extreme and unhealthy to start worrying about it to that extent. The below contain trace ethanol,
Yeast
Vinegar
Fruit
Fruit-based drinks
Energy drinks
Vanilla extract
Kombucha Tea
Soy Sauce
Protein bars
Vitamin tablets

Anyway, each to their own of course, extremist or not.
The non alcoholic beer I drink tastes great to me, non alcoholic beer has fantastic health benefits (all scientifically proven) so it just comes down to the psychology for me, I feel at present it benefits me greatly, if that changes I will change to retain my sobriety.
Thanks for your opinions everyone :-)
different motive for using those products above.
lots of opinions here based on facts.

saying it has health benefits, yet still using the psychological excuse- i hope you can see the rationalizing insanity there.
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Old 07-29-2017, 06:18 PM
  # 26 (permalink)  
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I wonder how much vinegar it would take for me to get hammered? NO AV...NO...STOP IT!.....sorry had to throw some humour in lol
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Old 07-29-2017, 06:27 PM
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Avoid at all costs.
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Old 07-29-2017, 08:10 PM
  # 28 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by maverickspoint View Post
Psychologically it makes me feel relaxed in the same way a real beer does, socially I feel more comfortable drinking it than a coke, OJ or such like. It's not just the physical feeling of being drunk that I'm addicted to it's the culture, taste, habitual process of cracking open a beer after a hard days work. For me, if it has psychological benefits that keep me from drinking real alcoholic drinks it's worth it. Respect anyone elses opinions of course.
Do you attend AA by chance? The most important thing I have learned is from my sponsor in AA and it's that alcoholism has absolutely nothing to do with alcohol. It has everything to do with how you think and how you deal with life. I think your statement above is a great example of this. It's your mindset and how you deal with life that is your problem. For now you get the same feeling from non alcoholic beer and you do from real beer. You are a very short step from just drinking real beer again when your head tells you it's ok this time because you don't have a problem.

You can see from all of the commits that NA anything is just a terrible idea and I hope you get away from it for your sake. For me, if I ever drank anything NA it would be a relapse for me because it would mean that something in my mind is not right and my thinking and reasoning had gone back to that dark hole that I was in for so many years before the program of AA helped me get out of it.
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Old 07-29-2017, 08:37 PM
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I think if anything is clear about this subject, it's that there are a lot of strong opinions about it. And what's more important is ones motivation for wanting to drink said beverages vs trace alcohol percentages or comparisons to OJ or other beverages.

I personally tried NA beer multiple times, and I ended up drinking it addictively. I would drink it fast, hide it from others, and obsessively add up how many I had drunk, calculating the actual amount I could drink before I actually had measurable alcohol in my body. And eventuall I started mixing it with regular beer again too.
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Old 07-29-2017, 09:24 PM
  # 30 (permalink)  
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I found drinking it confusing. I felt 'phantom drunk'.

Just simpler not to for me - my inner voice can start whispering If it gets half a chance.
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Old 07-30-2017, 12:31 AM
  # 31 (permalink)  
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I have the stray NA from time to time with no effects on my sobriety, but I was a hard liquor drunk and not a beer drunk in my final decades. If it causes you concern, then stay away. No one knows your sobriety and triggers better than you do. I find the taste not very appealing and there are so many other ways to satisfy my thirst. I find foods cooked with alcohol to be very triggering,for example, so I stay clear of them. Know your triggers and be smart about your sobriety.
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Old 07-30-2017, 01:32 AM
  # 32 (permalink)  
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When I first started drinking I hated the taste , but preserved with it because everyone else was doing it , eventually you start to like it but in reality it's the drug effect you like but are convinced it's the taste , so if I drink a N/a beer now the drug part of it is not there and the taste is crap . I want nothing to do or remind me of my drinking days.
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Old 07-30-2017, 03:47 AM
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I see it all the time in these threads, non alcoholic beer is for non alcoholics.

There are some here who are fine with it but the consensus has always been it leads back to trouble.

The only thing that has made me successful in sobriety and recovery is realizing and accepting I don't need anything that's in the wheelhouse of a party beverage. Plus, non alcoholic beer left me empty. It was like being ravenously hungry and eating, but never being able to escape the hunger pangs no matter how much I ate.

For me it was rocket fuel for the AV.

If it works for you, great. But, if you're drinking it and feeling like you're missing something you're just making it harder to achieve the ultimate goal.
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Old 07-30-2017, 04:35 AM
  # 34 (permalink)  
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There's lots of arguments to be made either way. I think the 0.5% abv is a limit by the way, "not more than". If you drink enough to contemplate how it adds up, then it's probably not for you.

On the minus side, I'll add that it is relatively expensive, same price as beer.

I did find it was helpful in managing hunger part of HALT for me early on. Na beer contains calories, usually half or a third that of normal beer and half that of regular soda. Diet soda and water having zero does nothing to manage hunger and regular.soda has too many calories.
I think for me, the av quieting effect na beer had was a caloric one. A snack works too.

At this point, it's just a beverage option. I'll get an na beer is some situations where my other choices are limited.
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Old 07-30-2017, 04:46 AM
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at this moment in time I have to accept I cannot drink, which also means breaking my links with it in every way. By not pretending, by making it into a fancy glass etc, I need to break that way of thinking. I don't think for everyone its a bad way to go, and whatever works, but for me it would show me I wasn't ready to cut the drinking ties completely, which would be a warning a relapse is near. Not the same for all, just my opinion in my situation
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Old 07-30-2017, 02:18 PM
  # 36 (permalink)  
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[QUOTE=tomsteve;6554843]
Originally Posted by maverickspoint View Post

different motive for using those products above.
lots of opinions here based on facts.

saying it has health benefits, yet still using the psychological excuse- i hope you can see the rationalizing insanity there.
It's not an excuse it is fact, it works. Ultimately the goal here is to be happy and sober, if it works and isn't to the detriment of yourself or anyone else then there is NO problem. I think some people here need to open their minds a bit.
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Old 07-30-2017, 02:30 PM
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Originally Posted by hellrzr View Post
Do you attend AA by chance? The most important thing I have learned is from my sponsor in AA and it's that alcoholism has absolutely nothing to do with alcohol. It has everything to do with how you think and how you deal with life. I think your statement above is a great example of this. It's your mindset and how you deal with life that is your problem. For now you get the same feeling from non alcoholic beer and you do from real beer. You are a very short step from just drinking real beer again when your head tells you it's ok this time because you don't have a problem.

You can see from all of the commits that NA anything is just a terrible idea and I hope you get away from it for your sake. For me, if I ever drank anything NA it would be a relapse for me because it would mean that something in my mind is not right and my thinking and reasoning had gone back to that dark hole that I was in for so many years before the program of AA helped me get out of it.
We all deal with life in different ways. If it doesn't harm you or anyone around you then who are you to say it is a problem? It may be a problem for you specifically but you shouldn't try to tar everyone else with the same brush and expect everyone to follow the exact same process. We're not robots, we all fill our lives with routine, ritual and habitual processes daily, many of which may seem irrational to the outside world. The point is, do what works for YOU.
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Old 07-30-2017, 03:32 PM
  # 38 (permalink)  
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I drink NA beer from time to time. Recently on a trip with my wife I had two NA beers at a restaurant. We stayed in a house on a lake for a few days and I bought some for the fridge. I drank one in 4 nights.

To thine ownself be true.
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Old 07-30-2017, 04:12 PM
  # 39 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by maverickspoint View Post
Interested to know people's thoughts.
You are getting what you asked for, other people's thoughts. Not all replies mesh with your your thought processes on the subject, but then you shouldn't
Originally Posted by maverickspoint View Post
expect everyone to follow the exact same process
Your suggestion of opening the mind is a good one.
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Old 07-30-2017, 04:21 PM
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Originally Posted by maverickspoint View Post
We all deal with life in different ways. If it doesn't harm you or anyone around you then who are you to say it is a problem? It may be a problem for you specifically but you shouldn't try to tar everyone else with the same brush and expect everyone to follow the exact same process. We're not robots, we all fill our lives with routine, ritual and habitual processes daily, many of which may seem irrational to the outside world. The point is, do what works for YOU.
You asked for opinions but when you see the opinions you don't like you are getting defensive. Everyone who posted is simply giving you the the advice you asked for based of their experiences. Getting defensive tells me that you are doing your best to validate your decision and are just looking for others to give you the opinion you want to hear.

I am also still curious if you follow the program of AA or not? The opinion I am giving comes from 6 years in AA and from a sponsor with 14 years and a grand sponsor with 30 years of experience. The latter two being VERY dedicated to helping other alcoholics gets sober and stay sober and happy.
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