PODCAST - I gave up alcohol for 1 year and here is what happened
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[00:00:00] While this episode is for my 21-year-old and up audience, if you live in the United States, I know the drinking age is different in other countries. ~I think that ~everyone can learn something from this episode because at least for me, I was basically alcohol free until I was 20.
Yes, there was a couple times here and there in high school that I drank a little bit. It wasn't until I was in London studying abroad in 2021 that I really started drinking. Ever since then I always thought ~to myself, ~what would happen if I took an extended period of time off from drinking? Well, in today's episode, I am going to share with you how I gave up alcohol for one whole. Year. And as of recording this video, I am over a year now and here is what happened.
Welcome to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I'm your host Johnny Ha, an ultra runner endurance [00:01:00] athlete, and yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer nor run a marathon, let alone a hundred K ultra. I prove them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned from breathing techniques to mindset shifts to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals, despite limitations, let's get started.
Now I've experienced many benefits from not drinking, and while I have some biometrics that I can compare before and after taking a year off from alcohol, I don't have a full view of the positive [00:02:00] impact because
and I could make some judgements, like, I have less wrinkles. I look younger, all these different things, which I do believe, but I don't have data backing up any of that. So what I've done is I've cultivated the top eight benefits that I have been able to experience in my life that I do have data to support, and I'm sharing those with you today.
And the first one is great sleep night after night.
I have a whole podcast episode about how our entire country and a lot of our world is sleep deprived, and how that can impact your daily life and your performance as an athlete and as a human. I highly recommend you check out that episode.
I have it linked in the YouTube description below. You can also search for that episode on your favorite podcasting platform to search athlete with asthma sleep deprived, and you will find that episode. You can also just scroll through and find the episode. [00:03:00] Great Sleep night after night. Now, alcohol is not the only thing that affects sleep,
but I'll tell you this, I haven't slept this good in a year since before I started drinking, and it's because even if you have a little bit of alcohol in your system, your REM cycle will decrease and your nighttime awakenings as well. So by cutting alcohol out completely for a whole year, I have given my body the opportunity to sleep better. Now, other things like sugar, eating, late light in your room, screen time, all these things can impact your sleep as well. So you may say, Hey, I cut out alcohol for a year, a month, a day, whatever it is.
I didn't sleep better. Well, it might be because ~these ~other things are going on in your life as well. But great sleep night after night is a. Benefit that I have seen ~because if. ~Because the flip side ~of this ~is, let's say ~that ~you have a [00:04:00] perfect nighttime routine, but then you have a glass of wine every night, and maybe that helps you fall asleep, but you still wake up in the morning not feeling rested.
Well, it's 'cause your REM cycles are being shortened. Your nighttime awakening is occurring more. When you drink alcohol, you have to use the restroom more. You may need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and that will wake you up. So great sleep night after night is the first benefit ~that I have.~
~Scene. ~The second benefit is waking up every single day at my best. Is this just a nice way of saying I haven't had a hangover for at least a year? Maybe, but really what I mean here is energy. The energy that I've had because of a better night's sleep, but also because my body isn't wasting energy. Excreting the toxin from my system. I have more energy throughout the day. I've also experienced better management of my blood sugar. So instead of having these big spikes and [00:05:00] decreases, that can really mess with my energy levels specifically because of alcohol. I. Can show up more powerfully every single day. My brain shows up more powerfully ~every single day.~
I wake up at my best. There's a reason why Athletic brewing ~the Na Beer, ~the Na Craft Beer Company, their whole slogan is about drinking their beer and still being at your best. ~This may be ~the biggest benefit of not drinking for a year, is I've been at my best this entire year. ~Okay.~
Number three, deeper
social connections with friends and family. I used to think ~that ~I would need to drink ~in order ~to connect with friends or family. ~That doesn't mean that I didn't spend time with friends and family and not drink. It just I thought that in order to deeply connect with different friends and family, I would have to drink well ~by cutting alcohol out for a whole year.
~I have done one of two things. ~I've either [00:06:00] built ~even ~deeper friendships and relationships with friends and family who I haven't drank with, ~and the friends and family that I. Did have, ~and the friends and family I did spend time with who did drink. I stopped spending as much time with those people. ~Not that there's anything wrong with those, ~not that there's anything wrong with that.
It just ~kind of ~changed things instead of going to the bar. ~Socially, ~I've done ~a lot ~more physical activities and playing games with friends and family. I've done ~a lot ~more drinking tea ~with friends ~and ~family, drinking ~sparkling water with friends and family. ~The crazy thing about this is ~when you take alcohol out of the equation, you can really connect at a deeper level with people.
Now, at first it may seem a little awkward 'cause you know, people are used to showing up and hanging out with some people, getting a beer inside of them so that they can socialize well. When you take beer, you take wine, you take liquor out of the equation, it forces you. To be more in the moment, to be in your body to truly connect with people.
[00:07:00] And that's what I have seen and what this ~really ~results in ~is a lot ~less stress and anxiety in these situations, ironically, because I used to think that by having alcohol in my system, I wouldn't be as nervous around new people or around different friends, and I'd be able to deeply connect with them well by taking it out.
The cool thing is you don't have to worry about people driving home under the influence of even one or two drinks. You don't have to worry about that. I can leave a friend's house at nine or 10:00 PM We've had a bunch of sparkling water and I'm at my best going home. ~So ~this has ~really ~created deeper social connections, especially with people ~who also are kind of ~fed up with drinking and ~the ~drinking culture.
And that ~is something to connect on, and it ~really has caused this community of us who ~just ~don't need alcohol every single week.
Number three, healthier
eating.
No drunk. Cravings. ~So along with just eating healthier. Overall, what has been shown is that ~when you. [00:08:00] Drink alcohol. It raises the brain's reward response to high fat, salty foods, and ~it ~can push calorie intake up 30% in a single sitting. So when you have that beer, when you have that glass of wine,
you are in turn increasing your caloric intake for that day by an average 30%. You're causing drunk cravings I don't partake in weed, but it's a similar thing of when you get the munchies, when you have these substances in your body, you not only get the unhealthy effects of the substance, you crave unhealthy food, you eat more food.
This is why one of the easiest ways to lose weight is to just stop drinking. When you stop drinking, you are not only cutting out the calories of alcohol, you are cutting out this 30% increase in caloric intake that occurs because of the [00:09:00] cravings you get when you have alcohol in your system.
So I have eaten a lot healthier.
Hey, friend, I wanted to take a moment to ask you a quick question. Are you struggling to lose weight due to your asthma? If so, I get it. I used to run marathons and still kept gaining weight. It wasn't until I learned about the three pillars of healthy living that everything changed,
so I put together a healthy living guide that you can access absolutely free by clicking the link in the description. This guide shares these amazing three pillars of healthy living that you can easily integrate [00:10:00] into your life. To start losing weight and live healthier today. Click the link in the description or go to athlete with asthma.com/healthy-living-guide to grab your free copy.
Now let's get back to the rest of the show.
I have also saved somewhere between 1,500 to $4,000 this past year. It's crazy. Now I'm basing this on moderate drinking numbers. ~So moderate drinking numbers in the US is ~defined as one to two drinks per night. So if you're having one to two beers per night every night on average, then this [00:11:00] is the range that you will see yourself saving money. Now this is drinks plus the added calories that you spend money on. ~So really drinks plus drenches. ~This is real savings, 1.5 K to 4K, and this does not include the healthcare savings because the long-term health benefits of not drinking increases the savings even more. But think about this compounding year over year, ~just this part of it. ~Number five, my blood test improved. Greatly. ~Now, ~I've been an athlete my entire life, ~and I'm ~an elite athlete with asthma. So my blood test numbers were already really good, ~but I had some markers a year ago that still, but I had some markers a year ago that were, ~but I had some markers a year ago that were ~at least ~moving into the concerning category.
~Well, ~here are some of the things that changed triglycerides. My triglycerides decreased by 35%. ~In the past year. ~They went from [00:12:00] 73 mg per DL to 47 mg per dl. What does this mean? Well, chronic alcohol intake raises triglycerides by increasing liver fat production after quitting or having extended periods ~of time ~of not drinking.
Levels often normalize within weeks to months reducing cardiovascular risk. ~So by decreasing triglycerides, I'm reducing cardiova car. So ~by decreasing triglycerides, I'm decreasing cardiovascular risk in my body. ~Now, ~73 mg per DL is already ~really ~good, but cutting it to 47 ~or decreasing by 35% ~is even better.
Next one, uric acid. I had my uric acid decreased by 31%. I went from 6.4 mg over D to 4.4 mg over D. While alcohol increases uric acid production and reduces its excretion raising gout risk. Sobriety can cut the risk by one and a half to two times. What does this mean?
This means acidity in your body. ~This means ~inflammation in your body gout [00:13:00] is a type of inflammatory arthritis that causes sudden severe pain and swelling in one or more joints. A year ago, I was told ~that ~my body was borderline gout, ~which means this is where I was moving towards. ~Now I have zero risk of gout. I cut my uric acid levels. By 31%.
Next blood urea nitrogen, I decreased it by 24%. It went from 21 mg over dl. To 16 mg over dl, BUN reflects kidney function and protein metabolism. Elevated BUN can indicate dehydration or high protein breakdown, both of which alcohol can exacerbate a drop, may reflect better hydration and liver kidney function when you have alcohol in your system.
It. Acts as a diuretic. It is a toxin. Your body starts dehydrating itself 'cause it's trying to get rid of the toxin. Alcohol can cause dehydration. By cutting alcohol [00:14:00] out, you ~slowly ~can rehydrate your body. ~By cutting alcohol out, your body will rehydrate ~faster. This is an amazing metric ~that decreased by 20.~
I was ~extremely ~excited to see that my BUN decreased by 24%, meaning ~that ~my body is ~even ~more hydrated. ~Next creat. Next creatinine. ~Next creatinine. ~I think I'm pronouncing that at least close. ~It decreased by 20%. ~It went ~from 1.07 mg per dl. To 0.86 mg per dl. Creatinine is a marker of kidney filtration.
Lower values within the normal range can indicate improved kidney health or better hydration, ~especially after, ~especially after cutting alcohol out. ~Kidneys, liver, these things filter our systems. So this increase by 20, this decreased by 20. Okay. Blah, blah. And, and the last metric I'm go over and the last metric, and ~the last metric I wanna share ~with you ~is my ion gap.
I'm pretty sure I'm pronouncing this wrong. ~So here is what it is, ~A-N-I-O-N gap. This decreased by 50%. It went from 18.3 MMOL, over L to nine, m, MO, L over l. This [00:15:00] reflects acid-based balance. Alcohol can increase this value by contributing to metabolic acidosis. A normalized gap suggest better metabolic and electrolyte stability. My Eon gap before the year of alcohol free was in the red zone. It was actually elevated. ~It was in a, it was, it was in the red zone in my blood. ~I cut it in half. It is very much in the green zone now. I was very acidic. And alcohol creates acid in your body. ~These drunk, these drunk cravings create acid in your body. ~So this was surprising and extremely exciting to me when I saw this change. Number seven, effortless weight management.
Over the past year, I went from meticulously tracking my input and output of calories to being a lot more wishy-washy with it.
I still track my weight on a weekly basis, but I really. Stop the daily tracking of this. I kind of got tired of it, [00:16:00] so I took a year off from it and that's okay. And I have maintained 155 to 160 pounds. I even dropped all the way down to 1 52 at one point. I'm in training pretty heavily right now. It's hard for me to even maintain 155 pounds, and this makes sense when you look at the fact that I'm eating healthier. There's a 30% increase in calories that 30% alone can have you gain weight over time. The calories from alcohol can have you gain weight over time.
I effortlessly was able to manage my weight without really even trying. I've been eating healthy ~and I've been ~giving my body the nutrients it needs, and my weight has stayed in a very healthy range. Lastly, I won
my a hundred K Bear Chase. Ultra [00:17:00] finishing first place overall male, second place overall ~only by 30 minutes, so I was about 30 minutes behind the leader. ~This is the biggest athletic achievement I've had in my entire life. I have a bonus gift for you for spending time with me today. It is my three pillars of Healthy Living Guide.
The three pillars are movement, tracking and accountability. By implementing these three pillars into your life, you'll be able to not only lose weight if you need to and be able to keep it off and just live a much healthier life. And it's gonna take you just a matter of minutes to ~really ~ingest this guide and start integrating these.
Principles into your day-to-day life. You can grab your copy, the link in the show notes, or in the description below on the video on YouTube, or go to athlete with asthma.com/healthy-living-guide to grab your free copy. I'll see you in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I hope today's episode inspired you [00:18:00] to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your health and wellness journey isn't about perfection. It is about progress. So I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals, and if you found something helpful here, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share the podcast with others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself and redefining what's possible.
