Booze and Bloat: How Alcohol Effects Your Body and Brain

Does booze leave you feeling puffy, foggy, unproductive or sad? It’s time to rethink how you drink.

This week’s episode of The Inside Out Wellness Podcast is dedicated to booze and your body. Because I notice firsthand that when I booze … I bloat. And quite frankly I don’t like it.

But before we dive in, this content is written for the casual imbiber. If you think you may have an over reliance with alcohol, please seek out help via your local church, therapist, AA community, or simply begin with a friend or family member to start getting the professional help you need now.

And now, let’s get into empowered drinking.

booze body bloat alcohol holiday drinking hangover cure bloated dehydrated wine cocktails healthy drinking — *Photo courtesy of Canva.com*

Learn and Live Your Limits

Every *body* is different. While I’ve learned that 1-2 drinks 1-3 times a week is what works best for my body, goals and lifestyle, you may find that you can handle more or less to feel like your awesome self the next day. There are many mornings where I still look puffy and feel reflux-y and unproductive after enjoying just one glass of wine.

I wanted to learn why this happens (beyond basic dehydration) and how I can preemptively combat it (beyond the old “alternate each drink with a glass of water” play). I read this article about booze and your body to collect another country’s perspective on how alcohol effects our bodies, and I’m happy to report that it supports my message for us to better respect and take care of our bodies if we want to *feel awesome* the majority of minutes of our lives.

booze body bloat alcohol holiday drinking hangover cure bloated dehydrated wine cocktails healthy drinking holiday drinking wellness podcast — Listen to **The Inside Out Wellness Podcast** on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio or Stitcher.

How Alcohol Effects Your Looks, Weight, Brain and Stomach

On episode 43 of The Inside Out Wellness Podcast, you’ll hear four (of many) ways that booze affects your body, including:

Surface Level Effects:

Your Looks: such as bloating, dry skin, red skin
Your Weight: not just from excess calories, but also organ process overload and next-day behavior.

Deeper Level Effects:

Your Brain: poor memory, attention and concentration problems, mental health problems like anxiety and depression
Your Stomach: gastritis, ulcers, reflux

Note: This isn’t a PSA to stop drinking all together if you’re a casual imbiber. This is a PSA to help you think through what makes you feel awesome, and what makes you feel like garbage.

Are you pouring a glass:

To escape an emotion (anger)
To flock towards a certain emotion (fun)
Out of habit (after work)
To fill a void (loneliness)
Because everyone else is (might as well)

If you want to feel awesome with your family, friends, neighbors and coworkers this holiday season, and from your own experience you know that too much booze too many days in a row leaves you feeling tired, cranky, bloated, foggy and unproductive … then it’s time to rethink how you drink.

Tune in, take notes, and tag me on Instagram or Facebook with your booze & body takeaways.

Cheering you on,
Katie

PS! Have you downloaded you free, editable Meal Planner yet? Grab it here: https://www.WholeHardy.com/MealPlanner

PPS! Are we friends on social yet? I hang out on Instagram a lot; Facebook too. Come say hi & get spiritually inspired to light up your body-mind-spirit from the inside out!