Dry-ish July: How Dry Can You Go?

It’s the beginning of July and this marks the beginning of Dry July, a month-long campaign that encourages people to go alcohol-free to raise money for people affected by cancer.

Read on to learn more about how you can get involved!

What is Dry July?

The Dry July Foundation, a charity dedicated to improving the comfort, care and wellbeing of people affected by cancer, raises funds during Dry July to help support patients, their families and their carers. Since 2008, the Dry July Foundation has raised $49 million for people affected by cancer.

Participants in Dry July are encouraged to abstain from alcohol for the month and maintain their healthy changes beyond July by committing to reduced alcohol consumption. While the Dry July challenge is all about going completely cold turkey on your alcohol intake, if you feel like this is too intimidating, perhaps go as dry as you can try!

This year, the Dry July Campaign has introduced one new option: ‘Dry(ish) July.’ This means you can challenge yourself to go alcohol free for 21 or 14 days instead of 31 days! Remember, there are still benefits to cutting down on some of your alcohol intake, even if you don’t cut it out completely.

What are the benefits of limiting alcohol consumption?

 1.       Improved performance
Limiting or cutting out alcohol can have numerous benefits for your health, including improvements to your mood and sleep, energy levels, and mental performance.

2.       Weight management
Many people do not realise that alcohol is high in energy (sometimes known as calories). Having too much energy in your diet can contribute to weight gain. This means that a few glasses of wine with dinner or a couple of beers after lunch can quickly add up to excessive energy intake and lead to weight gain over time! It’s also worth noting that just like pure sugar, alcohol doesn’t offer any nutritional value such as vitamins or minerals. Replacing all or some of your alcoholic beverages with water (ideally!), or diet cordials/ soft drinks can help you to decrease your overall energy consumption.

3.       Reduce your risk of several diseases
Reducing alcohol consumption can also help to lower your risk of many diseases. Heavy alcohol consumption is linked with negative health effects such as liver disease, cancer, kidney disease and heart disease. After smoking, drinking alcohol is the second-leading cause of death and disease in Australia.

4.       Saves money
The benefits of cutting down on alcohol extend beyond just health benefits. It’s estimated that the average Australian household can save approximately $1664 each year by giving up alcohol consumption! What could you do with an extra $1664 in your pocket?

Isn’t drinking some alcohol, especially red wine, can be good for you?

 The short answer is yes, some scientific evidence has shown that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol (no more than 1-2 standard drinks per day- see below for examples of 1 ‘standard drink’) can reduce the risk of developing heart disease. HOWEVER, it’s important to remember that any higher levels of consumption can lead to increased risk of developing the diseases described above. More importantly, there are no science-backed recommendations for non-drinkers to start drinking alcohol just for the potential health benefits!

Here are some tips to reduce your alcohol intake:

• Schedule alcohol free days- starting with at least 2 per week.

• Reduce your exposure to settings or events that involve alcohol- this might mean swapping night-time catch-ups for morning coffee dates, or going for brunch rather than dinner.

• Prepare and practice how you’ll respond in social drinking situations if somebody offers you a drink. You might simply explain that you have an early start the next morning. It can also be very valuable to have a support person who is aware of your goals in these situations too.

• Slow your rate of drinking by putting down the glass after each mouthful.

• Space out your drinks by making every second drink non-alcoholic (preferably water!)

• When drinking, limit your intake of salty snacks such as potato chips or salted nuts- these can make you thirstier and lead you to drink more quickly

What about after Dry July?

 Whether you reduced or cut out alcohol completely during Dry July, sustaining healthy changes long-term is the key to achieving long-term health benefits.

If you want to continue drinking, keep your intake within the National Health and Medical Research Council’s recommendations: Drink no more than 10 standard drinks per week and no more than 4 standard drinks on any one day.

Examples of what 1 ‘standard’ drink looks like: 

• 285ml of full-strength beer (approx. 1 small glass of beer)

• 425ml of low strength beer (approx. 1 large glass of beer)

• 100ml of red or white wine (approx. ½ wine glass)

• 30ml spirits (approx. 1 shot glass)

• 275ml bottle of pre-mixed, ready-to-drink spirits (5% alcohol content, eg. 1 Cruiser bottle)

How can I get involved in the Dry July campaign to help people affected by cancer?

Head over to the Dry July Foundation page to learn more about getting involved in this great cause. Whether you want to challenge yourself to a full 31 days alcohol-free, or try 14 or 21 days, it’s not too late to sign up! https://www.dryjuly.com/

Written by Jessica Jong & Janet Yong