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"GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT"
I recently heard a CBC interview with Ann Dowsett Johnson who is a recovering alcoholic who wrote the book "`Drink``.
‘Every person with a drinking problems learns that booze is a loan shark, someone they trusted for a while, came to count on, before it turned ugly.’
Here is how the story goes: "first alcohol is that elegant figure in the corner by the bar, the handsome one in the beautiful tuxedo. You can’t miss him. He is always at the parties- and he gets there first.’ He sidles up to you with a quick hit of courage. You grab it. It feels good. It works. This is the sweetheart deal where all things are possible."
If you need some courage, energy, stress reducer, loneliness helper then alcohol will lend you a hand. After-a-while the smooth velvet taste of alcohol is calling the shots day and night to help you try and cope. In time you find yourself promising to drink less. Only you don’t.
We sadly very seldom teach our young people how to deal with stress. We teach them to read and write to succeed in school but not how to deal with life’s travails.
Too many of my female clients admit to being perfectionists hoping to please their parents, teachers, partners They look like they have just stepped out of a Vogue commercial with a perfect size zero figure and gorgeous complexion and hair. Not able to be the perfect persona they tend to want to procrastinate hoping that more time will help them cope. Many stressed out females turn to drinking to help them balance their hectic impossible life styles.
Walk in to most social gatherings and the first thing you are asked."Red or White?" Eating out an expensive restaurant with friends is supposed to start with a cocktail or two before dining followed by glasses of wine with the main course.
For many women a decanter of wine is a total joy. The alcohol content of wine has spiked considerably. Winemakers are now leaving the grapes on the vines much longer which translates into fuller-bodied vintages and thus more alcohol content. Your favourite wines now can have 15 % of pure alcohol for women to drink that adds 340 calories to their diet equal to a slice of decadent Madeira Cake.
Women seem to develop dependence sooner then men. Drink for drink, it is usually worse for females. It seems that more women are drinking, and the women who drink are drinking more trying to match their male peers.
London’s very own distillery, "Black Fly Coolers", are the choice of many young women for an evening out on the town The four pack 240 calorie per bottle of Vodka, Tequila, Rum 400 ml bottles to choose from with 7% alcohol content. The "chick beer" or "starter drinks" are sweet, brightly coloured flavored concoctions in ready to drink attractive bottles.
Binge drinking at college or university with young women trying to fit in is trendy. To be accepted by their peers is a fact of life. It is totally uncool not to drink. Date rape can be a sad part of Frosh Week at university.
Men are happy to drink a bottle of beer with 330 ml that has 5% alcohol content with 180 calories. It is no contest between women and men. Males being on the whole heavier can better metabolize their alcohol resulting in a greater tolerance.
There is a health risk for women with a greater incidence of STD , breast cancer and having children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,
Rich or poor those who see drinking as a panacea for their problems pay the price for their addiction. But, if you admit that you have a problem and follow the wisdom of the "Serenity Prayer" you can be yourself and not try and fit into the norm.
Please take the time to view, with your teenage daughter, the CBC TV documentary,http://www.cbc/ca/player"Girls"’ Night Out" that aired on May 15th 2017 to see the reality of the effects of binge drinking and our young women.
Len Lesser is an education career counsellor in Dorchester Ont. www.career-education.ca
"GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT"
I recently heard a CBC interview with Ann Dowsett Johnson who is a recovering alcoholic who wrote the book "`Drink``.
‘Every person with a drinking problems learns that booze is a loan shark, someone they trusted for a while, came to count on, before it turned ugly.’
Here is how the story goes: "first alcohol is that elegant figure in the corner by the bar, the handsome one in the beautiful tuxedo. You can’t miss him. He is always at the parties- and he gets there first.’ He sidles up to you with a quick hit of courage. You grab it. It feels good. It works. This is the sweetheart deal where all things are possible."
If you need some courage, energy, stress reducer, loneliness helper then alcohol will lend you a hand. After-a-while the smooth velvet taste of alcohol is calling the shots day and night to help you try and cope. In time you find yourself promising to drink less. Only you don’t.
We sadly very seldom teach our young people how to deal with stress. We teach them to read and write to succeed in school but not how to deal with life’s travails.
Too many of my female clients admit to being perfectionists hoping to please their parents, teachers, partners They look like they have just stepped out of a Vogue commercial with a perfect size zero figure and gorgeous complexion and hair. Not able to be the perfect persona they tend to want to procrastinate hoping that more time will help them cope. Many stressed out females turn to drinking to help them balance their hectic impossible life styles.
Walk in to most social gatherings and the first thing you are asked."Red or White?" Eating out an expensive restaurant with friends is supposed to start with a cocktail or two before dining followed by glasses of wine with the main course.
For many women a decanter of wine is a total joy. The alcohol content of wine has spiked considerably. Winemakers are now leaving the grapes on the vines much longer which translates into fuller-bodied vintages and thus more alcohol content. Your favourite wines now can have 15 % of pure alcohol for women to drink that adds 340 calories to their diet equal to a slice of decadent Madeira Cake.
Women seem to develop dependence sooner then men. Drink for drink, it is usually worse for females. It seems that more women are drinking, and the women who drink are drinking more trying to match their male peers.
London’s very own distillery, "Black Fly Coolers", are the choice of many young women for an evening out on the town The four pack 240 calorie per bottle of Vodka, Tequila, Rum 400 ml bottles to choose from with 7% alcohol content. The "chick beer" or "starter drinks" are sweet, brightly coloured flavored concoctions in ready to drink attractive bottles.
Binge drinking at college or university with young women trying to fit in is trendy. To be accepted by their peers is a fact of life. It is totally uncool not to drink. Date rape can be a sad part of Frosh Week at university.
Men are happy to drink a bottle of beer with 330 ml that has 5% alcohol content with 180 calories. It is no contest between women and men. Males being on the whole heavier can better metabolize their alcohol resulting in a greater tolerance.
There is a health risk for women with a greater incidence of STD , breast cancer and having children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,
Rich or poor those who see drinking as a panacea for their problems pay the price for their addiction. But, if you admit that you have a problem and follow the wisdom of the "Serenity Prayer" you can be yourself and not try and fit into the norm.
Please take the time to view, with your teenage daughter, the CBC TV documentary,http://www.cbc/ca/player"Girls"’ Night Out" that aired on May 15th 2017 to see the reality of the effects of binge drinking and our young women.
Len Lesser is an education career counsellor in Dorchester Ont. www.career-education.ca
Len Lesser