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Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

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Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#161
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A single shot of vodka can have 100 calories. Using the standard 7 calories per gram of alcohol, the alcohol content of a 12 oz 5% beer (equivalent of a 1.5 oz 40% shot) is 117 calories (12oz x 28g/oz x 5% x 7 Kc/g). That’s just the alcohol and an average beer would have been more from the additional carbs. If your vodka shot has only 100 calories, that’s either a weak pour or some weak vodka!

Counter-argument: [0] https://www.fitbit.com/foods/American+Vodka/740555260 [1] https://www.greygoose.com/faqs/how-many-calories-are-there-i... If you look at any 40% vodka, you'll find a 1.5 oz shot clocking in at 96-98 calories.

That’s using the metabolized estimate of about 5.8 calories per gram which assumes about 80% of the caloric content is extracted.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I´m all for science on alcohol abuse and effects of moderate drinking But don't we have that? And have recently been getting more and more of that? Most specifically, as I understand the current science: alcohol (e.g., red wine) in any form and any amount is not good for you. Full stop. I do drink, still, moderately. But given all I hearing / reading, I'm giving more and more consideration to going dry. The "benefi…

"not good for you" is not science. how "not good for you" is it? what specifically does it do? can you counter the effects? cookies are also "not good for you. full stop". but they're also not all that bad for you in reasonable quantities.

Two things:

1. No one dies from "cookies poisoning". No one loses a liver or other organs from too many cookies. Alcohol, by definition, is a poison. The comparison to chocolate chips simply doesn't apply.

2. While I have my general doubts about the WHO in some cases, this was the quickest and easiest thing I could find.

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-...

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe for you. Moving to Finland and seeing that a six pack cost as much as a month's worth of breakfast was all the motivation I needed to kick the stuff.

Shame about the war. If not for that you could just cross the border over into Russia and obtain it much cheaper.

Pretty sure Finnish people jump on a ferry to get cheap booze from Estonia instead. Just like Estonians jump on a bus and get cheap booze from Latvia. Where Latvia goes however, I do not know.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#164
post #69

People should abstain from drinking forever. It’s an awful habit. Extra calories, extra money, extra body damage. For what?

You presumably drink only water and eat only Huel (or similar just-add-water nutritionally complete powdered food), then?

Yes to water. Unfortunately I've already been chemically addicted to foods that taste good but are bad for you. If I didn't have that addiction and didn't care about taste then it would absolutely make a ton of sense to eat a "no more hunger" capsule daily, you'd save plenty of time and money and would be a lot healthier in general.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#165

People should abstain from drinking forever. It’s an awful habit. Extra calories, extra money, extra body damage. For what?

In a sense you're not wrong, but would you say the same thing about refined sugar? Both of these substances, in terms of immediate physiological effects, are known to be unambiguously bad for you past a certain low threshold. But immediate physiological effects are probably not the terms with which we ought to evaluate our lifestyles.

You would say the same about sugar in some aspects, I guess. The hitch with chemical addictions is that they are more or less not up to you, once your brain is hooked you're locked in until you put extreme effort to break out of it. With sugar it's in many cases given to you when you're young and before you have developed the awareness or agency to avoid it. It's also in nearly every store bought food and is much more difficult to avoid. It also doesn't have immediate drawbacks that are quite as severe as alcohol (you're not getting a DUI for eating a tootsie roll).

There are a lot of things like these that are just bad for us on an objective level but that we do anyways because they hack our weak little monkey brains. I don't even think it's hypocritical to partake in sugar or alcohol while openly saying that they're awful for you and that you should avoid them. The fact is that they're addictive, and an addiction by definition means that your actions are on some level no longer in your conscious control. Unless I am actively dieting I don't think twice about eating a candy even though I know that by all means I shouldn't.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#166
post #2

> He also noted that it doesn’t take excessive alcohol use ... > “In the models we’re using, even drinking three to four beers after work several days a week can induce [bad stuff for sperm],” Golding said. “You may not feel inebriated, but your body is going through chemical changes.” Vs. the CDC's current upper limit for "moderate" male drinking is 2 drinks/day, and they're very quick to specify that "a" beer is at…

> That said, with how many acres of "skin in the game" it is to become a father - I'd say to abstain for 6 months. If nothing else, it sends a loud "I'm taking daddyhood dmned seriously" signal to your wife.*

I'd read that as : Instead of following sound medical advice, he is making up rules based on single study of dubious quality. He will probably make up more rules once the baby is born. Run!

There is a lot of snake oil about baby care. You would get 2 or 3 different incompatible advice from different pediatrician.

An interesting one, is which food the baby can eat during the first year. The common element is honey because it's difficult to pasteurize. But each doctor, nurse, magazine, ... adds a few things to the list. And it's more interesting to compare common list from different countries, that have a different additional food that are very bad for the baby.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#167
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... (usually pregnant on one try). Both kids are healthy This word, "usually" ...

In humans no birth control at all is about 80% successful in preventing pregnancy, so if they normally got pregnant in just one try that is amazingly higher than normal. More likely he meant first month of daily unprotected sex, which is likely to result in pregnancy, and a common plan for those trying to have kids.

I meant more that he said "usually", but was referring to exactly _two_ instances. Unless I misunderstood something?

It made me laugh :)

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#168
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... (usually pregnant on one try). Both kids are healthy This word, "usually" ...

I know someone who got pregnant on vacation with their husband because they ran out of condoms and thought one time wouldn’t be statistically significant. I would presume “usually one the first try” with two kids to mean definitely first time on one, and we are not sure if it was the second or third attempt for the other that took.

Oh, so it makes sense to you too?! Am I in the minority for finding it hilarious that "usually" was used to describe 100% of 2?

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#169
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the timeframe and body weight. For a 280lb guy 4 beers over 4 hours isn’t particularly noticeable.

As a 270lb guy who is also tall, with a healthy mix of muscle and fat... Two beers 12oz beers will get me a really nice buzz, if not quite tipsy. I drink maybe once a month, though- it's pretty wild to notice how much more affected you are once you lose your tolerance.

Sure, knock back 2 12oz beers back to back on an empty stomach and that’s noticeable. But, I’m at the it’s warmed to room temperature long before I’ve finished side of things.

Re: Men should abstain from drinking at least three months prior to conceiving

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"not good for you" is not science. how "not good for you" is it? what specifically does it do? can you counter the effects? cookies are also "not good for you. full stop". but they're also not all that bad for you in reasonable quantities.

Two things: 1. No one dies from "cookies poisoning". No one loses a liver or other organs from too many cookies. Alcohol, by definition, is a poison. The comparison to chocolate chips simply doesn't apply. 2. While I have my general doubts about the WHO in some cases, this was the quickest and easiest thing I could find. https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-...

1. No one dies from "cookies poisoning". No one loses a liver or other organs from too many cookies. Alcohol, by definition, is a poison. The comparison to chocolate chips simply doesn't apply.

No, but too much sugar/butter does cause health issues. There's a certain threshold for damage. Does alcohol cause damage to offspring via genetic alteration to sperm? Perhaps it does, but we can't really say anything concrete about it based on a study of this quality.

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