America has a drinking problem • Hacker News Board

Re: America has a drinking problem

#591

Post by pedalpete » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:10 AM UTC

acjohnson55 wrote: post #571

pedalpete wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it still feels like "soda", which is what I'm trying to get away from. I've been speaking to a friend about creating something new. My requirements are: - not trying to be alcohol/imitation alcohol - not soda/juice/kombucha - has the "occasion" attitude of alcohol I admit this is probably 90% branding and 10% the drink itself. As I was mentioning to my friend, you probably wouldn't feel strange ordering a redbu…

I drink a prodigious amount of decaf coffee. I buy quality, whole bean, Swiss Water Process stuff and make it in a French press. I drink it black, and the combination of good beans and a lot of effort in tuning my brew process makes for a palatable, sophisticated taste. The routine of making it in the morning makes drinking it through the day feel earned. As far as I can tell, it's a pretty healthy drink. Another sug…

I drink coffee every day, unfortunately I can't stand tea, I can't stomach it at all!

I'm thinking more along the lines of how we "use" alcoholic drinks, and something to replace that. It doesn't need to be healthy. More about getting the right mood and taste, and likely not the typical every day drink.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#592

Post by sharken » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:14 AM UTC

jasondigitized wrote: post #498

kenneth wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cannabis is in no way healthier than alcohol. It's hard to quantify the damages done by one vs. the other; but there are very serious social and psychological downsides to regular cannabis use.

Pretty sure alcohol is way harder on your body than edibles or vaping cannabis. Alcoholism has a huge blast radius.

Don't have any facts to back the assumption up, but I'd agree that alcohol is harder on the body.

Apart from the effects on the brain, there is also the weight issue when drinking both beer and wine.

It's amazing to me how much difference just 6-7 kg less weight makes.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#593

Post by lordnacho » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:17 AM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #135

Article mirrors my experience. For context I'm German, my wife's French and we've got family in Croatia who own a vineyard so I'm used to being around alcohol and people drinking. My first impression when I spent time was in the US was indeed how bipolar drinking is compared to Europe. We probably drink a hell of a lot more in raw terms than the average American does.Two glasses of wine for dinner, another one in the…

One thing that comes to mind is the 21 year age restriction on the US, which seems to actually be enforced. Where I grew up in Europe there was an 18 year limit officially but not really, and you could get all the booze you wanted as an teenager. Cannabis too.

I went to an international school, so we'd get American kids coming in and realising that they could drink before graduating into a dry university. At least one of my friends got his stomach pumped after a massive binge.

I wonder whether the culture in the US encourages people to guzzle it all down at once to minimise the risk of getting caught.

I noticed something similar in the UK, where they do seem to somewhat enforce the drinking age of 18, and so when I got to uni here my new friends would act like they'd just discovered alcohol and get incredibly drunk.

Now it's not like kids in Europe never get drunk, but it's always available so not really seen as an alluring thing. On much of the continent it's also the kind of thing you might consume with your parents around, which is the ultimate excitement killer.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#594

Post by flemhans » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:21 AM UTC

jorblumesea wrote: post #402

Barrin92 wrote: post #135

Article mirrors my experience. For context I'm German, my wife's French and we've got family in Croatia who own a vineyard so I'm used to being around alcohol and people drinking. My first impression when I spent time was in the US was indeed how bipolar drinking is compared to Europe. We probably drink a hell of a lot more in raw terms than the average American does.Two glasses of wine for dinner, another one in the…

Spain would disagree. Many parts of Europe absolutely have binge drinking problems on par with the US or UK. Let's not even get started on Eastern Europe. You don't need to go far from Germany to find these problems. I would probably say that Germany isn't indicative of the Eurozone at all.

In Eastern Europe it's lowly and indecent to get drunk, whereas in the "Binge Belt" it's a goal for the night for some.

I'd sat the Binge Belt is US, UK, AU, DK, NO, IS, JP, KR

Re: America has a drinking problem

#595

Post by r00fus » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:25 AM UTC

namdnay wrote: post #92

r00fus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who doesn't drink more than 2-3 per week and have in the past been in the 2-3 per day category, perhaps it's related to age and/or kids. When kids were tots, I couldn't afford the time to socialize, and now I'm older, consumption has dietary/sleep impacts and I can't afford that too much. Also weirdly I simply don't enjoy the buzz as much.

I think having children limits serious partying, but what do you drink when you’re eating your evening meals? Only water? Maybe it’s a southern European thing, but I can’t imagine eating a heavy meal without the acidity of a red wine, for example.

Gotta set examples. Yes, water... mostly. Gotta set good examples. On-site filtered water is pretty tasty.

Occasionally a glass of wine or cider is nice, but that's not every day - we usually finish a wine bottle in a week or two using the preserver.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#596

Post by r00fus » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:26 AM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #588

sk5t wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fruit is nature's candy. So it tastes good! But it really is nature's _candy_, so it also harms your teeth.

Solid fruit is not the problem, juice is. You wouldn't eat 10 oranges at once, but you can drink 10 oranges worth of sugar in a glass of orange juice.

Would you consider a fruit smoothy a problem if it has no added sugars?

Re: America has a drinking problem

#597

Post by galaxyLogic » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:30 AM UTC

rkk3 wrote: post #457

galaxyLogic wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't meth just plain destructive, what it does to your body, and brain?

I remember seeing a study a few years ago that showed a lot of the negatives from Meth weren't inherent in the drug but from behaviors it encourages; like not sleeping.

I don't think I would say it "encourages" not sleeping. Rather it makes sleeping impossible. And that has bad effects. Drug causes something which causes something else, so you could say it is not the drug but its effects, but I would say that means it is the drug that causes it all. Don't take it if you don't want those "side-effects".

Re: America has a drinking problem

#598

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:34 AM UTC

casion wrote: post #461

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, as someone who has 2-3 drinks per day, I've always been more surprised by the amount of people who basically don't drink at all. In that chart it's over half of Americans. Travel a bit, any you'll quickly discover that a couple drinks in the evening is basically normal in much of the world. I'm not arguing that it's healthy (it's not), but the median American really doesn't drink much - our Puritan values r…

Lest we not forget the many, many people who simply can not stand the taste of alcohol. There's quite a few people that fall into that category. Some of us can't even stand fermented breads, let alone a light wine.

A personal question, and I truly mean no offense - are you on the spectrum?

The only people I've met (in real life) to date who can't stand the taste of alcohol are children and people with Asperger's, I assume because bitter tastes are a sort of sensory overload for them. Purely anecdotal and could be a complete horseshit theory, but I'm just curious.

Re: America has a drinking problem

#599

Post by eecc » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:34 AM UTC

AussieWog93 wrote: post #437

monkeynotes wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Brit I was pretty shocked to arrive in Australia and see that binge drinking there is next level. The Melbourne Cup horse races is like a national drinking day, my employer took everyone out to get wasted (this was in Sydney, didn't even watch the races) and then it was understood that you'd probably take the next day off.

When I read your story, as an Aussie, I felt really proud that we'd "beaten" the Brits at getting pissed. Perhaps this is part of the problem.

How odd, I used to work with an Aussie (Sydney) expat and he was glowingly boasting how much better they are at anything because competition. It’s so much part of their culture he said, that they will out-do anyone, even at their core traits (and so concluded that Sydney pizza is better than anything I’ve ever eaten. Me. Italian from Rome :D)

Re: America has a drinking problem

#600

Post by ridethebike » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 6:36 AM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #135

Article mirrors my experience. For context I'm German, my wife's French and we've got family in Croatia who own a vineyard so I'm used to being around alcohol and people drinking. My first impression when I spent time was in the US was indeed how bipolar drinking is compared to Europe. We probably drink a hell of a lot more in raw terms than the average American does.Two glasses of wine for dinner, another one in the…

I for one drink two bottles of wine while playing some slowly paced video game every Sunday night in anticipation of great new week in my hellscape of a project.