Transcription
Hi everyone, Dr. Sil Dand, medical doctor. Alcohol potentially being very good for some people. Yes, I'm speaking as a doctor and the video I made last week caused quite a stir. I had a lot of positive and negative comments to my video, but I wanted to make a very important follow-up video because there are a couple of other points that I would like to stress here.
As for the original point of my video, alcohol potentially being very good for some people, I stand firm. Interestingly, I had a few people who reached out to me and said they were unsubscribing from my video and from my newsletter because I also sent out a newsletter about this. By the way, those of you who are not already signed up for my free newsletter, why not? Link is down below. But a lot of people got very upset indeed. And to be quite frank, I don't really want such Puritans following me in the first place. If you're going to be so extreme and not accept that I was obviously being quite nuanced here, but as a doctor, I stand absolutely firm that it is a recurrent theme. I've seen it over and over again. People who are in their late 80s, 90s, and they are looking great. And when I ask them what their secret is, they will say, "Dr. Dant," they'll often wink at me and say, "I have a cocktail every single night." And I have seen and observed this enough for it to really resonate with me. And I think that there's something to it.
But, and here's the big butt, a couple of very important points to add. So number one is I would say that every single person that I've seen who has told me this has been in very good shape. In other words, none of them have been significantly overweight or obese. So that is quite important right there. If you are significantly overweight, you have excess body fat, then this rule may not apply to you. And I would like to bring this back to the topic of insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance. And I believe if this was ever studied, it would be found that the people who did very well with one or two drinks, they were all very insulin sensitive. They were in good shape, they were probably doing a lot of other things right as well. And maybe the alcohol would help to relax them. Maybe it helped them to be in a social setting. But I must be very honest when I say that almost every single older person I see and certainly the story I talked about in last week's video, that 93y old who didn't look a day over 65, yes, he was also in great shape. So I'm sure that he was also eating a healthy diet and moving around a lot. So that's the first thing to add. I don't think that this rule probably applies to people who have significantly excess body fat and consequently excessive amounts of inflammation and insulin resistance. So keep that in mind.
And even if we think about the famous people out there, I mean, think about the late great queen of Great Britain who was famous for having a daily ginonic, sometimes more than one drink a day. And her ginonic was a special drink with dubenet. By the way, thank you to all of those who commented after my last video telling me that the queen's famous drink, well, she wasn't exactly significantly overweight and obese and she was very active as well. So, if everybody is doing everything else right, then one or two drinks isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can potentially do a lot of good. So, that's the first point to hammer home right there. I think that this rule mainly applies if people are in very good shape already.
And number two, these people know when to stop. The thing about alcohol is, and we all have a story to tell, a family member or a friend who doesn't know how to stop. For many people, there is no such thing as having one or two drinks every day. They can't even wrap their minds around that. Somebody who has an alcohol issue. And I heard it put very well in a a show that I watched once. I think it was on the West Wing actually, somebody talking about how they had an alcohol problem before. And they couldn't understand how most people could have one drink and then stop because for them it was either get completely legless, hopelessly, unfortunately drunk or nothing at all. There was nothing in between. So the question is, if you're somebody who drinks, are you somebody who can stop after one or two drinks? And I suspect given by the comments after my last video, either people talking about themselves or loved ones who are in their 90s or even hundreds who enjoy a drink, whether it's a cocktail, a gin, a cherry, a port every single night. These are people who have self-control. So that is the other very important point that I would like to make here is that if you're somebody who doesn't have self-control, who has to drink several drinks, then that's obviously not a good thing. So, like with everything else out there, moderation is key.
And yes, I accept the notion. Some people who were very critical after my last video said, "Alcohol ruins lives." Well, yes, it does. But a lot of things in excess ruin lives. I would say carbs, sugars, and processed foods, which people are guzzling down in enormous unthinkable amounts right now, are also ruining lives as well. So, this is always a question. Are you somebody who can do things in moderation? Are you somebody who is ticking all of the right other boxes with regards to your lifestyle? Eating real food, moving around, managing stress, sleeping enough. This all matters.
But I stand firm. Nothing will change my mind on this because I believe in the power of observation much more than the power of these studies that are done and these stuffy professors who come at you in their bow ties and say, "Well, the research shows this." Well, I'm going to be very honest. I have such little respect for evidence-based medicine. I think it's so heavily corrupted. But I do trust my own gut instinct and I trust what I see. And yeah, that 93year-old who came into the hospital who I met a couple of weeks ago who said he drinks a couple of vodkas every night. Well, actually, he was in the hospital for relatively minor condition. He was out in no time. And maybe it could be argued that in the hospital or maybe I only see a subset of people. But my own observation is and even outside of the hospital, I have seen it so often older people who are doing well and again most of them all of them basically are in shape and doing other good things who enjoy a drink every night and they say yes that is my relaxation time that really helps me. And I really can't ignore what I've seen in so many other older people as well. So, I would summarize this by saying that if you have anybody out there, especially at an older age, who is doing other things right, who's in good shape and enjoys a drink, whether it's every evening or a few times a week, the good from that is probably outweighing the bad, especially if that person is telling you that themselves because I actually listen to what my patients are telling me and to what everybody is telling me and what my own observation says. If somebody looks absolutely amazing and is saying, "Hey, I do this and it's doing me a lot of good, then I believe them. I don't tell them to change that habit."
Okay, thank you everyone for watching. Again, let me know your thoughts down below. And I'm okay. Even if you disagree with me, that's fine. If you think alcohol is the worst thing ever and should be banned, not that that's ever going to happen now, then feel free to comment. If again you're somebody who sees a lot of people around you, especially who are older who are enjoying a drink every evening or a few times a week and it clearly doesn't appear to be doing them any harm, then also feel free to comment.
Okay, everyone, check the links in the description down below for my website, all the other work I do, and my health program. If you're not already signed up again for my free newsletter, please do so. Also, check out our natural well-being store, ohighwwellness.com if you're in the USA, North America, ohighwwellness.co Co. If you're in the UK, Europe, if you enjoyed this video, you will also enjoy some of my other videos on health and wellbeing. Hit the like button if you like this video, the subscribe button for more similar videos in the future, and we will speak again very