Chlorine evaporates pretty quickly. We used to put tap water into a bowl so it was exposed to a lot of air and let it sit out a day. Then enough chlorine was removed that fish could safely swim in that water.

We did that to. What about a reverse osmosis filter? I've just had "the men" install a very detailed water treatment system in my basement. I have spring water (good!) but it gets cloudy/muddy after a hard rain (not so good). When we moved in, the tests showed that there were "basically harmless" bacteria in the water. They put a chlorinator in the basement. I never used it. But we did have a ceramic under sink filter which I can recommend for drinking water.

Now I have (and I'm not kidding) a holding tank where the spring water mixes with chlorox bleach and Alum followed by a sand filter column (to take out the dirt particles) followed by a softener (worst lime ever) followed by a charcoal filter column to take out the stuff we put in and other stuff. The guy says if I really want "the best" drinking water I should go for reverse osmosis for my kitchen sink. Sheeeeesh! I'm ready for city water already!

This is an interesting topic to me because I too am a pretty heavy drinker of whiskey/scotch. I recently went back on a low-carb diet to help me lose some weight and I was also researching trying a gluten-free diet. This sort of led me to researching the paleo/caveman diet. I realized my low-carb diet is already pretty much the paleo diet minus the 1 serving of cheese I have been eating.

Anyways, the last couple days I have noticed that I have been drinking about half us much whiskey as I normally do. I can't really explain it. I always have some in the glass next to me in the evenings, I just don't reach for it as much. I just don't feel the urge to drink more.

Same here, I realise I don't drink as much as when i was having carbs, and that little bit of whisky i have, satiates me more....in fact i get tipsy more easily lol

Hadn't thought about the B12 connection. I was diagnosed deficient just prior to going paleo and started B12 therapy about the same time. Perhaps that is why my brain is so 'happy' lately and not wanting alcohol.

Digger

I have been some where between a moderate and heavy drinker to be sure. I'd say a bottle of scotch every 2 to 3 weeks would disappear from the cabinet.

Until I read your post I never really thought about this but I have not had a drink in 4 weeks...........Wow! I have been on
http://www.paleonu.com/get-started
for exactly one month!

Good for US

Thank you for your anecdotes. I drink red wine sometimes, but I do not think I will ever change that.

Patrick

I don't think I'm a teetotaler for life, just until I get within range of goal weight. Getting down to only meat, eggs, veggies and a few berries has made it possible to go without drink. And without even sweating it.

I notice my alcohol tolerance went way down on low carb. I've never been even remotely a heavy drinker but I could put away a couple beers and have a little buzz. Now I'm feeling pretty tipsy on about 1/2 a beer.

I also get VERY sick if I drink too much wine now. I'll feel ok, go to bed, wake up around 3am wanting to hurl.

It doesn't even taste good to me now, the buzz is flat-ish, and the physical aftermath is crummy. Totally not worth it.

Never did like red wine. I think I was only liking alcohol because I was unbalanced, not for its own self.

And I used to be a prizewinning beer drinker. The downside is, no one believes my ageing records (still unbroken) like the one where you lift a 32 ounce stein with your teeth and drink all of it, with no hands. sigh

I just posted this on another thread:

I've recently discovered that I have a strong connection with alcohol and carb cravings. One drink and I'm hitting the cookies. (Which is *really* bad, as I'm a Celiac!) But one desert and I'm craving the booze.

I've had to cut out alcohol entirely and be careful to limit my carbs to no more than 15g per serving so I don't set off a chain reaction.

---------------------

The weird thing is that I didn't have a real weight problem until about 6 years ago when I started drinking. Until then, I was completely dry. (Just didn't like alcohol that much.)

6 years ago, life threw me a ton of stress and I started drinking at night so I could sleep.

That's what started my night-time snacking and I've put on 50 pounds since then.

So, I think you're on to something! Cut out one craving and we might be able to eliminate the other! (Not that I haven't been tempted to have a few drinks after a particularly stressful day...)

This could be me. I was never a heavy drinker either (except for a short stint in college ) one drink and I'm almost dancing on the table, no joke. It's even worse if it's wine, like you mentioned (white or red, doesn't matter) or if the alcohol is spirits with any sort of fruity base. I can only handle a couple of tsp of juice mixed with club soda AT THE MOST or I'm physically sick. A couple of months back, I had a drink before dinner with my husband at a restaurant - vodka & club soda and a splash of orange juice is what I ordered. There was too much juice in it so I only drank half. When dinner came (my big juicy steak at that)...I was so sick, we had to leave and go home so I could lay down.

I ended up eating my steak for brekkie the next day.

For a long time I've felt that sugar itself has an intoxicating effect. In some ways, I think alcohol is safer than sugar, and I wonder if alcohol fermentation was originally used as a processing step to make grains and fruits more nutritious. While the alcohol itself may be toxic, the body can still use it for fuel, and mild fermentation produces B vitamins and other useful stuff.

I fully agree. I'm trying to make some (very long rise 7 days) sourdough bread at the moment. Some gluten intolerant people are ok with this long fermented bread.

Patrick

From what I've read it takes a special form of sour dough yeast to break down gluten completely. As far as I know, only been done in a lab so far.