You have reached a point where you just don’t want to drink all the time.  You want to get a grip on it.

You feel rough. You’ve lost your sparkle. Put on some extra weight. You feel a bit low. Life is a struggle.

Are you fed up with the hangovers? Those embarrassing days after when you try and figure out what you said or did?

It’s become a habit, a bad habit.

There could be many reasons why you are ready to just take a break.

You don’t need to have thought any further than that.

Here’s the good news, it’s good to take a break, not in a Rachel and Ross kind of way.  But in an I care about myself and my health kind of way.

Alcohol is a toxin a poison, same as if you were eating McDonald’s everyday or a big bag of sweets.  At some point, there is going to be some sort of effect on your health.

Or it may be as simple as that you have lost your bounce.

One of the biggest things I hear when I work with people when they first...

It’s perhaps unusual for a wine blogger who spends most of their time extolling the virtues of particular wines to remind us to drink sensibly. At this time of year, though, it’s important to remind ourselves, that we might be overdoing it.

Excess calories from wine are probably the reason I can’t get into my party dresses this year, despite having swum 50 miles for charity in the last 13 weeks. Worried: You’ll find a calorie calculator here which will give you an idea of the impact of your tipple on your waistline and on your health.

For me at Purple Teeth, my goal is to help people drink better. That could mean drinking less. Certainly since I’ve been working in the wine business more and in Customer Experience Consultancy less, I’ve had to drink less. Counter-intuitive perhaps, but as I’ve learned more about wine, my tastes have become rather more expensive than my income allows. So I drink better, but less.

Wine is a luxury good...

Last night a DJ saved my life, well actually it wasn’t the DJ it was the partner dancing.  Don’t ask me why but it did. 

I have always loved to dance, as a child I spent my time dressing up and choreographing routines to all my favourite records, from Abba to Edwin star and flight of the bumble bees.  Many a day spent in my leotard and disco glitter, closing my eyes and feeling the music, like only a child can. I never attended a dance class, something about our working class upbringing, we didn't do things like that when I was a kid. 

And as an adult I continued to go where the music and dancing took me.  

Then I had a difficult period in my life like we all do, after all that’s life.  Completely as a result of bad decisions I had made along the way.  To cut a long story short – I married the wrong man, a very difficult man and my life got tough for a long time. 

In the middle of it I reached an all time low, my...

I love peoples life stories, stories of change.

I find them inspiring. We can learn from each other.

Listen to Lillies story of change. She starts of quiet reticent as you can hear she feels bad about certain aspects of her past, but keep listening as there are some gems of advice in there.

https://soundcloud.com/stephanie-ichange21/extra-ordinary-people-podcast-2

Being a mum is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but also one of the most rewarding.  It’s cheesy but true.  Nothing prepares you for it.  I had my first child at 19 and we literally grew up together, he got fun, not a care in the world, throw caution to the wind mum.  But with that came all the mistakes I made and the life lessons along the way, he learnt them with me.  Consequently I have a very together, organised, level headed, responsible down to earth, grown up as my first born (I got lucky).

I had my second much later, in my head I thought “this is going to be easier, because I know what I am doing.”  Wrong! Very different children and in a very different situation.  In fact parenting my youngest has been the hardest thing I have ever done.  I married the wrong man, had a very difficult relationship, life got very difficult and as a result my youngest was hard work from birth.

The whole thing is linked.  Life...

I love people and I love real life stories. Real stories about change. It can be motivating and inspiring to hear how people everyday transform their lives. If they can, imagine what is possible for you?

If you need a bit of motivation have a listen to Vicky's story of change.

https://soundcloud.com/stephanie-ichange21/extra-ordinary-people-podcast-1

So the government have announced new alcohol unit guidelines. Are we still confused? I am guessing we are.

What is a unit anyway? What does it mean for us?

In some ways I am pleased that the government have reduced the recommended amounts that we should be drinking. But again I am unsure if we are clear about the messages.

The guidelines might be easier to understand, if they talked in terms of drinks instead of a unit, such as 1 glass of 125ml wine (1.5 units), or 1 pint of 4 % beer (2 units). Check out Drinkaware for more information Drinkaware infographic units

For me there are a few key things I would like people to understand regardless of how many units they drink.

I have worked with 1000’s and 1000’s of people over the years a lot with drinking problems, after all it is our biggest problem when it comes to drugs. Yes I am calling alcohol a drug because that is exactly what it is. A legal drug and let’s face it one of the most harmful drugs in lots of ways....

Listen to my recent UK Health Radio interview with Janey Lee Grace.

click here to listen UK Health Radio interview with Janey Lee Grace

Talking all things alcohol, health, mental health.

If you want support to be able to stop drinking, then message me.

Or if thats a bit forward check out my Free videos

You will get what you have always got!!!
Sounds obvious doesn’t it?
But you would be surprised at the amount of people I speak to who are doing things they don’t want to do any more. Or maybe they want their life to be different but they just can’t figure out how to get there.

I love these little sayings, they are so simple and clear.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

Are you stuck in a routine of bad habits for whatever reason? It could be that your weekend fun has turned into a daily habit, or your weekend fun isn’t so fun anymore, causing you more problems than its worth!! Or maybe your little treat that you had control over, now has control over you.

It’s quite simple really: TAKE ACTION. Do something different no matter how small and then keep doing the different thing until your life starts to change. The rule here is that the new habit you choose needs to be-
• Something you enjoy!
•...

Alcohol is one of those funny drugs (well, not so funny). It is legal, yet it is also one of the most harmful. Unfortunately a large number of the population assume that because it’s legal it’s safe.
It’s also readily available, in supermarkets, petrol stations and on TV. It’s pretty hard to turn a corner without seeing a reference to alcohol.

Drink-related hospital admissions have doubled in the past decade, and a scarily large number of those with alcohol problems don’t realise there’s an issue until their life takes a turn for the worse. Here are some of the warning signs to look out for:

1. Drinking out of habit

Drinking should be a social event, a special occasion. It should be something we do in moderation, like a takeaway. So if you find yourself regularly coming home after a hard day and the first thing you do is reach for the bottle opener. Think again!! This is a habit. Take a week off. If you find yourself unable to go even one day...