Mindful Drinking & Moderation in Midlife: How to Drink Less, On Your Terms
How do I drink less without quitting completely? What's the difference between alcohol-free, low alcohol, and no alcohol drinks? Why can't I handle alcohol like I used to? How do I cut back when everyone around me is still drinking? Why do alcohol-free drinks cost so much?
If you're in your 30s, 40s, 50s or beyond and asking these questions, this is your podcast.
Welcome to the essential show for midlife adults who want to drink less, on their own terms—without the pressure to quit completely, follow rigid rules, or label themselves as sober.
I'm Denise Hamilton-Mace, your mindful drinking mentor, magazine editor, writer and public speaker on all things low, no and light. Each week, I help stressed parents and busy midlife adults navigate their relationship with alcohol through practical approaches grounded in real-world experience and behaviour change strategy, not willpower or wellness culture
What you'll get:
Mindful Moderation Solo Episodes – Deep-dives answering the questions that matter to sophisticated drinkers who want to moderate smartly:
- How do I cut back when my partner still drinks at home?
- Why do premium alcohol-free drinks cost the same as full-strength versions?
- How do I navigate social situations when I'm the only one moderating?
- What really works: willpower vs. strategy?
Drinks 101 Mini-Series – Short educational episodes demystifying the confusing world of low and no alcohol drinks:
- What does ABV actually mean?
- What's the real difference between non-alcoholic, alcohol-free, low alcohol, and light beer?
- How are alcohol-free drinks made?
- Which drinks are safe for pregnancy, driving, or recovery?
Meet the Makers – Intimate conversations with the founders, brewers, distillers, and visionaries creating the premium drinks and experiences that support your moderation goals.
This podcast is for you if:
- You want drinks that taste like the ones you already love
- You're looking for practical advice that fits your demanding life, not another wellness overhaul
- You recognise that coasting with mid-strength drinks, zebra-striping, or bookending your evening with something non-alcoholic are all valid strategies
- You want better mornings without giving up celebrating life's special moments
This isn't about going completely dry or reinventing yourself. It's about keeping energy for what matters most: family, health, career, and living life on your own terms.
Join the moderation revolution happening in midlife – because while Gen Z gets the headlines, you're the one actually doing it.
Mindful Drinking & Moderation in Midlife: How to Drink Less, On Your Terms
Mindful Drinking New Year’s Eve: End the Year on Your Terms
GET READY FOR YOUR BEST (ADULT) CHRISTMAS YET & GET YOUR FREE MINDFUL DRINKING ADVENT CALENDAR AT http://mindfuldrinkingadvent.com/
This New Year’s Eve episode closes out a full season of festive mayhem with one simple message: the night only matters if it feels right to you.
Whether December was dry, mindful, lighter, messier than planned, or somewhere in between, what counts is how it compares to your own intentions — not anyone else’s highlight reel.
Tonight isn’t about FOMO or mythology or doing it “properly.” It’s about choosing how you want to celebrate, honouring how you want to feel tomorrow, and stepping into the new year knowing the night didn’t happen to you — you chose it.
===
You can email me at denise@lownodrinkermagazine.com
===
🗣️ Join the growing community on Substack
https://lownodrinker.substack.com/
===
🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset
===
🧮 Drinking Impact Calculator: Find your personal tipping point
https://mindfuldrinkinginmidlife.com/products/drinking-impact-calculator
===
🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/
===
*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.
It is New Year's Eve. Oh my goodness, you have just made it through four to six weeks of festive mayhem, and it all gets capped off tonight with the boss level of the season, New Year's Eve. Are you ready for this? So, December has been a drinking gauntlet. And if you've made it through uh with any intention intact at all, whether your plans were to have a totally dry December, to drink more mindfully, to just take it easy, whether you wanted to be completely alcohol-free or just be more in control of the choices that you made around alcohol, then first and foremost, my hat's off to you. It doesn't matter what your December looked like in comparison to everybody else. It only matters what it looks like in comparison to what you intended it to be. You are the only person by whose standards you need to judge yourself. But it's important not to judge yourself too harshly. It is such an intense time for drinking that it's so hard to make a resolution, and we will be talking about New Year's resolutions uh next week when the show goes back to normal. Um, but it's so hard to make a resolution, whether that is for New Year's or for Christmas, and to see it through all the way without having a few sidetracks along the way. That is completely normal. So if that happened to you, then I don't want you to beat yourself up. And I also don't want you to go into New Year's Eve stressing about how it's going to go. Because this night has a certain mythology around it. It's the pressure to go big or go home. And sometimes I just want to go home, but that's fine. You might want to go big. But going big doesn't necessarily mean getting absolutely rat assed. It's up to you how tonight looks. I want you to make sure that tonight you don't let FOMO make decisions for you. It's not about the fear of missing out tonight, it's about the joy of participating in a celebration. There's a mythology that if you're not sort of clinking with champagne as the ball drops, if you're not having a shot after shot, um, if you're not walking down the street with a bottle in your hand, that somehow you're doing New Year's Eve wrong and you're dooming yourself to 365 days of cosmic misery. But I'm hoping that by now you've recognized that actually you get to decide what tonight looks like. And the only way to doom yourself to 365 days of cosmic misery is by doing things that don't truly resonate with who you are, and by letting other people and other circumstances make your choices for you. So tonight you choose you can drink, you can not drink. You can start off completely sober and decide that actually, oh, they've got your favourite wine and you'd like to have a glass. Or perhaps you plan that you do want to have a drink tonight, but you get to the venue and you say to yourself, Do you know what? Actually, I'm good and I don't fancy one. There is no right or wrong answer except for the one that means that you wake up on January the 1st feeling like you chose your night tonight, and you didn't let your night or other people or the circumstances choose for you. You have practice all month long, we've talked about different moderation techniques, we've talked about dealing with the peer pressure, we've talked about the mindsets that you need to have going into choosing to drink differently. So by now you've got a really good idea of what works for you and what doesn't. Um, but more importantly, you know how you want to feel tomorrow. So tonight I want you to honour that, whatever it is, and wake up in 2026, proud of the choice that you made and ready to make this new year your best one yet, no matter what that looks like for you. So have a wonderful night. Enjoy yourself. There isn't Advent Day for today. There's a little bonus day that I didn't tell you was coming. Um, so if you want to go and check that out, please do. If you don't, if you're too busy getting ready to have the night of your life, however that looks, then I want to wish you the happiest of New Year's celebrations. I myself will be going to my best friend's house with my husband and the kids because at 47 years old, sometimes a party means staying in at a mate's house with your friends and family and just chilling out. So whether you are dancing the night away, whether you're chilling out at home and watching the fireworks on the tell, whether you're doing something completely different, whatever it is, I want you to have the most wonderful new year. And I look forward to spending time with you in 2026 as we go on the rest of our journey together to a life less intoxicated. Happy New Year.
