Moderation Drinking - Moderation February is Here

Moderation February™ is a new concept for 2024 that I created kind of riding the wave of Dry January’s popularity over the last decade. The premise is simple:

Moderation February™ is a commitment to yourself using a set of tools that allows you to EASE BACK INTO DRINKING after a month without alcohol.

Whereas Dry January is a fixed period of time that requires drastic behavioral changes for most participants, Moderation February™ offers tangible tools and tactics you can literally carry with you--not just in February - but any day, any week, or any month throughout the year to help lower your alcohol consumption.

Host: Andy Whiteside
Co-host: Sam Meader

Transcript

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Sam: Everyone welcome to episode 3 of moderation drinking. I'm your host, Andy White side looking forward to a good conversation today with Sam meet, or Sam, how's it going, Cloudy? But

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Sam: tomorrow's supposed to be in the sixties again. So we're excited to be here.

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Andy Whiteside: you know, this might be a topic for a future blog and podcast for you. But like, how often do you travel and and how much of this

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Sam: you know, the moderation drinking concept. How hard is it to maintain that when you're on the road and going places and around people that don't spend a lot of time with you. Well, it's it's a lifestyle. So it's a good question.

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Sam: you know, and wanted to talk about today. Launching my concept called moderation. February is both of my sons live on the West Coast. They're now in college, but you know, for years I would travel out there regularly and through various iterations of employment. I was a sales manager on the East coast. So for a few years I was

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Sam: you know, really, up and down floor, you know, from Miami up to Maine and

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Sam: II think what it comes down to is accountability and control. Now that I'm practicing moderation, drinking. I have this first round, last call challenge coin that I develop, but it doesn't matter what your tools and tactics are. As long as you can take them with you where wherever you go.

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Andy Whiteside: Yeah. Makes sense. Today. You got a you got a new blog. It's called moderation. February is here last last time we talked about talk about dry January being an interesting concept, but not necessarily applicable to what needs to happen. Tell me about the moderation. February. Why, you why you came up with that concept.

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Sam: Sure, it's we touched on this. Some of the things we're gonna talk about. We did touch on it last month with the the dry January conversation. But you know moderation, February. It's a new concept and website, kind of, you know, shameless piggyback on the popularity of dry January. The premise is really simple. It's a it's a commitment to using a set of tools and tactics that allow anyone to ease back into drinking after a month without alcohol.

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Sam: and I know for me when I was drinking heavily, and I did try January a couple of times but for me, what

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Sam: what it became about was counting the days until February first came around and then ended up breaking even more in the month of February, to make up for lost time. You can kind of hear that in the quotes of you know, people when they talk about getting through dry January. They just gotta power through or survive it their tone sounds a little bit more like survival than you know. Happy lifestyle choice of less alcohol?

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Andy Whiteside: Yes. yeah.

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Andy Whiteside: And so the concept of moderation. February really aligns with the overall concept of your message, which is, it's okay to drink. Just drink appropriately and drink responsibly.

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Sam: Yeah, exactly. And then,

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Sam: you know, one of the things that I found about dry January. And it's participants. It is a tends to, you know, be the

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Sam: the New Year's resolution thing the people latch onto because it's become so popular. But that concept of, you know. Cold turkey stop drinking. Isn't really sustainable, and that type of mindset for dry January doesn't help you at a super bowl party in February, bachelor party in April, or wedding in June.

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Sam: and what I'm promoting with my moderation drinking, and the first round last call challenge coin is really a lifestyle tools and tactics you can take with you any week, any month, throughout the year. Whenever you hit an event where you might be tempted to overconsume.

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Sam: Sam is your is your thoughts on people failing with moderate dry January is that, are there? Numbers? Are there? Are there documents, things that I've seen a lot of statistics. And there there was one out there, I think, called or something. I'll I can get that. But it it they talked about

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Sam: about half of the people just bail out and don't complete it.

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Sam: but one in 10 don't even make it past 3 days, and again it gets back to you. Make a New Year's resolution. It's just hard to stick to for a lifestyle change that you can do for the long haul.

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Andy Whiteside: And one of the concepts you talked about, which is really gotten a lot of popularity in the last one as well as we talk about now, I'm sure, and that is, you know, non alcoholic beverages that look and taste like beer.

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Sam: Maybe I haven't seen wine, maybe is, is there such thing as wine? But it certainly allows you to kind of moderate how much you're consuming? Does that play a role in this concept of moderation. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And I I've got on my website moderation drinkingcom all of my reviews of many of the non alcoholic Beers

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Sam: and I use them as a as a tool

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Sam: a lot of times. Particularly. I'm in the middle of a remodel now we we have these beachfront rentals. So we're crazy busy in the summer, but we do all of our maintenance in the winter, and so I've been working 1214 h days swinging a hammer, moving a paintbrush, doing everything in between of the various trades that we're hiring

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Sam: and I use. I call it, you know, entitlement drinking. There's days that I work my ass off, and I feel like I should be able to drink as much as I want. So when I go to reach for something right when I'm at the point of God. I really need a drink or I want to drink. I'll start off with a non alcoholic beer and that sort of like allows me to chug without the buzz.

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Andy Whiteside: I have a question for you. Is there a

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Andy Whiteside: when it comes to non alcoholic beer and and fully loaded alcohol beer, which, by the way, a lot of these, a lot of these brews, these craft brews. They have a lot of alcohol in them.

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Andy Whiteside: is. There's a concept of a like a a a lower lower alcohol beer that I know we market like light beer. But that's typically for calorie perspective is the concept of something in moderation. A reality.

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Sam: Yeah, I think. You you hit it on the head. You know, when I was growing up

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Sam: and started to enjoy beer. it was really Budweiser and Miller and a few others, and they were all like 3, 4%. Now, with all these micro brews, you can get em 7%. Alcohol, 8%. And

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Sam: you drink one of those. It's like drinking 2 regulars.

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Sam: but the non alcoholic beers I don't. I don't know of any that go to one or 2. It's strictly just non alcohol, and they've really come a long way, I think, with the popularity of dry January and a movement, particularly in gen. X. And and some of the younger folks that many of the large scale brewers are catering to that. And there's such a wide variety of non alcoholic beers now that make that the

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Andy Whiteside: the experience a lot easier. And the taste really has come a long way.

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Sam: not alcohol beer. I'm going to do it this week. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna grab one. I'm gonna get whatever you know, whatever gets recommended at the at the restaurant that I go to. Maybe you want to recommend one here some of the most popular, I will say if you are a fan of Heineken beer.

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Sam: They're non alcoholic. Beer tastes exactly like the alcohol beer also is, in my opinion, certainly here in South Carolina, and where I've traveled to, and Boston and Seattle I go those markets quite frequently. And I've been to Mexico. It it I would call it the ubiquitous one, because it's everywhere

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Sam: you will likely be able to find Heineken non alcoholic beer, non alcoholic beer in any restaurant, in your location, in Charlotte, or in any supermarket. And it's pretty darn good.

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Sam: I would say. My all time favorite is a is a brand called clustowler. It's German, and it really has the best flavor of any non alcoholic beer. I've tasted sam Adams has a hazy ipa. That's non alcoholic that's got sort of a fruity bent to it, and I would call that a solid number, too. But those are the 3 that I drift towards, and particularly Heineken. You can find it just about any bar or any supermarket.

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Andy Whiteside: Yeah, I'll definitely give that. Give that a try this week and report back next time. Tell you what my thoughts are.

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Andy Whiteside:  but you know that I guess I'm gonna go back to this again the the idea that there's somewhere in between something in moderation, right? So II spent a lot of time in Utah, and I know for a long period of time. You know, you bought a a, a bud light or a Budweiser or something, and it was not 4%. It was more around 2%. The concept of a lower alcohol brew even for the mainstream. Brands it. It's out there. It's just, you know. I it hasn't hit mainst. It hasn't hit

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Andy Whiteside: mainstream to where, you know. Like you said the the Gen. Z's and things want it. So it's either nothing or regular Scott, II bet that's coming. I bet that does happen.

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Sam: Yeah. And it would be it would be sweet. And I think this is all in the overall heading of specialization. You know, I remember growing up Aa, and it seemed like you were either

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Sam: an alcoholic over drinking in Aa or er you were totally okay with drinking. There was no grey area it was didn't seem like moderation was a concept. And I think now, with everything specialized, you, you can commit to it and drink less on a regular basis.

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Andy Whiteside: You know, I'm thinking, through a conversation I had recently with a high school friend who's obviously now 50 years old. And I the conversation was about drinking too much. His wife, you know. Say, you're getting kind of chubby, and you need to cut back, and you're out of control. And his and my response to him was, Why don't you drink, you know, like light domestic beer? And he said, Well, that's great, but the problem is, I drink it twice as fast.

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Sam: Well, and III know for me, and I mentioned this earlier about, you know, working hard on the remodel when I am hot and sweaty, tired or feeling like I worked my tail off and that first beer that I reach, for I know I'm gonna drink it fast, and that's why I substitute a non alcoholic beer for the first one that I have

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Sam: and then, you know, going out to, you know, a bar or restaurant with the first round, last call challenge Corner. I stick to 2, but there are times, and I'll order one. And and II do like an Ipa. They tend to be heavier, higher, alcohol content. But before I have my second one I'll order either club soda or non alcohol beer in between.

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Sam: Yeah, and that. So your friend is right. He might have to drink it twice as fast. But why not interject a non alcohol beer of his choice that he likes? Yeah, talking about it. But in practice I bet it's hard for a lot of people. It is when you're at at the bar with your friends and you really, you really want to have a relaxing time, and you feel like you've earned it because of whatever day you had.

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Andy Whiteside: and I will agree with you. You get out. You cut the grass and you're it's hot June, July, August day, and and that first beer it goes down so quick and so easy. It's it's like a reward like you said, but at the same time you're punishing yourself. You just don't realize it

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Sam: right.

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Sam: Alright, Sam, so let's just I do hit it a couple of times here. But let's let's hit it just a little. One more time, and maybe more succinctly, the the coin. And what what you have that you're providing to people to help make a difference. Here, your coin help us help. Yeah. It's called the first round, last call challenge coin. And I developed it as a tool to help limit my drinking. After I realized that a problem I actually did spend a year in Aa helped me stop drinking. For a year I kept a scorecard.

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Sam: so II knew how many drinks I had a day. So for 365 days I had 0 drinks, and

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Sam: I thought, well, you know. What would it be like if I drank again? What? What measure of control, what I have? And I've always sort of been. You know my my ex career. I was an architect, so I'm always sketching, drawing, thinking, planning, designing, and I started researching

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Sam: wh what? What things help people change their behavior or what rewards them. And I just stumbled online these things called challenge coins. So I kinda designed a a coin with a concept of 2 drinks that it has 2 sides, and using the ubiquitous drinking terms of first round, last call designed it, you know, applied for a trademark on it, and it worked very well for me, and one of the things that that I experienced when I first

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Sam: started drinking again and went out to a bar with it. Never forget this, you know, and I made the coins really heavy. They're thick metal. I put it down on the bar and you you kinda hear it, you know, clinking around and

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Sam: and so, and people look over and go. Oh, what's that? And so I would explain it to the bartender, whoever and the concept and they'd say, that's really cool, that I that that that's I could see that working. And then.

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Sam: you know, a drink. Later, when I'm having a good time, and I'm about to order another, and I realize, oh, I've I've already flipped it over. I'm on last call. I can't order a third. I just told everybody around me I'm stopping it, too, right? So it ended up being like a peer pressure thing as well. And as I said, it's been a very effective tool for me.

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Andy Whiteside: I do sell them online on my website. And I've got a lot of testimonials from people say, it's it's a really good thing for them. Yeah, no, that's great. II appreciate it. And as we talk about every time, it's something that everybody needs my generation after mine, and the generation still coming up.

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Andy Whiteside: It it. It just makes a lot of sense for people to have something to be held accountable before this. If not, we've seen what happens. Yeah, whatever tool they use. Again. This this tool I created for me. It was very successful. People started asking about it. So I gave it to family and friends. And when I put on the website, it actually started selling

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Sam: but it doesn't matter whether it's a coin or a notebook. And on and on my website, too, you'll see. A tab called moderation resources. I've got connections in there that could get you in touch with

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Sam: I don't wanna say therapists or life coaches that specialize in drinking less. There's apps you can literally have an app on your phone, where every time you go out to drink, you click a button, and you describe what your drink is, so you can have a tally of how many drinks you had that much, how much alcohol, all kinds of things, and it doesn't matter what you use. I, my premise, is.

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Sam: find some tools and tactics that you can limit your drinking so you can control it because it's very easy, as we know, to get out of control with alcohol.

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Andy Whiteside: hey, Sam? Probably a topic for another time. But are you aware of the the idea that the little push buttons in your start? The start button for your car. They're gonna put a sensor in there that's supposed to be able to read your blood alcohol level.

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Sam: Have you seen anything about that. Yeah, I know. You know, we're aware that there was a a tragedy that happened on Folly Beach last year, where the bride was killed on their wedding night by an alleged drunk driver, and South Carolina, where we live, is one of the has the weakest laws of punishing drunk drivers, and that's something that looks like it's changing here

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Sam: that lock concept. I know they're they're proposing it. And manufacturers are saying there's going to be fairly easy for them to do it. But what I've seen in some of the States I've looked at is that there's been pushback.

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Andy Whiteside: but I applaud any effort that, you know, helps people from getting behind the wheel driving when they're drunk. Yeah, at the very least, something that senses it and says, Okay, if you're going to do this, you got to override it with a code or something that would be awesome.

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Sam: Sam. Regarding moderation, February, and the concept that you come up with here. Anything we haven't covered, you'd want to make sure we cover. No, it's just a again. It is an awareness that you know you might be tempted to over drink after dry January, and consider some tools and tactics that help you dial it back and maintain control. In the month of February.

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Sam: and use those tools and tactics at any time throughout the year. Whatever works for you. That's the key.

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Sam: Sam. I appreciate it, and I look forward to talking to you next month. Yeah, for sure. Thanks. So much.