You, Me, and Mr. Barleycorn 2023

JED WIGHTMAN     PERFORMANCE/SPORTS NUTRITIONIST       ADVANTAGE FITNESS LTD

Hello again friends, I trust today finds each of you seeking health, the well-being of mind body spirit, and progressing to high personal standards.

Thank you to all my readers and subscribers, and thank you to all who send me your comments and questions. I value and appreciate each word sent my way. Not only does it all help me reach more people, but it allows me to evaluate my writing on an ever more intricate and detailed level. According to Dr. Peterson; if you’re writing for others to read, and not dissecting every word, sentence and paragraph, you’re falling very short.

This is all for you, my friends, athletes, clients, and comment enthusiasts. You are all so inspiring, I draw such a unique level of encouragement from each of you, and in so many ways. So to every one of you, I send out my deepest gratitude, for helping to make me better! Friends, isn’t that the mission? I believe it is, and should be for each of us. Making every minute we have in this gift and blessing of life count for something. Purpose in all, maximize our potential and capabilities. Overarching, from nuanced to the magnificent, and every metric in between. Always work at improving, a healthy mind-body-spirit.

Bringing me to today’s topic, a doozy indeed, Mr. John Barleycorn. One who is, so deeply woven into the fabric of contemporary and historical culture across the world. So “Normal”, we accept him as dogma, for many without ever questioning his existence. He is an entity, a topic I have always addressed, and long discussed with every single person I have ever professionally worked with over the last 20 years. I have not written, about him, but written to him, several times. I wrote to him last before today, many, many years ago. Journaling, is a tactic I use for inner self-investigation and evaluation processes.

To heal, grow to develop; this case, as part of my own journey in distancing myself from Mr. Barleycorn. Yes until today, I wrote to him one last time, ceremoniously when I finally, fully completely, removed John Barleycorn from my life, ending our relationship for good. Ah now, I must tell you, the last time we visited, it was after, a span of many years of his absence. That I then did, as we often do, well, I won’t speak for others, but I did most certainly invited him back in.

A very long time since, that night, but it feels like yesterday. Because our relationship with strong, and he was there for three times as long, as he now has been exiled now from my life. You see, he and I went way back. He was there since I was very young.

Who is Mr. Barleycorn?

Ok ok, hold on now Jed, who the heck is? and or what the heck is Mr. John Barleycorn? Well, If you don’t know him by this name, I can wager with no bluff, you all do actually know who, and most importantly what he is. Some, much closer than others, inversely some of you, will not at all. Those who don’t, and those who’ve only seen him, but never visited, or invited him in. I commend you, nevertheless, you all do know what he is.

ALCOHOL; and so, in name of John Barleycorn I am referencing the great Jack London. From the title of his book, an autobiographical journey of, his own relationship, with good ole Mr. Barleycorn. The name, a euphemism for a handle, is given to “Barley” (beer) and “Corn” (liquor). Booze of all kinds. Yes, this includes wine ciders and every kind of alcoholic beverage, known to man. So don’t think for those wine enthusiasts out there or, “it’s only a cider” lunchtimers, that it doesn’t pertain to you. John Barleycorn is Alcohol. Alcohol is Mr. John Barleycorn. I actually love the handle. In my opinion, it brings the substance “alcohol”, so close and personal. Very fitting, for the intent of today’s reading, creating a means of intimacy. Like in my case, he and I met, I was very young, however, I knew him, for well over the first large portion of my life. I know, His name is not often used any longer, I had actually never heard alcohol called this in my life until I found the book, John Barleycorn. An original copy was published in 1913, at a garage sale when I was a teenager. On the front on the second page, it had written in pencil, to Myrtha Joe, Merry Christmas, 1917.

Now this intersection of my life with Jacks’s book, is very serendipitous, as to what it means to me now, nearly 30 years later. No, I had no idea what it was about, but I knew Jack London, as I read “Call of the Wild”, and “Into the Abyss”. when I was a child. I was always very interested in historical things, books and records of our past, relics, and old things from times before our contemporary. So this book was priceless to me, a 94-year-old original copy when I found it. Yes, I absolutely encourage everyone to read it; and so, for the intention of this article every time I refer to alcohol I am going to refer to him as MB. For Mr. Barleycorn.

So, without any further introduction let’s get to know old MB, in a way, none of us, or rather maybe a small number of us do, but certainly, most of us haven’t. How’s this now? You may be asking yourself, and considering it’s simple, that we all know exactly what MB is. Or, do we?

Today we are going to know him on a deeper more intimate level. I’m going to detail what he’s doing with our bio, chemistry and neurochemistry, our consciousness. Understanding what his intentions truly are for us. With this, perhaps you can evaluate your own intentions, reasons, and purposes for your relationship, with him, if you have one. All about purpose and everything, helping make us a better version of ourselves.

For those that have no relationship, but know who he is, for all parties included, all the same, I hope this is cautionary. Yes, cautionary, because no matter what friends by inviting MB inside, there is greatly more risk, than reward. There is no reasoning, nor negotiation, no agreement that you can come to, which can ameliorate his deep and powerful impact on our mind, body and spirit. So, Unpacking this for all non-drinkers, and drinkers out there, is equally important.

No, I do not drink, and I have not drunk a drop in many years. As I said briefly above, I exiled, MB from my life, never to return. However, friends, I do not prop up on a pedestal of any kind. This is no sermon, or dictatorial tirade, zero absolute no negativity or any judgment towards those who do. However, please understand I am deeply passionate about this topic, and it is my mission to help. Help each of us I can, including myself live well and have a healthier life overarching. Contrary to any judgment at all, I get it. Friends, I have vast experience and understanding. How so? Because, I drank, and not at all flirtatiously by any means. Oh no, I knew MB very well, We had been introduced when I was just a boy of single digits.

It’s important to tell you, nobody physically put a drink in my hand. It was just in my environment, direct exposure, so naturally, I was interested in what the adults were doing when they were spending time with MB. If you lived as a child around alcohol in your house, you may relate to, or understand greater too, of which may experience speaks. Yes, I was very interested in what the adults were doing, especially my stepfather. So interested, I thought I was missing out and something, I very much wanted to partake. It looked very fun indeed. Now it would sometimes get very serious, a little tussle, a dust-up here and there. But the pugilistic ruckus was, as intriguing, as the loud cheering jam sessions, or card games joviality, that interested me. Strange really, I always wanted to hang out with the adults and not really anyone my age, and so there I was there often with the adults, adjacent, watching, listening, playing with my G.I. Joe Gung – Hoe and my hot wheels 1970 Challenger. Further to my curiosity and desire to see what it was all about, and as some children do. I believe most, they imitate and emulate their environments and their exposure to the influence of said adults around them. Well,

I asked my stepfather if he liked the taste of what he drank. His response was yes I do, but you wouldn’t like it at all, that it was an acquired taste for a man, and you absolutely can’t have any until you’re a man. Well, now this reinforced and encouraged my curiosity. First off, my stepdad was a beast, Boxing, and College Football offensive line then. For the next 20 years until we met, he had been living off the land, incredibly remote, with no electricity or running water, homestead animals self-sustaining an hour and a half away from the nearest town with any amenities of slightest incorporation.

He was big and, he was bush strong, he was a legitimate beast. Now, to me at five years old, he looked like something out of one of my Conan Comics, or heavy metal Magazine, 1985. It’s necessary to add that there was lots of drinking, in Conan as well, and he represented the iconic “Man” role model for so many of us youngsters of that era. I think a lot of us started bodybuilding, started to lift weights wanted to be Jacked because of Conan comics, Conan the movie, Arnold. All of which include alcohol as a staple. Pervasive. So, to be a man, a big grown-up man like my stepdad. I gotta do that! So, I snuck a sneak, a taste of a liquor bottle when he was at the lower landing, with my older stepbrother. #%+*!! Welcome Mr. Barleycorn, and so what I found there with him that afternoon, was the most horrible and disgusting thing I have ever tasted. Southern Comfort. But…. In my little head of child logic, By drinking it, made me more grown-up, more a man. So I had to learn to like it, because of what that meant, men like it! Well also, In all candor, regardless of the taste. It felt good, I liked the feeling very much. I remember feeling energized, and excited putting on the little boxing gloves I got for Christmas and working out on the speed bag, he had set up to teach myself in my stepbrother. I felt like I could go forever. As you can imagine, That lasted a brief spell, and I just remember climbing the stair ladder to my little room in the cabin and passing the F out.

I got caught, oh yes I got caught, the amount I stole, I put some water back in his bottle, thinking that I could cover my tracks. Of course, he found out when he got home. Most likely Had a drink then came directly for me, not sure, because I was in a damn your coma. I remember him waking me up and confronting my disobedience as an honourable man does. Ultimately He let me off with a very powerful warning, the impression I was left with, if I ever took his alcohol again, it would be my end. Ha oh no, friends, did that stop me from wanting to get together and spend more time with MB. Probably not your fault of his own encouraged more of my curiosity.

I just had to discover a way as such that was not involved in my stepfather’s stash, I just had to wait until I was older but I’d figure it out. By a few years later, when I found Jack London’s book, MB and I had already been thoroughly introduced. As it turned a little punk, not even a teenager. Did any of you experiment with MB when you were very young or young? In my experience over my life, this story is not remotely unique, I know so many more introduced to him very young as well. There is another component to this inclination, for the drink. There are studies showing links to genetic predisposition to drink, and alcoholism. If alcohol has run in your family bloodlines. I found out much later in life that certainly did in my own family. Ah, Good old, MB, he’s most certainly generational.

So I believe for those like me, who’ve drank and stopped, even if you’ve never drank, and for those who drink regularly, my message here today is of critical importance.

As I said above this subject is often overlooked, more often than not. It’s my opinion that the encouragement NOT to drink is slight and minor, compared to, the encouragement TO drink. What do I mean by that? OK, simply, it’s propped up, and supported by all our media and advertising regarding MB. In contemporary times, It has been this way, since prohibition most profusely. But it certainly was there before. For a very large majority of our culture, in North America. The rest of the world as a child outside my purview, I cannot speak from personal experience, on the influence on young people to drink alcohol in other countries, back then, although I do believe it to be quite heavy. Except, for Germany. If you could see over the bar, you can drink. Or rather could when some people in high school took a trip there?

Coming back, saying they all drank more beer than water. Here In North America, since I can remember, Ad after ad after ad for beer, liquor, wine, ciders. Promoted with manly men, cool cars, attractive women, and what looks to be the funnest time anyone could ever have bar none. You’ll have good friends, beautiful women and memories of such jovial bliss to last a lifetime. Ya, right, All I can hear in my head right now when I write this, is the sound of rubber screeching, a moment before the loud, cracking and popping sound of the vehicle into a vehicle. As is, more the reality, the inverse of the ADDS.

All the while this guy MB is being peddled and pushed. Insulated, and supported by our governments, to generate mass revenue. Now there’s another, much darker part to this massive revenue equation. It is why, the leading causes of death in North America are, cancer, heart, disease, and diabetes. MB has a massive impact on each of these above-mentioned, respective morbidity rates, with a downstream proliferate effect on such a huge number of co-morbidities. Ingesting poison influences, Sickness and disease, manifest symptoms. (Yes poison you’ll understand very soon) symptoms must be treated with drugs. Drugs made by massive richer than anything the world has ever seen before, Corporations that very much lobby, our government officials, lobby means, giving money. Fill in the blanks. Wow, that could be its own article in itself. Yes, I said, sinister, MB and his relationship to our life span and health and safety is very sinister.

Have you known anyone close to you who has lost their life, or been severely maimed or injured in vehicular-related incidents due to, impaired driving? Have you known anyone that was hurt when they were drunk and defenseless if you know anyone that was hurt by someone who was themselves drunk?

The next stats, shocked me deeply when I read them.

HALF of all murders are committed by somebody who is drunk, and half of all murder victims are themselves drunk.

A higher percentage of sexual assault victims are perpetrated upon, by those who are drunk, and they themselves, the victim, also drunk, a larger percentage, more, than either party being sober. The leading cause of vehicular death is speeding, a much higher percentage of that speeding, causing death is committed by those under the influence of alcohol. Yet MB promoted with such fervor… and I still haven’t got to the “poison” part yet.

Shock you? Yes? Good. No? OK, so you’re safe then, safe when you drink, when your party. You don’t drive, or circulate around shady people. Friends, none of that (avoid risk fiction) pertains to you. None of it? No, None of it. Think about this, even if you do everything to avoid the risk of driving, unsafe environments, external, etc. Friends consider comorbidity disease, illness, and all psychological, and physiological issues brought on by the consumption of alcohol. Yes, You’re ingesting poison. Ok still might be not specific enough for you, carry on, you’ll see. Time to know MB the poison he truly is, as close and personal as I am capable of putting down on paper.

Alright! Science stuff. Yes, I did, I said poison, twice. Some of you might have balked, no not bulked haha. Balked at that. Right, So let’s get familiar with the science of the poison. The structure of MB is such that it’s both water-soluble and fat-soluble. That means, when you invite MB in, he can pass into all the cells and tissues of your body. That’s right he has a skeleton key to every portion of your living being. That alone to me is strongly sobering. NO, he has no trouble easily passing right into ALL your cells. This is unlike a lot of substances and drugs that actually need to attach to the surface of cells, to receptors. For eg, When drugs, attach to cell receptors, understand that cells are like parking lots, and receptors are like parking stalls. So when the drug fits into the correct stall, for example, it triggers a bunch of downstream effects, a cascade of events to give you an idea (some kill pain, some get you high, some make you sick). So the Drug is consumed processes, time delay getting into the bloodstream, enters receptors, etc.

But not ole MB, oh, no, his effects are actually much more prolific an immediate. MB has his own direct effects on cells because he can literally just pass into all your cells with great ease. Immediately through the salivary glands, and then the mucus membranes on into the stomach into your blood through its lining.

Moreover, the fact that he can pass into so many organs and cells, so fast, so easily, yes pretty much immediate bioavailability, is really what partly explains his poisoning, damaging effects to the mind and body and spirit. Yes, your spirit, your soul, your consciousness, your identity, your personality you’re intrinsic being (just ask yourself how many permanently life-altering tragedies take place when we’re drunk, in my opinion, and he is too many. Nevertheless, compare the ones you know about, to all of the permanent and life-altering wonderful unfettered times of joy and happiness, occurring when drunk?).

Don’t think about the lane’s crappy times mediocre at best, all the booze and, happy food. Yeah, I don’t think we’re eating healthy performance program-appropriate food when we’re hanging out with MB… all for what? because you feel magnificently better after, even that?

Evaluate and Understand friends, he gets into every cell in the body.

Now that MB is inside your body having his party, producing substantial free radical stress, massive inflammation and damage to ALL cells he visits. Again, partly because of his immediate bioavailability without being mediated by any digestive process. I’d love to be able to tell you otherwise, that, yeah, drinking here or there doesn’t have negative effects. Simply not the case. I cannot, nor will I mince words, or tell a false narrative. Simply just a fact of.

Facts to follow.

For all of us nerds out there, Derp! I salute you. When you consume MB,

Which is ethanol. Yes very close to the chemical structure of gasoline, “ethanol” yes in itself a form of poison. NAD nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a coenzyme, essential to metabolism, and certain enzymes. NAD we have in limited supply and no surpluses friends; so NAD, and related biochemical pathways, do something with that poison. They convert the ethanol poison into a purer, and stronger form of poison, which is even worse for the body, as the body is trying to rid itself, of this poison trying to break it down and get rid of it any way it can. Depleting our NAD levels. Every time we take a drink. Massive metabolic damage, friends, MB damages, everything he touches. This poison, now acetyl aldehyde, is converted to alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver, Wham! Yes, of course, downstream your liver has to deal with whatever pollutant you put into your body, resulting in a massive assault on your liver enzymes, and cells. MBs damage to the pancreas beta cells, responsible for the production of your insulin, peptide, is in some cases irreversible yes, alcoholism can overtax your pancreas, making you type two diabetic, which can lead to your NK cells attack in your beta cells shutting down your pancreas, insulin, producing cells permanently, you now diabetic type one insulin dependent for life.

Yes, he most certainly makes you insulin resistant, step 2 in creating type 2 diabetes. When you drink liquid, high sugar containing, what is already sugar alcohol (alcohol is a form of sugar it has higher calories per gram, than any other carbohydrates. So this includes beverages like Beer, wine, ciders, and mixed drinks. Liquid sugar, liquor, booze, high for just corn syrup can’t get much more bioavailable.

The influence on your pH balance, alkaline to acidic, and the digestive enzymes created by your pancreas, is nothing short of malevolent. Killing our pH, making us acidic AF.

So ethanol into acetyl aldehyde, with me so far? A major impact on your biological harmony. From Liver toxicity, a corrupted liver, enzymes, out of whack and steadily elevating along, comes AFLD. (Alcohol-induced fatty liver disease). The same kind of liver disease you get from all that processed carbohydrate, flour, and liquid fructose I suggest corn syrup and sugar. (NAFLD) nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The risk to which is isolated. This includes athletes, who eat and drink like that, sometimes, in the off-season or on unrelenting, irresponsible, cheat days. I know, The effect is there you cannot ameliorate the effect by taking fat burners or doing more cardio. The damage done by MB’s party inside is being done no matter what. To a less rapid and heavily impactful, but a cumulative effect, nevertheless. Because exercise is going to make US healthier, no matter what. Can and will positively impact the tertiary effect on health and metabolic factoring from primary and secondary influences of poor diet and health choices.

Compared to individuals that include typical Western diet construction. Friends, When I say attack on your liver, from front and flank and all sides; Friends I do not write it for dramatic impact, or take a literary license. It is what it is. If you eat the regular Western diet and drink, just think about it.

Now, acetyl aldehyde is a direct cell-killing poison. Yes, liver cells, blood cells, brain cells, kidney cells, pancreas cells, beta cells, alpha cells, cardiopulmonary cells, and epithelial, and endothelial vascular cells from the outside to inside the lumen. MB is engaging you in Unrelenting, indiscriminate, all-out war.

ATHLETES!, yes, it kills muscle cells. Does not kill fat cells however, rather the empty caloric consumption encourages the energy, not burned, to be stored as fat. Yes, it kills your hard-earned, long and disciplined worked-for, gains. Especially new muscle! To you are you young folks out there thinking that partying and Physique sports or any kind of competitive endeavor physical athletic application can be included dually with, success, health and magnificent result, in your life WRONG? MB, killing your muscles, starts with the rampant, dehydration of the new tissue, the acetyl aldehyde poisoning and frying your lipid layer cell membranes. Disallowing any effective anabolic, healing and recovery metrics. 75% reduced protein synthesis, and lipolytic factors.

Now some people might be thinking. “Wait I wake up after drinking and I look leaner”, MB must be my fat-burning buddy, right? Wrong. When you wake up looking leaner after drinking, it is merely the temporary effect of being dehydrated. Nothing about, What do you do? When you have a hangover. Do you drink a whole bunch of water and go exercise to purge MB from your body, while not a bad rather terrible idea? You’re still adding more stress to an already stressed-out immune system and toxic, polluted biochemistry from the night of drinking, all the while Thinking you’re doing the right thing, hey, you’re exercising not all bad. Poorly planned, and with a return limited strategy.

Or do you wake up wallowing in your toxicity, feeling sorry for your head, and your body, and everything aches, and so you eat a whole bunch of garbage to soak up the booze? Anyone? Well, I’ve done both too many times to count on either side. Right so, Either way we lose. Do you want to be the best, that you possibly can, at your chosen sport or passion?, simply don’t include alcohol in your life as a high-performance, or competitive athlete. Adding to this, some people choose to put stressful things into their bodies to increase muscle, and decrease fat. Well, Hang out with Mr. Barleycorn and you have quadrupled the liver toxic inflammatory, and kidney stressor effects. You will encourage blood pressure issues. Prolonged, this will create kidney disease. Forcing an elevated blood pressure when you’re including other Bodybuilding components, is not a good plan. Wow, I could write a page on the cardiac stressors linked. No benefit, just a risk extrapolator!

Nutritionally, You create hyperglycemia, yes, too much sugar in the blood. Destroying your insulin sensitivity. You absolutely ruined yourself, to expect to have a productive workout the next day. Just…. to name a few.

Non-competitive, or high-performance athletes out there, those reading this who are not on programs do not follow nutrition or fitness lifestyle strategies. Each and every one of you to whom, I only wish the most health, well-being and long, strong days. A beautiful life to each, this correlates directly to you.

You must understand, the typical Western diet puts magnificent hepatotoxic stress on your heart, kidneys, and liver. If you don’t drink, or do, you just eat the western diet, as briefly mentioned above, and if you want more information, about details regarding, read my article “The Heart of The Matter”.

So if you eat this way, and have eaten this way, since you were not taught how to eat and in a healthy effective strategy, as children, you will produce NAFLD (nonalcoholic, fatty liver disease). So if you drink and you eat the typical Western diet, you double the potential of this very serious disease and your responsibility for its creation. Friends we make this, just like we make most of the diabetes in North America, no, the vast majority of type 1 diabetics are not born. They are created, from dietary choices; and so Western diet? What’s that look at the food pyramid. Very simply, the food pyramid is an anti-truth. In a most basic sense, It is the inverse of what we should be, and how we should be eating.

Friends, I said earlier. This, is a cautionary tale. I want the best for every man woman and child. The absolute best we are capable of generating for ourselves.

The way MB damages and kills cells is indiscriminate, as to which cells he damages and kills. So it’s important for your body, survival, and resilience as the bipedal carbon-based human organism we are, that your body be able to do this conversion of the poison very quickly. Consume convert metabolize repeat. Therefore the cumulative effect of the said poison is somewhat mitigated. You see If this conversion took long, it would literally kill us, don’t believe me? Really. just think friends, severe alcohol poisoning kills. This is the finite, most cumulative result of too much of a poisonous substance for that individual’s body to convert and metabolize “mitigate” in a favourable balance of their very survival.

So, before we move on to the war on your mind and soul MB is waging. Some points to remember is that when you ingest alcohol, you are yes ingesting a poison. A poison that is converted into an even worse poison in your body, that worse poison is not only killing your cells but your drinks are also converted into the form of calories. Yes Calories that you can use to generate energy, ATP. But no nutritive value. EMPTY, The reason why alcohol is considered empty calories is because that entire process is very metabolically costly but there’s no real nutritional value of the calories, that it creates. Adding calories, give no nutritional benefit in return.

Now you can use those calories for immediate energy, that’s right; have some drinks and go exercise off the calories as your drinking LOL. So MB can’t be stored in any kind of meaningful or beneficial way, he doesn’t provide any vitamins, he doesn’t provide any amino acids he doesn’t provide any fatty acids. A glass of wine is a magnificent amount of empty calories. My experience, over my career, I’ve seen it many times people decide not to cut out wine especially, and they remain in a predominate fat storage and low muscle recovery state. Yeah, yeah antioxidants in wine, as a matter of fact, yes, there are some “antioxidants”. However, the free radical damage that will take place downstream from the increased acidity of your pH, and the cellular breakdown of the acetyl aldehyde, killing your cells, far outweigh the minuscule amount of antioxidants you got from your wine. The antioxidants in 1 ounce of wine are valid yes, but a glass of wine is usually 4-5 ounces, if you were to drink 1 ounce of wine just one shot of wine, to promote health benefits from the included antioxidant. Fair, but it’s not a glass, it’s 1 ounce. Yes, you’re getting more antioxidants from the whole glass, but that’s merely the big fish of negative impact eating the little fish of antioxidants comparatively.

MB he is not your buddy or friend, he has no good intentions for you.

Now that we have the basics for how the body is poisoned and our health compromised.

Let’s delve into the mind, the soul. I save this last, as this is what I want you left with. For you to deeply reflect on the effects of MB on your mind, and second your soul, tertiary to which, is your body and health, yes the health effects compound, and are cumulative. The effects on our minds are immediate. I’ll leave it to you, to decide how that impacts your soul consciousness. So, the acetyl aldehyde the cell-killing, poison, remember? IS what leads to the effect of being inebriated or drunk. Yes, friends, your body is reacting to fighting poison. Ergo, the feeling of inebriation. I think most people don’t realize that being drunk is actually a poison-induced disruption. I know I didn’t, I wasn’t sure where the psychological and physiological effects of “drunk” came from. Blanketing our neural circuits, and the way our circuits work. Which neural circuits, what brain areas, what areas are involved in feeling drunk or inebriated? Does anyone know? This is paramount to our intimate understanding of MB.

This state of being inebriated, tipsy, or happier, when drunk, or a little bit drunk, for people that are regular drinkers or that have our genetic predisposition to alcoholism. When we drink we tend to feel very energized and very good for longer periods of time. Again, people have a genetic predisposition to alcohol or people who are chronic drinkers. Chronic doesn’t have to mean a ton of alcohol all the time, but they are drinking one or two per night or their every other night type of drinker. Or Thursday through Sunday drinkers. Yes, it feels good, no doubt. Now, these folks I include myself in this. Yes, it feels good in my opinion, as I mentioned before. It’s terrifying how much I loved the feeling of being behind alcohol. Tranquility, my head slows down. I just felt better, for me at that time in my life. Though I knew inside it wasn’t better for me, for a time I could escape, so I chose the escape, instead of the work.

Now and for many years being sober and dealing what was with inside my head, constructively, strategically effectively living for each moment and clarity in recognition of its gift and beauty. I am happier because I produce my sustainable happiness every day, through purpose, based formative action. I feel better than I ever thought or knew possible. It is a daily application of consciousness for the rest of my life. Friends I believe we all drink and have drinks for reasons that we need to self-investigate. Alas, the war MB is waging inside of us.

Typically people who drink a lot, are able to drink a bit or a lot more than the occasional drinker. Know why? Well, yeah tolerance what’s tolerance from? It’s called “toxin resistant compounded immunity”. So to people like us, who mostly have to drink a whole lot to actually get drunk. The term “pickling your liver“is, well, not exact or completely accurate but a darn good euphemism. If we drink more, simply, we are just polluting our cells at a much deeper and more substantial level. Slowly building a higher toxic compound resistant immunity.
“Man I have such a high tolerance, I can drink so much”. Followed by a cheer, hi5, or some such other camaraderie and supporting fanfaronade. Of my abhorrent behavior. Just Terrible, and yes, A quote from my past.

Whereas occasional drinkers will have a briefer, less long-lasting period of feeling good when they drink. So then they more quickly transition into a state in which their tired or they start losing motor skills they start slurring their speech. Symptoms of being poisoned, don’t forget. This is also why people who drink little or not often very easily, get alcohol poisoning if they drink too much. Friends alcohol poisoning happens when you drink period. The degree is a different conversation. The alcohol poisoning, where you feel, not so bad, because you’ve built a severe toxin immunity. Or you didn’t drink much just have a headache, or like you were hit by a truck the next day, after violent vomiting, blacking out. Lastly, alcohol poisoning that has caused the death of so many. Poisoned. Further to the biochemical and psychological effects of MB, what he is doing to the mind and body, after he goes into the gut, from the stomach delivery system. He immediately starts the conversion that we talked about, of ethanol to acetyl aldehyde to acetate and so acetyl aldehyde is making it into YOUR BRAIN. Yes, it crosses the blood-brain barrier. Wait Jed what’s the blood-brain barrier? OK think of it like this; the brain has this fence around it that we call it the blood-brain barrier. Many toxins and pollutants we ingest through our lungs and gut and other orifices, most things, thankfully can’t pass across the blood-brain barrier. But good ole MB, he’s sneaky, you may very well indeed underestimate his sneakiness… remember he’s water and fat-soluble. He just opens the gate, with the key we gave him passing right through the fence, and Into the environment of the brain which is made up of different major cell types. Neurons, nerve cells, and glial cells, which are the cells in between the nerve cells.

So what happens when MB gets into the brain and makes us feel tipsy or drunk? If you recall MB, he’s indiscriminate. Goes everywhere and into everything. So in terms of which brain areas it goes to, again he doesn’t bind to particular receptors, like drugs that target your brain.

However, he does seem to have a direct affinity for particular brain areas that are involved in certain kinds of thinking and behaviour. Behaviour yes here we are! well, I believe behaviour and conduct, morality, and integrity make an impact on your soul. Depending on what kind of behaviour, you involve yourself in, weighing down, making the soul heavy, or the inverse lightning soul, making the soul feel good and free.

The first things that happen is that there’s a slight, at least after the first couple drinks there’s a slight suppression in the activity of neurons in the prefrontal cortex. This is something if you’re familiar with the articles I have addressed before. The prefrontal cortex is the same area of our brain, responsible to tell us to stop or not to take in food that makes us unhealthy, you know a bag of chips, then three more? The same mechanism in the prefrontal cortex would tell us to stop before we took a drug when it would be unwise for us. Enter addiction.

Essentially to get high from it. Yes, the dopamine addict effect. That’s why you would pick up a drug and take it that severely harm your body and mind and soul. As to why you wouldn’t pick up a can of paint thinner and drink it, you’re not addicted to the paint thinner, the paint thinner. It won’t lead to the dopamine dump, created by the consumption of nicotine, opiates, booze, super processed carbohydrate sugars. Yes the same as opiates, alcohol cigarettes, all the like. However, the most addictive hardest on your frontal cortex and most defeating to your prefrontal cortex are the processed simple, empty calorie sugars. So now you have MB working with those empty, processed sugar calories if you’re drinking beer, wine, ciders, or mixed drinks.

If you recall, from previous articles where I discuss this, the frontal cortex is the addicted fiend. The addiction to the drug is more powerful than the prefrontal, cortex’s ESSENTIAL mediator role. The frontal shuts down the prefrontal to do whatever I can to get you to put that thing in your body. Are those things to get that hit?

Now, this area of your prefrontal cortex is not only in charge of you doing the responsible thing, it’s directly involved in thinking and planning, decision-making. Most importantly, and above all else, as I said, above, it is responsible for in suppression of impulsive behaviour. So if you go to a party and they’re serving alcohol and people are consuming drinks. What you’ll notice is that a few minutes into that party the volume of people’s voices will increase. That’s because people are simply not paying attention to their voice modulation, as other people start speaking more loudly, other people are speaking more loudly. So I may have never experienced this and said environment, but I believe we can all relate to it on some level or another. Either experience or from the movies, the experience of going to a party and then you step outside for a moment. Go back in, and realize you were shouting. Are you waking up the next day with a sore throat hung over? So you pick up some sort of bug some virus because you trash your immune system, bring around others, doing the same being congenial, as we are when inebriated, to put it mildly.

But often, it’s just the fact you’ve been shouting all night just to be heard because as the prefrontal cortex shuts down, people stop modulating their level of speech. We’ll also notice, people start moving. The straight up just moves around more, people start standing up and sitting down more, and they start walking around more. If there’s music on people might spontaneously start dancing. Heck, I’ve seen people just start dancing by themselves, and there’s no music on. All of this is because these areas of the prefrontal cortex which normally are providing what’s called top-down inhibition by releasing a neurotransmitter called GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid) onto various parts of the brain that are involved in impulsive motor behaviour and thought patterns, GABA focusses on calms you.

So when you shut down the prefrontal cortex, that GABAergic suppression of impulses starts to be released. “IT’S A PARTY” inside yours. Inside your brain, controlling your body. Pay close attention here, MB just shut down the part of your brain that keeps you in check! Yes that’s right all the crazy #%*^ that takes place. “Cause I was drunk”. Now you know why.

So your mind = soul. Ultimately people are responsible for their actions. Old Mr. Barleycorn may be behind the inhibition, foolhardiness, and plain aberrant psychopathic behaviour. But it was the person’s choice to consume and hang out with MB. All that critical thinking caput. Friends the pitfalls of being drunk, as I stated earlier. Good, ole MB, He has no good intentions for you.

Blacking out, the effects of MB on memory, here’s where I’ll touch on, the negative effects on our soul. I feel very strongly about this from personal experiences, and what I’ve seen and witnessed. But I’m going to summarize the section, for it is much more important for deep inner investigation and reflection for you to contemplate John Barleycorns’ effect on your consciousness and your soul.

I’ll just tell you that alcohol has a very strong effect in suppressing the neural networks that are involved in memory formation and storage. This is why oftentimes we forget the events of a night out, if we’ve been drinking those brain areas basically shut down entirely. So people tend to say what they want to say about this, laugh it off etc, but it’s facts. The key thing to understand is that when people drink, the prefrontal cortex and top-down inhibition are diminished. So, when you drink you’re producing undisciplined behaviour, and your impulsive behaviour starts to increase. This starts to become habitual. You’re literally rewiring the prefrontal cortex to not be your check for balance.
Friends this is interesting, equally horrifying. This is true in the short term, after people have one or two maybe three or four drinks or more. To a lesser degree than to those like I was who more often drink. There are definitive and structural changes to our behaviour and habitual patterning, changes in the very circuits that underlie habitual and impulsive behaviour. Yes so your choice to invite him in, the MB rewires your brain. This changes you.

Simply circuits are modified and strengthened in ways that make people, more habitual and more impulsive outside the times in which they are drinking! Yes, it changes your every day, behavioural patterns, and habitual structure. Now when drinking, impulsive and habitual behaviour tends to increase even further! This is something that is not often talked about when discussing the effects of alcohol, and we all know the effects of being drunk can be bad right and can be bad in terms of judgment and motor coordination. Certainly driving drunk is a terrible thing, getting you or other people killed and so on. But rarely do we hear about the changes in neural circuits from just one or two nights of regular drinking. Regular drinking doesn’t necessarily mean every day and every night, it could be the person that simply drinks every Thursday or every Friday or just once a week has three or four drinks. Or maybe even a few more, that person is going to experience a decrease in this top-down inhibition. So an increase in impulsivity and habitual behaviour, when sober. “Like hey, I should eat that Chinese food because I had three good days of nutrition and Training under my belt already this week”. This undisciplined, super-amplified behaviour is now, even more, amplified when drunk. Friends, these are changes in the very neural circuits that allow habitual impulsive behaviour to occur more readily even when you’re not drinking.

No negotiation MB will change you. It is in my opinion not for the better in any way.

So it’s not up to me to tell you what impact that has on your soul, your spirit, your consciousness, whichever resonates with you. That is for you to investigate, my intention is to bring this so close to you, leave nothing out, that you understand fully completely. The truth is the antithesis of the glamour glitz and luster that MB is made out to be.

My friends, clients athletes, readers, subscribers, and comment enthusiasts. One last thought I leave you with today. MB’s negative cascading, long-term downstream effects on our ability to be better every day, our healthy mind body soul. The most tragic part of this, starts when we are so young. The target of advertising to our children, for generations. Creating disease, ensuring dependency on symptomatic treatment when we are older. We will need to deal with all that “health” stuff right? Medication for the symptoms. Medication to keep us alive, until after pill after pill treating the symptoms, never curing, or even addressing the disease. Seems like a very nefarious, duplicitous, yet incredibly prosperous, handshake between industries doesn’t it?

All of the societal “normality” puts undue pressure, encouraging young people to start to drink much sooner than it’s legal. Much sooner. Thanks to corporations, and corporate media, pushing the agenda, to drink! Yes, I very much do believe a very sinister purpose behind it. So each of you today, thank you for helping me in removing the luster of the Captain Morgan’s and Budweiser commercials.

Unveiling to us, what is behind the Hollywood luster of media advertising, and its ilk. MB is nothing more than a simple poison. In our society, we are encouraged to consume toxic things that are sold to us at grocery stores and liquor stores, and the craziest ones, gas stations! So ultimately pushed on us “NORMAL” as we choose to pollute, damage, destroy, and ruin our minds, body, and spirits. If it is not obvious as to why, we are sold toxic consumption substances food to drink, inhalants, along with all the toxins and chemicals, hidden in so much of our “normal civilized” human body exposure and consumption. Well, friends, not too deep in the weeds on that for today… for another time, best left to my book.

Friends a compressed version of this article will be published in the Canadian Physique Alliance newsletter, the July /August Edition.
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FORWARD FORWARD ALWAYS FORWARD!