Is Alcohol OK to Drink on a Paleo Diet?
No.
I’ve said various things in the past about alcohol, and you’ll hear different answers from other people who talk about eating a Paleo diet.
But I don’t care anymore. Alcohol is not healthy, despite what many people say to the contrary.
I fully realize that there are a bunch of studies out there that correlate “moderate” alcohol consumption with longer life or other desirable effects. But none of those studies is able to account for or control for the social situations in which alcohol is “moderately” consumed. And those social situations are highly correlated with desirable health outcomes.
But scientifically, alcohol is terrible for your body.
It’s toxic and addictive at very low levels, and the effects of alcohol on your brain are beyond dispute.
Alcohol is highly inflammatory in the brain, it has inhibitory effects on the growth and re-growth of brain cells, it overstimulates various neurotoxins, and long-term use leads to significant damage.
On top of it all, depression and other mental disorders are highly correlated with alcohol consumption.
For some reason, many health experts have let it slide for a very long time, and there’s really no excuse. Nobody is stopping you from drinking alcohol on an occasional basis or even every day, but you shouldn’t kid yourself that it’s not harming your body (particularly your brain).
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