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How to survive Dry July

How to survive Dry July

You’ve signed up for Dry July and committed to a month without booze. Cue virtual-fist pump.

The biggest win aside from raising much needed funds? Heading up the awareness of our drinking habits and encouraging a healthy attitude to alcohol consumption.

According to celebrity PT Kirsty Welsh, the deprivation can drive people to binging or over-compensating on something else. Why? Because focusing on the external changes doesn’t necessarily interrupt the mindset pattern behind the habit.

Related: 10 ways to cut your sugar intake

“Maximise the next 30 days in terms of your own health gains. Without alcohol in your body you can think clearer, move easier while creating a far more receptive environment to nutrient absorption.”

Follow these four habits from Welsh to get the most out of your dry spell:

Commit to yoga twice per week
“When I started yoga, I very quickly discovered that I ate less after practising yoga. I was more in tune with my body and needs. Connecting the breath with the body is a very powerful tool for body awareness; after a while, you start to understand the messages from your body and naturally crave healthier choices.
Yogis experience increased energy, flexibility, circulation, improved posture and reduced body aches and pains, greater strength and body tone, boost in immunity and regulation of adrenal glands, helps us focus our mind, the list is endless.”

Start each day with one litre of water
“Commit to starting each day with 1L of water when you wake up. Before hitting the caffeine, wake-up your cells with hydration.
The better the quality of water, the more your body will love you too.”

Related: Six steps to less anxiety

Meditate for seven minutes each day
“Meditation guides us to create space in our lives for the things that really matter. It brings us clarity and peace of mind and allows us to rid our bodies and lives of stress and inflammation.
An inflamed body is certainly not a happy or fun place to exist every day. Sometimes, the first obstacle can be simply separating ourselves from the need to be busy, knowing that being busy all the time is neither who we are, nor is it healthy.”

Journal daily
“Keeping a journal is like downloading all the information you’ve absorbed over the course of the day and releasing it before bedtime; it just makes sense to free up your mind so that you can have pleasant dreams and restorative sleep.
A gratitude list helps us to stay grounded, and is a beautiful way to remind us that life is always sweet; no matter what is happening in our world there is always something to be happy and appreciative for.”

Dry July is a not-for-profit organisation determined to improve the lives of adults living with cancer through an online social community giving up booze for the month of July.