Are you a binge drinker?? 3 beers in a day!

[drsmurto]

Thanks to Rudd i have been 'binge' drinking every night this week and could have driven every one of those! Muppet!

[earle]

Some comments derived using similar logic to that used to develop the new standards.

The new minimum limit for a single drinking session follows a review by the National Health and Medical Research Council and will apply equally to men and women.

You could get around this by having several smaller sessions rather than one large one.

A draft of the guidelines attracted controversy when it was released last October, saying that neither sex should have more than two standard drinks per day.

Oh OK they mean per day. So does the counter reset at midnight?

[rwh]

I reckon their problem lies with their categories. Currently we have something like this:

Binge drinking: four standard drinks or more per day. Detrimental to health.

I think we need something more like this:

Light drinking: one standard drink per day. Beneficial to health.
Medium drinking: two or three standard drinks per day. Neither detrimental nor beneficial to health.
Heavy drinking: four standard drinks or more per day. Detrimental to health.
Binge drinking: eight or more standard drinks in a 3 hour period. Means you actually get a bit pissed.

Now that more closely matches my experience of alcohol. The trouble is the govt. has lost their grip on reality, and are just trying to lower alcohol consumption in general by telling half-truths. The fact that this also justifies their increase in alcohol tax to make up for tax cuts in other areas is just a coincidence, I'm sure. Not.

Four standard drinks in a day is no more binge drinking than four chocolates in a day is binge eating.

[lethaldog]

even if the counter does reset thats still only 4, not much of a session if you ask me

[earle]

Four categories is just too much for us dumb binge-drinking aussies to comprehend.

(They do make a lot more sense though.)

[gregb]

Seems we are not the only ones bemused by the 3 drinks thing. SMH Hecler.

Cheers,
Greg

[Biernut]

The AMA platform is built on reformed student medico so called binge drinkers who have short memories. The alcopop saga is just another ploy by the labor government to rip people off by introducing more tax on booze, and swell the already bulging tax chest. cigarettes will be next. The problem is there are certain people out there that have a low tolerance to alcohol, can't recognize the fact that they have had enough and stop, just keep drinking, go banana's, and do themselves and others a lot of damage. The way I see it there are happy drunks and aggressive drunks and if you fit the latter then wouldn't it be fair to say don't drink at all.
As one of young age who started drinking in pubs in the early sixties during the dark days of the six oclock swill, binge drinking was never mentioned nor was an issue. One could be forgiven in asking the question what the hell has happened since then to require government intervention into societies drinking habits.

[lethaldog]

The AMA platform is built on reformed student medico so called binge drinkers who have short memories. The alcopop saga is just another ploy by the labor government to rip people off by introducing more tax on booze, and swell the already bulging tax chest. cigarettes will be next. The problem is there are certain people out there that have a low tolerance to alcohol, can't recognize the fact that they have had enough and stop, just keep drinking, go banana's, and do themselves and others a lot of damage. The way I see it there are happy drunks and aggressive drunks and if you fit the latter then wouldn't it be fair to say don't drink at all.

Have you gone completely insane

[ryan]

As one of young age who started drinking in pubs in the early sixties during the dark days of the six oclock swill, binge drinking was never mentioned nor was an issue.

So that would make you about 65?

[Bizier]

I totally agree with the changes. I think our next target should be the leading cause of holiday death tolls: eggnog at christmas. Also brandy in any pudding should count as half a drink. I also vote to lower alcohol content in mouthwash and vanilla essence. These things are timebombs waiting to blow.

[Biernut]

As one of young age who started drinking in pubs in the early sixties during the dark days of the six oclock swill, binge drinking was never mentioned nor was an issue.

So that would make you about 65?

Just a tad younger

[ryan]

64 ?

[ryan]

Here`s a good description of Biernut`s wasted youth
http://australianbeers.com/pubs/misc/six.htm
I love the comparison of "fighting for the lifeboats on a sinking ship" at 2 minutes to 6

[KEG]

that's an amusing read

[Biernut]

Here`s a good description of Biernut`s wasted youth
http://australianbeers.com/pubs/misc/six.htm
I love the comparison of" fighting for the lifeboats on a sinking ship" at 2 minutes to 6

Yep ryan thats pretty well how it was, I worked with guys a lot older than myself and was first introduced to the six oclock swill at the age of seventeen. The drinking age then was twentyone. One was expected to keep up with seasoned drinkers in those days and I did to show the rest I was a man and not a boy. To even look like you were drunk was a slur on your character in the eyes of the rest of the team. Being pissed and stupid wasn't the right thing to do in those times, got me stuffed what has happened to the world since.

[warra48]

Never been a binge drinker.

I don't think 2, 3, or even the occasional 4, stubbies of my delightful carefully crafted homebrew can be considered binge drinking, even if I do it every day.

If I try to drink any more than this amount, I just tend to fall asleep in my lounge chair in front of the TV, to the annoyance of mrs warra.

OK, just finished an APA. Back to the fridge for a hefeweizen.

I've also have a cellar full of wine, going back to early 1990's vintages, but these days I prefer to drink my beer. The wines only come out when we have guests for dinner / lunch / barbecue etc.

[gregb]

The wines only come out when we have guests ...

So, what time do you want me around?

Cheers,
Greg

[warra48]

The wines only come out when we have guests ...

So, what time do you want me around?

Cheers,
Greg

Geez greg, a dinner date is a bit GI.
Might have been a goer when I lived in Hornsby or Warrawee, but Port Macquarie?
Anyway, if you can make it, it's on at 6 for 7 tomorrow.

[Kevnlis]

Now that they have solved the big "binge = three middies" equation, I wonder if they can return to equine flu research. Or will they continue their pioneering work in the field of drinking, and answer the next big one: is eating cheating?

Gold!!!!

[smiggins55]

And now the powers to be want to put a health warning similar to whats on ciggie packs on all alcoholic drinks
I said to the wife a few months ago that now they've saturated our minds about the evils of smoking they will
start on alcohol next