I was a little sad that the thread on vodka vs. whisky thread was closed for comments when I saw it for the first time. I guess I came in too late in the day! What I was thinking when I saw that was that I wanted to post that although I am now an old married woman with a 5 year old who suffers madly if I wake up with a hangover (there is no pushing away a 5 year old who has a sixth sense and wakes up at 5:30 if anyone in the house has enjoyed a drink the night before), I did and still do love my wine. I do worry though about posts like when can I do this or that which sound to me like the person sees SB as a "diet" rather than an ongoing way of eating or thinking about food.

I see many posts here about when can I have this or that and I don't mean brown rice or triscuits. It is always about something that is really not in line with a new way of eating. For myself, I want this to be a lifestyle, not just an exercise in self control. For sure there will be many times I will over indulge in various beverages, but I'll work that into my program, and I'll accept the consequences too. I just am wondering how others feel about this.

I think whenever you are new to a way of eating, you may have questions about what's permitted, particularly with diets that have phases like SBD. I think it was closed so that people would take their questions to phase specific threads.

I know that when I know I'm going to be drinking I like to avoid the high sugar/high cal options and will search out the most bang for my buck, so to speak. Nothing wrong with wanting to shave off some calories anywhere you can

Also, a lot of my last 5 years of maintenance has really just been an exercise in "self control". It's different elements for different folks, I suppose.

I was wondering to. Why so many threads are close?

I think the mods are trying to keep the Phase 1 questions in the Phase 1 thread. That makes it easier for other Phase 1 folks to see the answers to questions they might have and it makes it easier for experienced Beachers to answer questions. With so many new folks there are lots of very short threads and sometimes important questions get missed.

As far as drinking goes it's another one of those things we each have to figure out on our own. I was good for a few beers on a Friday night before I started SBD. Those beers inevitably lead to french fries and other unfortunate vices of the high fat, sugar and salt sort. I do only drink wine now, usually just one glass. Sometime when I'm out with friends for a longer evening I'll have a couple of glasses. I probably do grab a glass 3 or 4 nights a week. My tolerance has dropped as my weight dropped. I'm also cautious about the binge effect of lowered inhibitions. When I go out with friends I plan ahead carefully, making sure I know the menu where we are going and exactly what I can order. I never turn down a Girls Night Out because of my lifestyle, I just plan ahead to fit it in

A thread on drinking is just fine. We all know this is a lifestyle and drinking is part of it for some of us.

The thread that was closed asked a question about certain drinks and was posted by a new Phase I chick. I responded and closed the thread.