Year Without Beer

To replace my usual glass of red wine, I made a juice from apples, beetroot, blackcurrants, blueberries, cherries and red grapes, a tasty alcohol free alternative.

I used my year without beer to reboot my health, after regaining weight in 2011. A juice detox at the start of the year helped me lose 12 pounds in a week.

World Cancer Day fell on day 35 of my year without beer. I shared some of the global cancer statistics and thought about losing my dad to cancer in 1998.

I finished the first month of my year without beer, marking it with a mineral water while my colleagues each enjoyed a celebratory Heineken instead.

At a curry night, a party, Wagamama and a pan Asian restaurant I turned down Kingfisher, Kirin Ichiban, Tsing Tao and Singha, swapping them for tea and mineral water instead.

I compared Morgan Spurlock’s 30 days of McDonald’s in Super Size Me with Phil Staples’ juice fast in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, and what each did to their health.

I started 2012 with a 7 day juice cleanse, replacing every meal with fresh juices made from apples, beetroot, kale and wheatgrass, among other ingredients.

At the start of 2012 I decided to give up alcohol for the whole year, a challenge I called A Year Without Beer, partly to reset my own health.