Advice I’d Give You About Alcohol

If alcohol were new to the market today, it wouldn’t be legal.

And yet — it’s everywhere. At brunch, at book club, at your kid’s birthday party. It’s normalized, glamorized, and even marketed as self-care. But as a cancer dietitian, I’m here to say what too many people in health care are afraid to:

Alcohol increases your risk of cancer. Full stop.

That’s not a scare tactic. That’s evidence-based science. Alcohol is classified by the World Health Organization as a Group 1 carcinogen — the same category as asbestos and tobacco¹.

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You Might Be Using Alcohol to Cope — and It’s Hurting You

Let’s skip the polite version. If you:

• “Need a drink” to relax after work…
• “Can’t imagine a weekend without wine…”
• Find yourself drinking more than you planned, often…

You’re not just “enjoying a glass” — you’re coping; you’re self-medicating. And you might be dependent².

That’s not an insult. That’s a mirror.

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Wine Isn’t Self-Care — It’s Self-Destruction in a Fancy Glass

You know alcohol messes with your sleep. It bloats you, wrecks your hormones, and leaves you foggy. You feel it. But it’s easier to laugh about “Mommy needs wine” than it is to admit you’re avoiding something deeper.

If broccoli caused breast cancer, you’d quit it cold turkey. But alcohol gets a pass because it’s socially accepted — and addictive³.

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“But I Only Drink Alcohol in Moderation…”

Let’s talk about that.

• There is no truly “safe” amount of alcohol. Even one drink a day increases the risk of several cancers, including breast, liver, colorectal, and esophageal⁴.
• “Moderate” drinking is often a smokescreen. If you drink daily, that’s not moderation — that’s a normalized dependency⁵.
• You wouldn’t defend your caffeine habit this hard. Think about why you’re so attached.

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Here’s What You Deserve to Hear

You don’t need to quit forever. You don’t need to be perfect.
But you do need to stop lying to yourself about what alcohol is doing to your body.

If you’re using it to avoid your emotions, your stress, your pain — you’re not alone. But numbing isn’t healing. It’s deferring the breakdown.

You are not weak for struggling. You are strong enough to face it.

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Final Thoughts About Alcohol

If you got a cancer diagnosis tomorrow, you’d quit drinking in a heartbeat.
So why wait?

This post isn’t here to shame you — it’s here to wake you up. Alcohol is not your friend. It’s not your reward. It’s not your only escape.

You are allowed to want more. You are allowed to choose better.

And if you’re ready to talk about how to do that, I’m here.

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Want support reducing alcohol for cancer prevention or healing?

Work with a dietitian who tells you the truth — even when it’s uncomfortable. I will not give you some sugar-coated BS but instead will empower you to do better for your health and your life. Join 100s of other people who have taken the leap to start living for themselves. Click here to join my high level, personalized 1:1 coaching and get started on crushing your goals. Let’s do this.

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References

1. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Alcohol Consumption and Ethyl Carbamate. IARC Monographs, Volume 96. 2010.
2. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Alcohol Use Disorder: A Comparison Between DSM–IV and DSM–5.
3. Rehm, J., et al. (2009). Global burden of disease and injury and economic cost attributable to alcohol use and alcohol-use disorders. The Lancet, 373(9682), 2223–2233.
4. LoConte, N.K., et al. (2018). Alcohol and Cancer: A Statement of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.Journal of Clinical Oncology, 36(1), 83–93.
5. World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research. Continuous Update Project Expert Report 2018: Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: A Global Perspective. Available at: www.wcrf.org