It’s been one helluva month – but, looking after yourself has never been more important.
After 2020, we all had high hopes for a joyful January, until…
…lockdown 3.0 hit us.
So many of the things that would normally bring us joy like a meal out with family and friends were, once more, gone. The pressures we’re under at the minute have exponentially grown; teaching your children school work (and teaching yourself!), creating something which resembles normality for your working day, and attempting to keep your home in some sort of order. Who are we kidding though, that’s gone right out the window!
And, apparently, we’re meant to be doing Dry January too?!
Woah… too much!
Right now, we all need to remember that whatever we achieve in a day, be it making the bed or something more Mary Poppins-esque, you’re doing okay.
Homeschooling is something people opt to do, if school closures have forced you to look after your child at home, rather than sending them into the classroom, you cannot be expected to teach them a full phonics session, with no previous teaching experience. So, don’t be so hard on yourself! If learning at home means spending an hour cooking in the kitchen instead of studying at a desk, just because you need to make the dinner – that’s okay!
When you reach the evening, and the day is done, it’s no surprise that Dry January has gone out the window as you reach for the bottle of wine to relax a little and destress.
But, have you thought about what drinking alcohol late at night means for your body?
Whilst a long-awaited glass of the good stuff does have sedative effects that can help us relax and feel sleepy, we’re sorry to say, but drinking alcohol – especially in excess – has been linked to poor sleep, both in quality and duration.
Now, we aren’t denying anyone a glass of something nice and a comforting snack to go with it, but this doesn’t have to leave you waking up in the morning feeling groggy and troll-like! Choosing the right beverage, with fewer unnecessary calories, a lower ABV – and which tastes just as good as (if not better than) a glass of Prosecco, is a much smarter choice!
Live a little lighter and look after yourself, friends!
The last thing we need though, is to see motivational pictures of people embracing their lockdown life making us mere mortals feel bad about trudging through our daily routines. So in this spirit – here are 3, very realistic and simple ideas from the binary team to look after yourself this January.
1. Partake in Dry Slightly less wet January
Embrace a slightly dry(er) January
The benefits of not drinking or cutting down on alcohol consumption for your weight, complexion, sleep and overall well-being are well documented. The challenge is what to drink when you aren’t drinking!
Going without alcohol doesn’t have to lead to some child-like substitute of a lame soft drink or boring fruit juice.
Fortunately, with the increase in consumer demand for low and no alcohol beverages it has become a lot easier to replicate the adult flavour and ritual of alcohol. Some of our favourite low and no stores are Wise Bartender and The Alcohol Free Co who both stock a broad range of alcohol free beverages (including binary, of course!). So, if you are doing Dry January, Try January, or Just-give-me-a-drink-which-is-better-for-me January have a look to see which options appeal.
2. Make Moments Matter
Take some time to make your day special, just because…
A lot of people have talked about feeling more tired during lockdown. One of the things which provide us with interest and energy is creating lovely things. We would naturally do this when socialising or hosting, both of which we can’t do right now (cheers, lockdown…).
Making something beautiful and special, just for yourself, unlocks those creative juices and puts your mind in an excellent space. So, even though we aren’t going “out out”, pour your binary in a gorgeous glass, garnish it with some dried orange or a wedge of lime and spend some time with a guilt free treat to end the day (or just break it up a bit!). Little guilt-free every day treats to keep things a little more interesting and break-up our routine.
3. Sip Sustainably
Enjoy guilt free adult drinks at home…
What has been more difficult is to recreate, is that night out cocktail experience. Remember when we could go out, order a passion fruit martini from the bar, enjoy the theatrics of the bartender vigorously shaking up your beverage, and of course, drinking it! All the while, surrounded by great atmosphere, live music even and good company. Whilst we can’t bring a full acoustic band to your living room to serenade you while you sip champagne, we can help recreate some of those delicious cocktails at home, which we have some ideas for below.
Cocktail making is a complex business. We have all seen the art and skill mixologists use but when you try to recreate an adult drink with or without alcohol at home, simple recipes and traditional ingredients usually result in a cocktail which is one-dimensional and far too sweet having over-compensated with ladles of sugar syrup.
Beer, as unusual as it may seem, makes a great cocktail ingredient (stay with us….) and helps move an alcohol-free cocktail from being a kids drink in a posh glass, to a refined drink designed for adults. 0.5 binary makes for a super refreshing base and a delicious mixer.
The reason is simple – complexity. Fermented drinks, like beer, have over 4,000 flavour compounds that bring a level of complexity to cocktails made at home. As we sip our drink, we recognise the thousands of different flavours.
So we recommend experimenting with beer, be it a low or no alcohol option, and other fermented drinks to make your home creations more sophisticated and grown-up. Here are our tips:
- Select aromatic but not bitter beer styles for example wheat beers, sour beers, botanical beers – such as Binary Botanical, voilà!
- Choose mixers which complement your beer flavour profile – use classic cocktail recipes for inspiration e.g. a raspberry sour with elderflower or a wheat beer with ginger and orange.
- Watch the level of sweetness – beers allow you to create low calorie cocktails which do not have to rely on sweetness for depth.
Need more inspiration? Luckily with the explosion in innovation in lower alcohol drinks and lower sugar cordials – there is a much broader range than there ever was before to re-create some of your favourite drinks guilt free. See some of our low calorie cocktail twists for inspiration.
So, give our tips a go, treat yourself to something not so hard on your body, like our 0.5 binary, and make sure you look after yourself – lockdown life is hard enough!
Cheers!
The binary team
