Gastric Bypass Makes for a CHEAP Date

Brian and I are hoping to have a nice date night this weekend.  If we do, we'll hit a steakhouse that offers a surf & turf dinner.  He'll have the steak, prepared the way I like it so I can have a bite or three, and I get the lobster/shrimp/fish/whateveritisbecauseIloveseafood.  (Because it's all about me, right?)  On top of that, though, I'm going to have WINE.  I'll only need about half a glass to have a grand old time, though.

I love wine.  I started getting into wine about two years ago, but back then I preferred sweet wines.  I wasn't all that big on reds unless they were dessertish.  I preferred a nice fruity pinot over a chardonnay.  Notsomuch anymore.  Now I'm all about the dry.  I think it's because I don't care for sweet as much on anything anymore.  I had a glass of Fat Bastard Cabernet Sauvignon last week that made me just want to climb on the roof like in those Dunkin' Donuts coffee commercials, though.  "I love this wine!!!"

The great part, though, is that it only takes about half a glass to give me a nice buzz.  Let me state for the record right now, I DO NOT DRINK TO GET DRUNK, I DO NOT LIKE TO BE DRUNK.  My dad is an alcoholic and I won't put my kids through what I went through.  I do, however, enjoy a glass once a month or so (more often in the last few weeks, maybe once or twice a week in the last three weeks).  Half a glass is enough to get me good & giggly and appreciative of my incredibly handsome husband.  (Sigh...isn't he gorgeous?)

Here's the thing...because we've had so much of our stomach removed, the wine is going directly to our small intestine where it's immediately absorbed into the bloodstream.  In a normal stomach it would take as much as twenty  to thirty minutes to start to metabolize into the system, and because metabolization would start IN the stomach, there's be less to absorb through the intestines, and it would take more for the buzz to hit.  Now, with the immediate absorption, it only takes a good two ounces or so to get us legally drunk.  Granted, it's going to go THROUGH us faster, but it hits us harder and faster too. 

Talk to your doctor before you start drinking again.  ESPECIALLY if you think you may have addiction transfer issues.  If you do, then avoid it altogether, it's not worth the heartache of what you'd do to your family were you to allow that monkey on your back.  If you and your doctor decide that it IS OK, enjoy in moderation, take it slow, and know that a bottle of wine tastes just as beautiful a few nights later as it does the night you open it.