I Quit Drinking in 2023. Here's What Nobody Told Me About What It Was Doing To My Body.
- wiredandwildcore
- May 20
- 10 min read
Updated: May 31
I want to start with something that might make you uncomfortable, because my brand is built on honesty and this post isn't going to be any different.
By the time I quit drinking in July 2023, I had become the person who needed a drink every night to function. Not wanted. Needed. I have a high-stress corporate job, and somewhere along the way (gradual enough that I didn't notice until I was already there), a glass of wine after work became two, became a bottle, became the only way I knew how to decompress. I also spent several years in an emotionally abusive relationship that slowly dismantled my nervous system, and alcohol was how I coped with that too. If you've read my post on emotional abuse and physical health, you already know what chronic stress does to a body. Alcohol was both my response to that stress and its own separate layer of damage, running simultaneously.
I am not going to tell you exactly what made me stop. That story is coming in a different post, and it deserves its own space. What I will tell you is what happened after — to my body, my brain, my face, my sleep, my anxiety, my weight — and what the research says about what was happening inside me the entire time I was drinking, that I didn't know and nobody told me.
First, Let's Talk About What Alcohol Actually Is
Not what the industry tells you it is. Not what the "margs with the girls" Instagram reel suggests it is. What it actually is.
Alcohol is an established cause of at least seven types of cancer, a fact agreed upon by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute, and the U.S. Surgeon General. It is classified by the World Health Organization as a Group 1 carcinogen — the same category as tobacco and asbestos. The WHO has stated explicitly that no level of alcohol consumption is safe when it comes to human health. HHS
That is not a fringe position. That is the scientific consensus. And yet somehow, this information has not made its way into mainstream wellness culture with anything close to the urgency it deserves. Instead, what we got was "rosé all day" and a decade of wine being marketed as self-care.
The Breast Cancer Connection Nobody Is Talking About Loudly Enough
This section is going to be uncomfortable. I'm going to ask you to sit with it anyway.
A comprehensive systematic review published in 2024 confirms that alcohol is an established cause of female breast cancer — including both postmenopausal and premenopausal cases. Critically, the review found that consuming less than one standard drink per day significantly increases the risk of breast cancer. Less than one drink. Per day. Sohi
Studies suggest there is no safe amount of alcohol when it comes to breast cancer risk. That's because alcohol causes DNA damage, inflammation, and oxidative stress — which can trigger cancer growth. Alcohol also raises levels of the hormone estrogen, which especially raises the risk of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Breastcancer.org
A review using data from 20 studies found that people who have fewer than three drinks per week have a higher breast cancer risk than those who don't drink at all. Breastcancer.org
And before you reach for the red wine defense — newer research has definitively shown that all types of alcohol raise breast cancer risk. A study of more than 70,000 people found no difference in breast cancer risk between people who drank liquor, beer, wine, or red versus white wine. The antioxidants in red wine do not cancel out the carcinogen. That was always a story the industry wanted us to believe. Breastcancer.org
Here's the piece of information that I find most important, and most hopeful: if you've been drinking for years — even decades — and then quit, your risk of some breast cancers may go down. Stopping matters. It's not too late. Breastcancer.org
Colorectal Cancer Is Rising In Younger Women. Alcohol Is A Contributing Factor.
If the breast cancer data didn't get your attention, this might.
Rates of early-onset gastrointestinal cancers — including colorectal, pancreatic, and esophageal cancers — increased by nearly 15% between 2010 and 2019, with the steepest rise seen in people in their late 20s and early 30s. Individuals born in 1990 face nearly twice the risk of colon cancer and four times the risk of rectal cancer compared to those born in 1950. Fortune Well
Read that again. Four times the risk of rectal cancer. For someone born in 1990.
Colorectal cancer was the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women younger than 50 in the late 1990s. Now it is the leading cause of cancer death among men under 50 and the second leading cause among women. Veripeudic
The causes are multifactorial — obesity, sedentary lifestyle, processed food, gut microbiome disruption, environmental factors. But alcohol is explicitly on that list. Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center found that alcohol consumption and obesity are two of the most important — and modifiable — risk factors driving early-onset colorectal cancer. "Genes do not change that quickly," one researcher noted, explicitly dismissing genetics as the primary explanation for the rise. Fred Hutchinson Center
Most studies agree on recognizing chronic alcohol consumption as a risk factor for colorectal cancer formation, and the risk is even stronger when combined with other risk factors like obesity. Alcohol consumption has been specifically linked to early-onset bowel cancer, which tends to be more aggressive and lethal than the kind diagnosed in older individuals. nih
I am not telling you this to terrify you. I am telling you this because this is the kind of information that should be in every women's health conversation, and instead we're being sold espresso martinis.
How The Industry Sold Us This
Holly Whitaker's book Quit Like a Woman is the most important thing I have read on this subject, and I have read it twice cover to cover with a highlighter. If you read one thing after this post, make it that book. The link is not an affiliate, meaning I will make nothing from you clicking it — I genuinely want you to read the book (hover above the link if you don't believe me, or just look it up on Amazon). It's also 43% off right now (as of the date I published this).
Whitaker's central argument — backed by research and her own experience — is that the alcohol industry has waged a deliberate, decades-long campaign to market drinking to women specifically, using the language of empowerment, self-care, and female bonding.
Research on digital alcohol marketing confirms that exposure to alcohol marketing is positively associated with earlier onset of drinking, hazardous drinking, and subsequent overall alcohol consumption — and scholars have concluded there is enough evidence to suggest the association between exposure to alcohol marketing and drinking behavior is causal. nih
Think about how normalized it is. Every girls' trip involves a wine tasting. Every brunch involves mimosas. Every bachelorette party is built around alcohol. Every stressful week ends with "I deserve this glass of wine." The "margs with the girls" aesthetic is everywhere on social media, and nobody questions it because it's been framed as fun, as bonding, as a reward for surviving the week. Women's high-risk drinking and diagnosis of alcohol use disorders rose significantly between 2001 and 2013, with increases larger than the corresponding increases for men. nih
The industry built that. Intentionally. And then when women developed dependency, the culture shamed them for it.
I want to talk about that shame directly, because I felt it and I imagine you have too.
The Stigma Problem
Here is something that makes me genuinely angry: alcohol use disorder is treated as a moral failure in our culture in a way that cancer is not. And I find that not just unfair but medically incoherent, because alcohol use disorder is a disease. It is classified as such by every major medical organization.
Approximately one out of four women will experience alcohol use disorder during their lifetime — and stigma is one of the primary reasons women don't seek treatment, with women experiencing more severe barriers to treatment than men. Agabio & Salis
We don't shame people for getting lung cancer. We don't shame people for melanoma. And yes — I know some people will say those are "self-inflicted" too, because some people smoked or didn't wear sunscreen. But we've collectively decided to extend compassion to those patients anyway. We fundraise for them. We walk 5Ks for them. We don't whisper about them at parties.
We should extend the same compassion to people with alcohol use disorder. Full stop. The disease model of addiction is not a controversial position in medicine. It is the consensus. The stigma is a cultural artifact, not a scientific one — and it is actively preventing people from getting help.
Research consistently shows that more public stigma is directed toward alcohol and drug addiction than toward anxiety, depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and a host of other conditions. The people who need the most compassion are receiving the least. That is a public health failure. NIH/PMC
And another thing: if you don't drink, people assume you're either pregnant or in recovery. There is no cultural script for "I just don't want to" or "it doesn't serve me" or "I feel better without it." I am alcohol-free because I made a choice about my own body and my own health, and I am tired of having to explain or justify that choice at every social event where someone shoves a drink in my direction.
You are allowed to not drink. You do not owe anyone an explanation.
What Happened To My Body When I Stopped
quitting alcohol women health benefits
Here's the part that might be most useful if you're on the fence.
The first thing that happened when I quit was not what I expected. My sugar cravings went through the roof. Alcohol metabolizes as sugar, and when you remove it, your brain starts screaming for a replacement. I gained weight initially. I want to be honest about that because every "I quit drinking" content piece skips this part, and then people quit, gain five pounds in the first month, panic, and think they're doing it wrong. You're not doing it wrong. Your brain is recalibrating its dopamine system and it is going to demand sour gummy candy in the meantime. Mine certainly did. Still does, honestly.
Once that phase settled — and it did settle — combined with the strength training I was doing through Barre, the weight started coming off in a way I had never experienced before. I eat whatever I want now. Tacos, pasta, pizza, chicken tenders at 10pm because I'm busy and they take ten minutes in the air fryer and require zero cleanup. No restrictions, no rules. I lost 30 pounds. The math on this is not complicated: alcohol is calorie-dense, inflammation-causing, sleep-disrupting, and cortisol-spiking. Remove it and your body — given some time — often responds accordingly.
Here's what else changed:
My anxiety decreased significantly. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism notes that women experience stress and trauma more frequently than men and often use alcohol to cope with psychological distress — which was exactly my pattern. What I didn't fully understand was that alcohol, while it temporarily suppresses anxiety, actually increases baseline anxiety levels over time. The relief I was seeking every night was being manufactured by the very thing causing the problem. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
My face changed. The puffiness I had accepted as just my face — gone. The sullen, tired eyes — gone. The bloating — significantly reduced. I genuinely did not realize how much inflammation I was carrying until it wasn't there anymore.
My sleep improved dramatically. Alcohol disrupts REM sleep even in moderate amounts — you fall asleep faster and sleep lighter, which means you wake up tired regardless of how many hours you logged.
My mood stabilized in a way that I can only describe as finally having a floor. The emotional volatility that I had attributed entirely to stress and ADHD had alcohol woven through it in ways I couldn't see until I removed it.
Read This Book
Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker. I have read it twice. I highlighted it. I took notes in the margins. It is the book that helped me understand that my relationship with alcohol wasn't a character flaw — it was a predictable response to a culture that had been marketing a highly addictive carcinogen to me since I was old enough to watch television, framing it as sophistication and self-care and female solidarity.
It is also the book that helped me understand that sobriety — or alcohol-freedom, which is the language I prefer — doesn't have to look like the cultural script we've been handed. It doesn't have to mean meetings or rock bottoms or a dramatic intervention. It can just mean deciding that this thing isn't serving you and choosing something different.
Again, the link above will take you directly to Amazon. I will not many any commission if you click it. I understand we are in an era of inherent distrust, so if you'd rather look it up yourself, here's the address: https://www.amazon.com/Quit-Like-Woman-Radical-Obsessed/dp/1984825054
If You're Struggling
Alcohol use disorder is a disease. It is not a moral failure. It is not a weakness. It is a clinically recognized condition that responds to treatment, and you deserve access to that treatment without shame.
The SAMHSA National Helpline is free, confidential, and available 24/7 at 1-800-662-4357. They provide information and treatment referrals for people experiencing substance use disorders. You can also text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line if you need support right now. If you want to explore AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), there are two great, free apps that will help:
Meeting Guide - Provides a list of meetings by zip code proximity, day of week, and time of day. Link for Apple. Link for Google Play.
Everything AA - The most comprehensive collection of AA resources, from meetings finder, to literature, to podcasts, even a sobriety tracker. Link for Apple. Link for Google Play.
No affiliate links here. Please find help if you think you need it.
You don't have to hit a bottom to deserve help. You don't have to have lost everything. You don't have to explain yourself to anyone. If alcohol isn't working for you — that is enough of a reason.
Note: This post reflects personal experience and research and is not a substitute for medical or mental health guidance. If you're concerned about your alcohol use, please speak with a qualified healthcare provider.
- Forever Wired & Wild⚡🌿
Citations:
U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk. (2024). hhs.gov
Sohi et al. (2024). Alcoholic beverage consumption and female breast cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research. Wiley/PMC.
BreastCancer.org. (2026). SABCS 2025: The Latest Research on Alcohol & Breast Cancer. breastcancer.org
Fortune Well. (2024). More Millennials and Gen Xers are dying from colorectal cancer. fortune.com
Veripeudic. (2025). Why More Millennials and Gen Z Are Getting Colorectal and GI Cancers. veripeudic.com
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. (2024). Study digs into what's driving early-onset colon cancer. fredhutch.org
NIH/PMC. Colorectal Cancer and Alcohol Consumption — Populations to Molecules. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Lyons et al. (2024). Digital alcohol marketing and gender: A narrative synthesis. Drug and Alcohol Review. Wiley.
Agabio & Salis. (2025). Excessive Alcohol Consumption, Alcohol Use Disorder and Women. European Psychiatry. PMC.
NIH/PMC. (2024). Stigma in substance-based and behavioural addictions: A systematic review. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Advancing Research on Women's Health. niaaa.nih.gov
Whitaker, H. (2019). Quit Like a Woman. Bloomsbury Publishing.
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