11/04/2026
Late last year, I sat with something pretty significant.
I realised I needed to remove the strongholds in my life. One of them was organic red wine, the thing I would occasionally lean on to “wine down.”
I have not had a drink since 26 December 2025.
That might sound small to some people, but for me, it has been anything but small.
Breaking this habit has taken deeper foundational work, emotional work, and real honesty. I have had to look at how I manage stress, what I want for healthy ageing, and the generational patterns of addiction and normalised alcohol use that were modelled to me.
These behaviours are not healthy.
They do not reflect balance.
And they were no longer aligned with the woman I want to be.
Removing coffee and alcohol felt like the last layer of healing for me.
I am grateful that this time it has felt effortless.
But that did not happen by accident.
There were many other times I had tried and failed, because in those seasons it felt easier to drink than to sit with what was underneath it.
That is why I believe healthy habits take time.
Lasting change usually does not come from trying to overhaul your whole life in one hit.
It comes from micro-stacking.
One goal.
One habit.
One layer at a time.
That is what supports real sustainability.
And that is what helps change become part of who you are, not just something you try to force for a few weeks.
If your body has been asking for a reset, this is your reminder that small, steady changes count.
Your gut lining isn’t just where digestion happens — it’s one of the most critical barriers in your entire body. It’s a single layer of epithelial cells sealed together by structures called tight junctions. These junctions control what gets absorbed and what stays out. Nutrients pass. Bacteria, endotoxins, and inflammatory compounds don’t.
Alcohol disrupts this system directly. Ethanol and its metabolite acetaldehyde damage epithelial cells and degrade the proteins that hold tight junctions together — particularly occludin and ZO-1. A 2014 study funded by the NIAAA found that even a single binge episode caused bacterial endotoxins to leak into the bloodstream within hours. A 2025 study from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center confirmed that even short bouts of binge drinking trigger neutrophil recruitment to the gut lining, where immune cells release structures called NETs that directly damage the upper small intestine.
Once the barrier is compromised, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) — endotoxins from gut bacteria — enter the bloodstream. Your immune system responds with systemic inflammation. Research has linked this to liver injury, brain fog, mood disturbances, joint pain, and skin conditions.
What makes this especially concerning is the recovery timeline. A study published in The Lancet found that intestinal permeability can remain elevated for up to 2 weeks after the last drink. Weekly drinking means the gut barrier may never fully reseal — leaving you in a state of chronic low-grade permeability.
Your gut also produces roughly 90% of your body’s serotonin and houses around 70% of your immune system. When the lining is compromised, both systems take a hit. That low, anxious feeling days after drinking isn’t a mindset problem. It’s a gut problem.
The good news: gut epithelial cells regenerate faster than almost any tissue in the body — if you give them the chance. 🧬
