Do Numbers Tell the Story?: Keeping Score of Your Drinking

A friend just turned me on to a great article on tracking self-generated data in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, "The Data Driven Life" (April 26, 2010) by Gary Wolf.
One man describes tracking his alcohol consumption at Drinkingdiary.com to see if he was bingeing, healthy or unhealthy in his drinking. I'm always on the lookout for good Internet tools to help folks better understand themselves. Drinkingdiary.com is a real find.
The site provides a free, anonymous and easy-to-use way to get a true measure (no pun intended) of how many units of alcohol you drink daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. The site includes a demo drinking diary (so you can see how the data is charted and presented) and is color coded to indicate whether your drinking is within recommended guidelines and, if not, how far afield you've gone.

The measurements are done in units of alcohol. Figuring out a "unit" is just basic math. Multiply the amount drunk (it's done in milliliters (ml.) but you can use a conversion app or assume 1 oz. translates to 29.5 ml) by the ABV (alcohol by volume) number on the bottle and divide by 1000.

Here's an example: 12 oz. can of Bud Light
Convert to ml: 12 oz. x 29.5 equals 354 ml.
Look at can for the ABV (check realbeer.com for a complete list of each brand's ABV): 4.2%
Multiply ABV by ml. and then divide by 1000 : 4.2 x 354/1000 equals 1.49 units

Let's say you have 3 cans of Bud Light during a game, watching T.V. or hanging out with friends. Surprise! You're up to 4.5 units and have blown by Great Britain's generous daily health guidelines for men (For men it's under 4 for women it's 3 and under).

So, whether you're trying to lose a little weight by watching those empty carbs or just interested in how much "liquid courage" is part of your life, check out Drinkingdiary.com


"Knowledge is power"--Francis Bacon (1597)