Loompanics Unlimited
PRESENTS
Our featured Author
Frederick M. Beyerlein
MBA, MS, CNSD, RD
Loompanics Unlimited is proud to introduce Frederick M. Beyerlein, author of Drink as Much as YouWant and Live Longer: The Intelligent Person’s Guide to Healthy Drinking. His revolutionary nutritional system allows people to drink alcohol while protecting their bodies from its ravages.
He currently works as Nutrition Services Manager for Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California, and has taught at the college level and worked in a hospital-based alcohol and substance abuse program. He has been a guest speaker for corporate wellness programs and is currently being featured on numerous radio talk shows. Mr. Beyerlein has also published research in the national publication Dietetic Currents.
An Interview with Fred Beyerlein
Loompanics Unlimited: Let’s talk about your background. Have you always been interested in alcohol and controversial ideas like this?
Fred Beyerlein: Yes, I’ve always had a strong belief that if you apply strong nutritional principles alcohol would not damage the body.
L.U.: Did you figure this out in the beginning, or did you have to prove it to yourself? How did the whole system come about?
F.B.: I was always interested in nutrition and experimented with various vitamins and herbs. I noticed that after a night of heavy drinking, the next day, among all of my friends, I appeared to be the one that didn’t have any ill health effects. While studying towards a bachelor‘s and master’s degree in nutrition, I noticed that there were an incredible number of metabolic pathways that were directly involving vitamins and minerals in terms of alcohol’s metabolism – there had to be a connection there. I started to apply well-researched nutritional principles on myself and close friends and noticed dramatic results. After graduation I started to apply these principles on my clients, too. I also got tired of hearing the anti-drinking establishment depict the evils of drinking while all along they ignored the fact that drinkers can learn to drink healthier.
L.U.: Do you feel like you’re being a pioneer, flying in the face of these anti-drinking groups? Do you think this is going to be readily accepted?
F.B.: I absolutely feel like a pioneer. But this information has been known for years and if it was available earlier I am certain it would have prevented a great deal of needless physical demise. Will it be accepted? Yes, as soon as people can get their heads around the idea that drinking is not necessarily bad for your health. When they see the new breed of drinkers – "21st Century Drinkers" – they will realize that there is a right way to drink. Drinking no longer has to be a losing proposition.
L.U.: How do you get them to change their minds if it’s so culturally ingrained that booze is bad?
F.B.: I try to first set the stage where we remove the emotional issue of drinking and treat it like any other scientific venture and explore the medical facts. The medical facts are clear: alcohol can prevent heart attack and ischemic stroke, and you can protect every cell in your body if you follow my advanced principles of nutrition.
L.U.: It seems like the emotional is so deeply ingrained in people – everybody has a father or uncle or someone in their family who was an alcoholic. How do you advise them to start stepping around the emotional? It seems like the science and emotion have to work hand-in-hand.
F.B.: First of all everyone has the right to be informed regardless of the quantity they consume. Too many good hard-working people have become sick or died before their time because they lacked the nutritional guidance that could have protected their health. People are going to drink, and some will end up breaking the law when under the influence. These are the people that create the emotional side of drinking. However, the majority of drinkers do not break the law, they drink and maintain their head under the influence. This book will enable drinkers to maintain their health, too. Therefore, you can look at the emotional side – but realize that even "law breakers" deserve the right to be informed. Allow the law to punish them, rather than the aftermath of alcohol.
L.U.: What are some things to keep in mind about food and its relationship to alcohol?
F.B.: The Golden Rule for eating while drinking is not to eat while drinking. Wait at least three hours after your last meal, five hours if it was high in fat. Then drink. The liver does not efficiently metabolize fat in the presence of alcohol, therefore it should not be consumed. Call me a purist, but when I drink I prefer the taste of the drink rather than any food. I eat my food earlier in the day and allow my liver to exclusively metabolize alcohol during the drinking session. If I get hungry while drinking I have another drink, possibly a different drink for the sake of variety. This is a learned behavior; it took me years to successfully learn how to drink on an empty stomach. Early on I would give in to the temptation of eating and drinking. However, my liver paid the price and the hangover lowered my productivity. Overall, a losing proposition. If you must eat ask for a citrus garnish or cherry with your next drink. If that does not do the trick have some lean fish or poultry, no more than three ounces. Remember, drinking should be a planned event and if you plan it right you will not want to eat. Physiologically, your body does not need food while you are drinking. It only needs the vitamins, minerals, and herbs to process the booze.
Psychologically you may want food, but you must learn to control this false urge. I learned all this while earning my masters degree in nutrition and via countless hours observing test subjects. Naturally, I experimented on myself, too. It is a fact that he who eats regularly while drinking will end up fat, miserable, and of poor health. When people try the simple steps outlined in the book they will have trimmer waists and robust health without sacrificing a most civilized pastime.
L.U.: In the book you talk about cycle drinking. What’s all that about?
F.B.: I developed cycle drinking to heighten the drinker’s awareness that the liver needs a 48-hour period off from work just as we do. And a monthly vacation in terms of a week-long period of 50 percent lower consumption. This is also a good test that determines if you control alcohol or it controls you. If you cannot cycle drink, then alcohol is your ruler and be prepared to be enslaved. Drinking is a form of stress similar to weight training and it should be performed in a cyclical fashion for best results. I developed this method for "functional" alcoholics and their positive response confirmed my belief that abstinence is unnecessary for many alcoholics. The key is to understand and practice the art of 21st century drinking and to drink healthier. Cycle drinking allows the liver cells to fully recuperate enabling you to enjoy a lifetime of drinking.
L.U.: This is your first book, and you must be very proud. What’s your favorite part of the book?
F.B: What stands out for me is the aspect of liver protection with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. It’s also factual, well-researched, and not written by someone who just wanted to write a book. It’s good science. I also proved I had the guts to do it – I’ve taken a lot of crap.
L.U.: Such as…
F.B.: There was one bookstore owner who was an alcoholic and started waving the book around saying, "See, he says it’s all right to drink." He was irate. And on the Ed Buggs [radio] Show, one guy called up and said, "Ed, I can’t believe you have this idiot on the show." He was totally against the idea. But the caller before said he was an alcoholic and thought the book was great.
L.U.: Are you taking it personally?
F.B.: I’m not taking it personally at all because I understand where people are coming from. I’ve also gotten helpful feedback. On KFOG out of San Francisco, a caller had already read the book, and that reinforces my belief that the information will be put to good use… I don’t mind being a source of irritation to people, in fact, I’d like to draw it out of their system, educate them, and turn their anger into something positive.
L.U.: What’s the difference between being a writer and being a nutritionist?
F.B.: There’s a hell of a difference. I learned a lot about the process of getting an agent or publisher, I knew that there would be a lot of my own work, but there’s not that feedback I would expect to keep myself motivated. An author has to work harder than a nutritionist. As a nutritionist I get paid every two weeks rain or shine. But the benefit of being an author is that I can control my destiny, even if I just sell one more copy. There’s more satisfaction in being an author.
L.U.: What’s the best way to get through to a stubborn drinker? What’s the most important thing that will help them on their way to healthier drinking?
F.B.: Stop nagging. Accept the fact that they will drink until they decide to quit. In the meantime provide them with the information that protects their health. Then if and when they quit they will be ahead of the game. This book can change a drinker’s behavior because they learn to respect alcohol and come to understand the need to take supplements. People who drink like to drink and this system will allow everyone to enjoy a lifetime of drinking. If we deny them this information their health declines, and they wind up in the hospital and they start drinking as soon as they are discharged. This book prevents the hospitalization.
L.U.: Is there anything else that’s important about the book?
F.B.: The main thing is that it can be done. I got tired of hearing that drinking is evil. I grew up in a family where people were alcoholics, but they didn’t beat up people, they were happy drunks. Functional alcoholics, they didn’t miss a day of work. There are two sides to alcoholism.
L.U.: What’s next for you?
F.B.: I have another book in mind. It’s controversial. It’s a nutritional approach at enhancing certain bodily fluids.
L.U.: Hmm. What’s your favorite drink?
F.B.: Dewar’s and water, or Dewar’s and soda.
L.U.: What is your favorite toast? Or do you have a ritual around drinking?
F.B.: There is an old Irish toast: May you be in heaven one-half hour before the devil knows you’re dead. I hope that’s the case for me. I do follow a ritual at home, when I make a drink I fill my glass with ice and I pour the liquor on top of it. I listen for that gentle cracking of the ice. I mix the drink with a glass stirrer that dates back 50 years – in fact I have an entire collection. Finally, I place the drink on a bar napkin, gaze at its elegance and enjoy the drink.
L.U.: Bottoms up.
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