"Each day that you don't drink is another opportunity for your liver to heal from the effects of alcohol. The liver is one of the few organs in the body that is able to replace damaged tissue with new cells and has shown a remarkable ability to heal itself within short periods of time, but certain factors - like alcohol - limit this ability."
"Less alcohol is probably helping you make healthier food choices ... We also tend to cut back on other things when we're not drinking, Humphreys said - what he called the "2,000 calorie glass of wine." Alcohol can "somewhat sap our self-control for super fatty types of things," he said. "You wouldn't eat the double fudge forest cake at the restaurant, but then you have a glass of wine and think, 'Ah, let me have that double fudge cake'," he said."
Abstaining from alcohol allows the liver to regenerate, with each alcohol-free day giving the liver an opportunity to heal damaged tissue. The liver can replace damaged cells and recover within short periods, although ongoing alcohol exposure limits that ability. Even infrequent drinking can reach harmful blood-alcohol levels; five or more drinks for men and four or more for women on a single occasion can be harmful. Reducing alcohol often improves food choices and reduces impulsive consumption of high-calorie, fatty desserts. Cutting out alcohol also lowers spending on drinks and tipping, producing measurable savings within weeks that can encourage continued abstinence.
Read at Kqed
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