Not everyone who drinks has a drinking problem. Not everyone who drinks becomes an alcoholic. And not everyone who drinks does so in a healthy way.
Do you drink to have fun, or to forget? Can you have fun without alcohol? Will drinking truly make you forget? Do you ever ask yourself those questions?
Do you ever let your inner critic look at your behavior around alcohol and speak up? If not, then maybe you should.
A conversational read that will make you think, this book provides a framework for reviewing your own habits and motivations around alcohol.

I'm still not sure what I think of this book. It is a great concept but the delivery left me with many questions. I think I am not their target audience. I would skip this one.

This book has a very interesting premise. The author is a hypnotherapist who uses a combination of psychology, hypnosis and problem solving to help her patients drink less alcohol. Some may take issue with her opinion that people with problems drinking too much don't need to quit completely, but she claims to have a very good success rate helping people figure out why they drink too much and helping them solve those problems.

Foster profiles drinkers in terms of their reasons for over-drinking and then gives them helpful solutions to temper their drinking. For instance, if you drink out of habit and just want to drink less then you drink one full glass of water between each glass of wine. There are different solutions for drinking because of it being part of your job, social pressures, binge drinking where you beat yourself up afterwards, stress drinking, etc. The solutions and the psychology seemed logical and I suspect it would be helpful for many people.

The book has access to accompanying hypnosis tapes online, which I did not try.

I read a digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

This book offer some those anxious about their drinking habits a happy medium; no more dry January to then continue to binge drink the rest of the year, but an understanding of why we might want to drink on a given day and then being able to choose to or not.
This is a no judgement, no guilt inducing read.
The book comes with 2 hypnotherapy recordings to assist in the CPD.

Although it is titled ""Drink Less" in 7 Days", this book has a wider positivity to it and it will guide the reader to think about themselves in a more positive light, as a whole. There are 4 downloadable recordings available to go with the book. The reader simply needs to login and access them via Georgia's website www.georgiafoster.com.

Georgia takes the reader through a process of understanding how the mind works and gives case studies to support the information she is providing. She describes how the amygdala shapes behaviours and ensures that the bad habits persist. Georgia then tells the reader how by keeping the mind in the prefrontal cortex, by being in the present both in body and mind, they can minimise the influence the amygdala holds over their behaviours and subsequently begin to manage their drinking.

I found it easier to read this book than I thought it would and it wasn't dry or boring at all. I have downloaded the recordings, but as yet (I admit) I haven't listened to them. I intend to do this during my next holiday when I can set aside time and relax while I listen to them. Then I intend to use them to help me focus myself in a place where I am not so influenced by that voice (the one Georgia calls the Inner Critic) that always focuses on the worst things in life.

There is definitely a niche for this type of self-help book! With alcohol consumption among older adults and women on the rise, along with new studies showing increased cancer and other health risks caused by alcohol, this book could be just the nudge needed to help people make lifestyle changes. There are lots of anecdotal examples of heavy drinkers who do not fall into the category of full-blown alcoholic which is an important distinction, I believe, since many people drink too much out of habit, not necessity. This book is for these types of drinkers-who need to adopt a healthier relationship to alcohol and realize that cutting back could lead to overall improved well-being, such as better sleep, better moods, better skin, etc...An interesting addition is the hypnosis part of the book which readers can download and listen to while napping for extra encouragement.

NetGalley who gave me a copy of their book for an honest review.

I was really interested in this book as I am a social drinker and I wanted to reduce the amount of alcohol I was drinking through the week.. This book can be used with hypnosis downloads. I felt it needed a little more depth and explanation but it would be a good introduction for someone wanting to reduce their alcohol intake.

Interesting book to read could be helpful but as other readers have said very like Alan carr

Like many people, at the start of the year, I made a resolution to decrease my alcohol intake. 

Drink Less in Seven Days by Georgia Foster has really helped me stick to this resolution. Georgia is a clinical hypnotherapist and alongside the written version of the book, there are also 4 "Hypnosis Hub" recordings that readers are encouraged to access to help them with the program. 

One of the great things about Drink Less in Seven Days is that Georgia (and I"m going to call her Georgia because she kind of feels like a friend) is totally non-judgemental about how much you drink, why you drink, why you feel you drink too much etc.  I feel that this is an area where people carry a lot of shame and negative feelings and to have someone who approaches an emotional issue like this with absolute objectivity is helpful in driving the desired behaviours.  She's on your side!

There are two main parts to Drink Less in Seven Days.  The first is how your amygdala (the part of your brain that deals with emotions and fear/stress responses) can actually work against your efforts to quit or reduce your drinking.  It shows you how to move your decision to drink away from this very instinctive part of your brain to your prefrontal cortex which is the part of your brain that is more concerned with considered decision-making.  

I found this part of the book fascinating, particularly the parts where she spoke about silencing your inner critic. 

However, it was the second part of the book, where Georgia broke down different personality types. what triggers them to drink and how to circumvent these triggers that I found most useful.  (Also fascinating, if like me you love a good theory of behaviour and the ability to proclaim "Yes!!!!  That's me!"). Because it makes total sense right?  If you drink out of social anxiety (which is me a little bit) your methods to success will likely be different to someone who drinks because everyone around you is (also me a little bit).  

The biggest take away for me was starting to understand what triggers my wanting to drink and learning alternative strategies should I decide not to.  I think a really important thing about Drink Less in Seven Days is that it is NOT about quitting drinking altogether.  It is about cutting down to a level that you are comfortable with, whatever that is for you. And this feels more manageable than quitting altogether.

The cru of this type of book though is does it work?

So here's the real deal.  I started this program in January. It's now March and I can count the times I have drunk alcohol on one hand. During this time I have been to pubs, bars and restaurants, entertained at home and been entertained at other people's homes so it's not like I have been hiding myself away. I have been around alcohol and people drinking as much as I ever was. 

Will I drink again?  Almost definitely. For me, this experiment was never about giving up altogether.  And I have far too much fun making cocktails for this to give it up completely!  However, I feel that moving forward I will be able to drink in a more mindful considered way.

Thank you to Georgia Foster for a thoroughly fascinating book that does exactly what it says on the cover!

Full review and a non-alcoholic drink recommendation available here:

http://www.retrofoodformoderntimes.com/2018/02/07/blackberry-lemon-thyme-coconut-water-book-review-drink-less-seven-days/

Read all my reviews at: https://brainfartsandbooks.wordpress.com

I originally requested this ARC because I have a lot of nutrition coaching clients who find it hard to control the amount of alcohol they consume…especially on the weekends. I mean we all (or at least a lot of us) look forward to a glass of wine or two or a cold beer with friends, right? What I learned in this book is that you don’t have to be a textbook alcoholic to feel like you’re drinking too much. Everyone is different and I really liked the way Georgia Foster described the different styles of drinking habits that people have. For example, there is the person that is the perfectionist. So, when the perfectionist drinks it’s with everything he or she has got. It’s done to the full extent. Now, this doesn’t mean that the perfectionist drinks every day or even every week. It means that when the perfectionist does drink, they go all out. There’s also the person who drinks everyday or the person who only likes to drink socially or only likes to drink alone. See what I mean? None of these is wrong or makes a person an alcoholic. The book comes with two recordings to download. One is short and one is a bit longer. These are used by Georgia to make her clients actively think about what they are going to do before they do it and to condition them into eventually drinking less. Pretty cool, huh? I thought so. I found the psychology in this book to be so interesting. It was an easy read as well.

Thank you to Netgalley, Georgia Foster, and RedDoor Publishing for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A great idea for anyone embarking on Dry January (or anyone wanting to rein in their drinking any time of the year). Clinical hypnotherapist Georgia Foster specialises in overdrinking behaviour and her drink less courses have a high success rate (95% of attendees report reduced alcohol consumption) and in her new book she shares the secrets of this success. The book is used in conjunction with hypnosis downloads from the authors website and is a great tool for anyone who wants to cut down without giving up altogether.

I read this book with an open mind but can't really say I like it much. As a hypnotist, the author has some interesting insights into our inner voices but overall I'd say the subject of alcoholism was just a little too simplified.