Gotta go out on top is what my pappy always said…
These days my road to better health is to refrain from juggling chainsaws, poking grizzly bears, and wot-not.
I adhered to strict healthy diets when I was younger, figuring there were enough lifespan years left to make a significant difference. But, these days, my motto is to live quality over quantity. Sure, I may be able to squeak out an extra year or two by living the life of a cloistered monk, but who’d want to?
I don’t eat too badly, I just don’t eat particularly well. I eat bacon, butter, and biscottis, because they taste good. But, I also eat beans, bok choy, and broccoli because they’re healthy (and don’t taste bad). I don’t eat a lot of anything, due to normal age-related appetite diminishment. In my youth, I could polish off a large pepperoni & anchovy pizza, and have room left for a cannoli. Now, a slice or two satisfies me fine. I still want that cannoli, though.
I’ll drink on occasion, but rarely. Maybe once a month. So I hit never.
Alcohol does nothing for me. I mean, yeah, it gets me buzzed. But I don’t see what’s so great about feeling buzzed.
I do like liquor filled chocolates though. I’d have those more than once a month.
I usually bung a slosh of whisky in my last coffee (decaf !) of the night at the weekend.
(No idea how much that is so i chose 3-7/week rather than 1-2.)
I have a typical man’s beer belly. I haven’t had a beer in 25 years. Go figure.
No judgement and not debating the health consequences, or where the curve for those consequences gets steep, but exclude middles much?
Those of us in the moderate, infrequent, or even never groups are not cloistered either.
Just hyperbole for effect.
Only half as many votes as the poll in the OP, but “less than once a week” is the winner, with a clear runner-up of “never”. After that there are a bunch of different levels of pretty regular drinking that are all more common than “1-2 per week”.
Kinda like this?
Some desserts are worth killing for.
Not saying Clemenza is someone to emulate…but, he did have his priorities in order. 
And while I haven’t taken the time to count, the posts document several in the never group who are never due to past history of overuse of alcohol and/or other substances. So again point well made that never and rarely are sometimes quite different.
In the computer software industry there are a bunch of aphorisms about that. One of which is:
The difference between 0 and 1 is vastly greater than the difference between 1 and 2.
I honestly can’t recall the last time I had a drink - maybe once or twice within the last year? I’m not anti-alcohol and I do have some favorite adult beverages, but the stuff puts me to sleep. I certainly don’t want to be dozing off at a social event. So on the rare occasions I do have a drink, it’s at home, and generally when I want to crash early for the night.
I’m a firm believer in moderation. Of course moderation varies from one person to another. What’s good for the goose may not be good for the gander (i.e. a couple drinks/day may be fine for one person, but devastating for someone else).
Per chance, I just had my yearly Medicare check yesterday, which included a review of comprehensive lab work. My family doc (and I) were pleased with all the results and he recommended no changes at all. We actually discussed his problems more than mine (he got a costly moving violation ticket in his car last week that he didn’t believe was fair).
Learn your body well and act accordingly, I say.
I have 4 to 6 drinks a week of various types of whiskey. Every 6th week is a dry week which means no alcohol at all. I drink all of them neat with a splash of water.
A six pack of cider ever other month or so.
I drink a lot of beer. Not every day but always on the weekend. I used to drink every damn day and as much as I could too. And then I went to the doctor and got a prescription for diclofenac and my arthritic back and bone chipped hip where allavasuddenly bearable and my drinking just as suddenly went back to weekend warrior status.
I didn’t even realize I was using beer to anesthetize myself until I didn’t need it to make living possible. I may need it for Dutch courage in order to say yes to getting my hip replaced, though. Another surgery? DO NOT WANT!
Again not my intent to debate here. Studies of course are of populations. Indeed for many of us “strict” is less than what I do, and “to excess” more … I certainly remember taking histories back in medical school where patients first answered they drink in moderation, and getting details that was a six pack a day, not two six packs like heavy drinkers drink …
Usually we figured they were still under reporting.
This is one of the reasons I’m not a big drinker. I enjoy a hard cider, a sipping rum, or a bit of port from time to time, but I have more than enough control freak issues that the moment I move past relaxed into any semblance of tipsy, much less drunk that I stop. I hate feeling out of control.
Not there aren’t times I haven’t overridden that feeling, like when having to watch the Star Wars Holiday Special or put up with certain political events. Then it’s “Brain, take it from me, this is for the best.”
I feel sleepy and antisocial long before i feel out-of-control. I don’t like feeling sleepy and antisocial, though.