Healthier Together: Mindful drinking and the sober curious movement

Being sober curious is having the option to choose, question or change your drinking habits, and the sober curious movement has encouraged people to recognize the often unhealthy habits that are associated with alcohol.

Local blogger and sober influencer Marceil Van Camp says she decided to take a dry year. As she found herself over-indulging and needed to break bad habits. She shares some tips on how you can take the first steps.

"When it comes to finding alcohol-free options I think the first step is to be clear that they are not replacements," said Van Camp. "So if you typically are a red wine drinker and would like to become an alcohol-free red wine drinker - you are not necessarily going to find direct parody between the two. Oopening your pallet essentially and your mind to the fact that this is a completely different category of spirits, a very quickly growing one as well, can lead to a lot of cool opportunities."

Dr. Nicole Saint Clair, executive medical director for Regence BlueShield Washington, says the benefits of the sober curious movement include mindful drinking.

It also deglamorizes the misuse of alcohol while stopping short of saying no on should ever drink. She says it also creates a safe space for people who want to drink less or don't want to drink at all.

RELATED: Healthier Together: What is sober curious? 

Dr. Saint Clair also says it is important to understand moderate drinking for both men and women and what a serving of alcohol for beer, wine and spirits actually looks like.

"I think the sober curious movement is wonderful because really it's just promoting all of us to be mindful and responsible with our choices and that is something I would want to promote for everyone in health," said Dr. Saint Clair. "And the decisions we make as we are learning more about the negative ways alcohol intake can affect us, and the things that you want to do."

Links to online sober communities:

• AFTER Magazine: The lifestyle magazine for non-drinkers, the sober-curious and anyone exploring their relationship with alcohol.
• Sober N' Seattle: #SoberCityMovement - Sober events, inspiration and of course memes.