 So I was just sitting back with my beautiful girlfriend Tristan watching the new Kodi Co video and I decided to make this video because I've actually had quite a few questions about kombucha lately. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel what I like to do is take a look at what's going on in the YouTube community or in pop culture or in politics or whatever it is and try to see what lessons we can learn from them and apply them to our everyday life. So if you're into that stuff make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell and if you haven't yet make sure you follow me on social media on Instagram and Twitter at the Rewired Soul. Based on some of my most recent videos about opioid withdrawal and suboxone tapers and everything like that I've received a lot of questions I'm trying to interact with all of you in the comments. Sometimes I can't keep up so follow me on social media DM me whatever it is tweet at me whatever you got to do if you have questions I'll try to answer them or I will point you in the right direction and provide you with some resources. Alright so yeah anyways Cody Co's brand new video is about the kombucha king. Okay and kombucha for those of you who don't know it is fermented it's like a combination of fermented yeast and bacteria alright and those of you who haven't met me yet I am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict next month on June 23rd I will be celebrating seven years of sobriety no alcohol no drugs alright and I don't know what happened like based on the video that Cody Co did kombucha has been around for a while but like recently like I would say in the last two to three months it's been coming up a lot more like people have been asking me about it I've been seeing it online and everything like that so I want to share why I won't drink kombucha and how it could possibly kill a guy like me and before I kind of dive into kombucha a little bit more I want to share two quick stories about my experience as a recovering drug addict and alcoholic so the first thing is I am somebody who had many relapses many many relapses alright I I just did a live stream yesterday about you know addiction and everything and my last relapse almost seven years ago no almost eight years ago because it lasted for about a year and a half it started out with one Vicodin pill one five milligram Vicodin pill okay and I suffer from a mental obsession and physical craving that is what we alcoholics and drug addicts struggle with okay once I have one my body reacts in a different way and I immediately start craving more I need more and the problem is is that there's never enough so that one Vicodin pill showed me that once I put one of anything inside my body that alters my mind like that I don't stop and I never know when I will stop alright something I hear other people in recovery saying like like I know I have another relapse in me but I don't know if I have another recovery in me and that is so damn true like if I were to relapse at this point like I don't know if I would ever come back from it all right so based on my own experience one Vicodin pill kicked off about a year and a half long relapse now the second thing when I actually got sober about seven years ago I will never forget like there's so many stories I heard where I was like oh my god right and I was in a 12 set meeting and I heard this guy who came back in and he just came back from a relapse by the way pro tip if you want to learn how to stay clean listen to people who have relapsed before so basically what this guy shared about was he was at a friend's wedding okay and he wasn't paying attention so when they were going around doing the toast and pouring champagne he wasn't paying attention so they poured the champagne he took a drink and next thing you know like he realized oh my god I just drink champagne and his brain immediately said well you already had some you might as well have the rest right so he went over to the open bar and that kicked off a relapse for him so just by him not paying attention and just having a sip of champagne his brain his attic brain started justifying drinking more and I'm sitting there with just a few months sober I'm like dang right so I am very careful about my recovery because seven years ago I had a 10% chance of living I was dying based on my addiction so my first one in with kombucha I was actually at a influencer marketing convention here in Las Vegas that I was invited to and I went out there and I was hanging out with some other influencers and everything like that and they started saying like oh do you want some kombucha do you want some kombucha and everyone's like yeah let me have some kombucha right and they have like different flavors and people like oh it's gross and everything and as somebody in recovery I have to protect this thing all right so if there is a drink or a substance that I am not familiar with I have to ask all right now there are a lot of people who are like kind of like in the closet about their recovery and if you are that's totally cool like I'm not gonna lie to you and say there's no stigma out there because there is but when I finally came out about my addiction recovery it's helped me protect my recovery even more so when they were offering kombucha to everybody the people in the group even though a few of them I just met they knew I was in recovery so when I asked it wasn't like a weird situation I was like I was like what kind of drink is that is that alcohol or what is it right like I love coffee like I'm thinking like oh maybe it's like some kind of coffee or something I was like is there alcohol in that and they explained to me like yeah it's fermented you know used to bacteria so it does have some alcohol content so when they were all handing out some kombucha I was like no no thanks you see what I mean so for anybody like me who's in recovery it is important that we know what people are drinking and what's being offered to us because like I said my last real I started off with one pill I've met other people where their real I started off with one sip or one drink you see what I mean so kombucha it is not like a strong alcoholic beverage okay it contains I believe I'll put a screenshot up here I just looked it up it contains I believe anywhere from about point five percent to about two percent alcohol all right so if you just have one you're not gonna get drunk all right and just to give you like kind of perspective on that like I believe Bud Light it has like you know four percent alcohol so you gotta drink quite a few beers to get drunk but here's the thing like I am an alcoholic so I will just have one and say okay that didn't get me drunk what I will do is I will go find more or I will find something stronger like my relapses show this to me I don't just have one I am not the type of person who just likes getting a little bit of a buzz like I love getting messed up and that is why I have to stay completely absent because like I said this thing will kill me it will kill me my son will no longer have a father my girlfriend Tristan will no longer have a boyfriend my parents will no longer have a son my friends will no longer have a friend because I do not stop like I've met some people in recovery where they still drink like non-alcoholic beer and everybody's recovery is their own thing but I know I know for a fact that I am the type of alcoholic where I will not stop so I don't even play that game I don't even mess around with it a little bit no matter what the alcohol content is because I have seen what just one little taste can do to me you know what I mean like another quick story is when I first got sober and it's important to know that my main drink of choice was rum I love Bacardi I was actually thinking about getting a Bacardi tattoo back in the day good thing I did it now that I'm a sober alcoholic but anyways rum was my my drink of choice so when I first got sober it was my grandmother's birthday and we went out to dinner with her and like my my mom's side of the family is Sicilian and we ended up having tiramisu and I was like okay and like my mom's in recovery I have other family members in recovery and tiramisu is typically and traditionally made with rum so they were talking about how this was just rum flavoring it wasn't actual rum so like okay I can't get drunk off this obviously it's just cake and cooking is a whole different thing I can make a different video about it if you would like let me know down in the comments below because alcohol does get cooked out and all that stuff but I'm not gonna go into all that science here but anyways I had that tiramisu and the taste of rum just the taste of it my brain started going haywire alright like I was maybe a month or two months sober and this was just flavoring and for hours all I could do was think about drinking alright so being somebody who's in recovery from addiction we have a variety of different triggers okay triggers can be tastes smells but also situations feelings and everything like that so I have had to learn how to walk my life in recovery by avoiding these certain things you see what I mean like to be honest there are still drinks that I stay away from because I mix them with rum like even though I'm almost seven years sober I still get that taste like my brain the synapses in my brain still fire off and give me that craving right so for example like diet coke I used to drink rum and diet coke all the time when I needed an energy boost I used to mix it with fruit punch rock stars those are like those are beverages that I you know I've had them since I've been sober but anytime I have it's crazy like if you really slow down and get mindful you notice how your body and your mind starts craving this thing so I wanted to make this video because I actually had a friend ask me maybe just a week or two ago and she's not in recovery but she asked me she said Chris like you're sober like would you ever drink kombucha are you allowed to like I can't speak for anybody else's recovery but what I explained to her is what I'm explained to all of you for me that is a very slippery dangerous slope that can lead to me dying that I'm not even gonna play around with alright so for me an addict like me I am the real deal addict and alcoholic so the only way that I am staying on this path and living this amazing life that I have today is through complete abstinence alright my life is so amazing now I don't even need to mess with that stuff to to test the waters and see what it will do for me alright but if you've ever had kombucha or any experience with it let me know let's have a conversation down in the comments alright anyways that's all I got for this video if you liked this video please give it a thumbs up if you're new make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell and while you're at it don't forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter at the rewired so I love interacting with you I answer your questions and all that stuff alright and before I let you go a huge huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel on patreon you're all amazing and if you'd like to support what I'm doing here and get some other perks and benefits click the top right there alright thanks again so so much for watching I'll see you next time