It's so easy to get caught up in day to day management of our behaviour, that I find it important to go back to fundamentals, re-examine our beliefs and see how we can be consistent with them. I see three basic ways to look at a drinking problem:

  • We are born flawed, alcoholic
  • We have became flawed through drinking; we have "caught" the disease of alcoholism
  • We have acquired a deeply ingrained habit to use alcohol to cope with difficulties of life

If we choose to believe that we are not flawed, but that we can change, what is the consequence of that? Look at people who are "naturally" moderate. Does this mean that we can become like them? If we believe that we can never become like them, doesn't that mean that there is something intrinsically different about us (i.e. actually believing in one of the two first models)?

If we believe that we can become like the naturally moderate people, the consequence that all the tools that we are learning to use here are just a means to an end. The ideal outcome is: we acquire new, healthy ways to cope, and we can let go of tools/training wheels.

How far can we stretch this?

I think that
a) Depends on how far we are able to go on the road to recovery. How deep are the underlying issues that trigger our drinking? How deep are we able/willing to dig and to work on our selves? Do we have the time/resource to do it? How far do we want to go? And that brings me to my second point.

b) It is a matter of personal choice. We may choose to be happy with learning to use some tools, and learning to reduce harm we used to cause to ourselves. We may choose to try and go as far as "loosing the taste for drinking", really change fundamentally how we cope with life's difficulties. We may choose to manage our problem through numbers and rules and contingency plans. Our choices will depend on many things that are specific to our unique personality and situation. 

Truth be told, a "natural" moderator is an abstract concept. If you look at people around you how don't seem to suffer from a drinking problem, you will see all sorts of strategies, I'm sure. Some count, some don't. Some really don't enjoy drinking at all. Some are constantly moving between border-too-much-drinking to drinking-under-control.

So it seems we have to choose what works best for ourselves.