SoberKnitter

I'm new at this, but I'll give it a try...

I think it's your AV that's yapping about food. Thoughts of drinking run through my head an awful lot, but it's not me thinking about it, because it's involuntary. That's how I know it's the beast. So I just notice the thoughts, recognize that it's my AV, and pay them no mind. They are annoying and somewhat distracting, but I don't feed them with my attention. Sometimes I even laugh at how stupid the thoughts are.

You haven't lost anything but misery. I also get what I call waves of sadness, but they are just part of the deal for now. They can't make me drink. Again, you aren't thinking about eating - that's your AV. Recognize it as such and ignore it or laugh at it. It's a tricky bugger, so it will scream, yell, manipulate your emotions and show you images of food, but it can't make you binge.

Lethargy and sadness are just more tricks. Resisting won't work. No feeling can make you binge; your beast will figure that out. Everyone gets depressed and lazy sometimes.

In my humble opinion, you're still confusing your thoughts and feelings with the beast's. You want to eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Any desires to do otherwise should be articulated as its desires. For example, I will never say that I am dying for a drink - something I used to say all the time. Now I say that the beast is dying for a drink, to which I answer, "go ahead."