Babs
Have you tried "thinking it through to the end" when you get a bad one? For me, the more I practiced that the easier and more effective it became. Now it's second nature and not even a conscious plan. The temptation was always to fight the urge but that never seemed to work for me. This was one of the most valuable things we were taught in my intensive outpatient program. It starts off with something like this: ok, what if I had just one? That would be nice. Hmmm, but I know I can't stop at one so I'd keep on going. Then I'd get hungover and feel really down on myself. And I'd have to go through all of this all over again. I'd feel really miserable. I wouldn't be able to do x,y, and z. Etc etc.
At first the cravings would still last but after awhile, they stopped more quickly. Now I hardly notice when my brain goes through this exercise and I have become less afraid of cravings because I know how to deal with them.