Originally Posted by venuscat

You should see my smile.... you are so wonderful. ❤️

I need more sunshine and fresh air and a girlfriend to go to a movie with.
I need to call the lovely one I have here (who is an SR)....and if anyone wants to move to Columbus Ohio, German Village is divine, just saying....

Originally Posted by 1newcreation

And as [the women] were frightened and were bowing their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among [those who are] dead?
He is not here, but has risen Lk24:5,6a

Happy Resurrection Sunday!!

Originally Posted by Coldfusion

All set for another 24 hours of sobriety!

8:10 PM in the Salish Sea.

Originally Posted by teaorcoffee

in for 24

Originally Posted by Rar

Good Morning Everyone. 24 more sober hours for me today. I will not drink.

Congratulations to all the milestoners today and to all pledging another day of sobriety. Well done.

My daughter and grandchildren (18 and 16) are visiting for a few days. I'm excited. Haven't seen them in 2 years. Picking them up at the airport in a couple of hours. YAY!

Wishing everyone a super sober Monday and praying for all those sick and/or struggling.

5:46 a.m.
EST

Originally Posted by wiscsober

short trip to the VA today...thanks for Salvation Army driving....early morning ham and cheese omelet from yesterday's ham...checking in for 24 more at 0520 CDT.

Originally Posted by ChickChick

I am ready for 24 more.

Congrats milestoners!!

Originally Posted by soberista

Some weeks ago I had felt it was time to tackle the eating situation. I didnt want to put too much stress on this primarily because I had read a few posts around here (whilst munching various snacks which prompted me to buy a compressed air canister to remove the crumb debris from my keyboard). A few peeps had said that eating had helped with their alcohol cravings so 'Hey Ho' one day at a time.

So the eating plan probably lasted about 6 hours and, around the same time I would normally have poured my first glass of wine, my brain was badly twitching. Whenever I got into the kitchen my brain lit up like a Christmas tree at the sight of bread and my dopamine receptors were doing a dance "Oh you like that don't you...it makes you happy" and off I went on the binge train.

I read a little about lateral addiction. Replace one with another and felt I had probably gone from cigarettes/alcohol to food and possibly the food one was the first (reward good child behaviors/comfort eating yadeyadeyah.

It is bugging me now. Life is good now I dont have the alcohol in it but similar feelings of "Today will be a healthy eating day!" soon turns into a constant back and forth to the kitchen from about 2pm onwards. I am probably only keeping my daily step count up because I am carving this track, to and fro, eyeing whats in the kitchen I can nibble on. And dont get me wrong it isnt junk food. Some of it is but I can also just sit and eat fruit, nuts and seeds, yogurt, whatever! I have this constant gnawing in my head that there is something that can be fixed by snacking. Anyway not being one to throw in the towel I happened across this book. What a freaking nuisance - I've bought it and waiting for it to arrive but I can read a sample on my phone as follows:

The Hunger Fix - Pam Peeke.

"The addiction develops like this: Think of a river during a flood. The water charges over the banks, taking down trees and houses along the way. Continued dopamine flooding in the brain works the same way. The pathway between the ventral tegmental and the nucleus accumbens areas of the brain floods with dopamine again and again. The brain thins it has "too much" dopmine - so the brain to compensate for this overabundance by battening down the hatches, decreasing the total number of dopamine receptors to lesson the amount of dopamine your brain absorbs. The "down regulation" decimates receptors in a variety of brain regions, particularly your limbic system, the site of motivation and emotions.
After this down regulation, your brain demands you eat greater and greater amounts of the same foods to elicit the same dopamine "rush". You have an insatiable hunger for more and more (tell me about it Pam). But the sad irony is, the more you feed the craving with False Fixes, the less satisfaction you feel - because each time you flood the brain, additional receptors get wiped out. And the relentless hunger persists.

Ive got to wait for the damn book to arrive to do the three stage detox and recovery. (does that mean whilst waiting I can eat my weight in Easter Eggs? Be assured sober bunnies of the t'interweb that's some weight!)

Anyway I am holding out for a cure. I maybe posting on here hourly as the last few dopamine receptors i have left standing start screaming at me...and maybe when the chaos has died down I will grow new ones?

Originally Posted by PhoenixJ

Soberista- food? Hmmm.
I eat too much and smoke- although have cut back both. Consider the following..
I watched a lot of recovery comedy on u-t when I was in the recovery program. This overweight guy, whose father was a violent drunk- and himself an addict now eats a lot. A friend commented to him that he had just replaced one addiction with another, and that over eating was just as dangerous as drinking. He replied 'yeah, when I eat my second big mac- I start to hit people!'.
Life is about balance, and so long as I am not harming anyone, and I do not drink...that is a good result.

Originally Posted by venuscat

Originally Posted by Donnyb

Good morning everyone and hoping you all had a wonderful Easter. Haven’t posted in awhile because got busy doing life and thought I can control things on my own, and soon realized I can’t. The support I received here got me two months sober, and Feeling good about life in general. I am now back to my stop on the way home and pick up a six pack everyday routine, and hating myself for it. I also missed all of you and back for day one. Today I brought an extra snack to get me home for dinner instead of rewarding myself with eating almost nothing so I can get my buzz on. Ridiculous, I know but it stops today. In for 24 and the self loathing that comes with it💜

Originally Posted by venuscat

♥ This is a list of everyone who posted their commitment to stay sober in the last
24 hours: 10 pm EDT ~ 9.59 pm EDT. (yesterday's list )

It is awesome to have every single one of you here with us! ♥

1newcreation
abcowboy
Alysheba
aussieblue
Awake61
Babs1234
badgerden
bandicoot2
BarbieKen
BringingBackB
Bubovski
Canadian Koala
ChickChick
ChloeRose63
Coldfusion
cornpone
CrossYourHeart
Dee74
Delilah1
DonnyB
Endoftheday
erfra7
FormerBeerLover
Gabe1980
gatorman
Gilmer
Goat
goodbyeevan
goose333
Hats
Hevyn
Jack16
joandmelandhan
Jotick
jsm273
julietUK
Kaneda8888
kenton
Kris47
least
lilymaz
Lostmyoffswitch
lyddie
madtown42
Mags1
ManInTheArena
Neoo
Nic233
PhoenixJ
Purplrks3647
Quincy
quitter62
Rainman1
Rar
RedBerryJuniper
Saskia
SayAnything
shortstop81
soberista
SoberLeigh
stargazer016
Sunflower79
Sunflowerlife
Sweetpeacan
Tang
teaorcoffee
tgirl
TheToddman
theVman31
Tinker B
tomls
vanaprastha
venuscat
VikingGF
Vinificent
Vivie
WaterOx
WeaverBird
wiscsober
yukonm
Zanna
zeppodog
Onward together! ♥

Originally Posted by kenton

Got 12 seconds of WiFi on my holiday in the back of beyond wilderness and wanted to thank Venus for keeping all the lists, congratulate Candian Koala on 16 fabulous months and send love to everyone. 24 more for me please xxx will this post I wonder? It's so exciting xxx

Originally Posted by joandmelandhan

Oh yeah Soberista I hear you loud and clear!
In no particular order:
Alcohol, nicotine, sugar, money (earning and spending), sex (sorry guys!), social media....................
I think I tick all of the above and more!
I figure cutting out the one that deeply upsets my family and would destroy my life and everything I hold dear is and always will be top priority.
I couldn't bring myself to do a great deal about anything else for about 5 months I think. Anything that endangered my commitment to sobriety was a definite no-no. But of course that couldn't go on forever and bit by bit the rest is following.
They say the one thing we addicts have to learn to do is just "be". You know, without stuffing something in our mouths or getting some other dopamine high.
Ugh! Work-in-progress! Why can't I get myself excited about exercise and celery in the same way?
Keep us posted about your book and your progress!

Originally Posted by venuscat

And.....have you guys seen Pleasure Unwoven. It is a video available to buy....or you can watch it in bits on YouTube. Not quite as good that way, but free.
Please have a look....it changed my life....forever.....never again will I blame myself or wonder why I need to manage this disease for the rest of my life.