Fighting Cravings/Breaking Habits in the Beginning: What Worked for You?
 

I am 6 days sober and feeling great this time around! What I learned from AA last year from some people is to use sugary foods. Which could be chocolate truffles, a small piece of hard candy, a glass of juice or a piece of fruit. I've been using ALL of those foods to combat cravings. Unfortunately, I think I've gone a little too far with the chocolate and ice cream.

I'm used to having a drink in my hand for hours on end when I come home at night so I bought a couple packs of LaCroix sparkling water to use as a replacement for beer. Strangely enough, it works. I feel anxious if I don't have anything to drink. Even just having a glass of plain tap water helps.

I've been also drinking a lot of soda instead of beer. I was stoked at the thought of losing weight when I first considered quitting drinking but now I realized I'm replacing one nutrient lacking, calorie dense drink (and food) for another.

Anyways, just thought I'd share what's working for me. What works for you?:banana:

Yes, always a nice little something to eat. Lol, I must have posted this a million times. Always worked for me. I find that often it is the simplest little things x :)

Hi Butch, you said I could call you Butch. Welcome!!

I did anything and everything as long as it wasn't alcohol. You name it, I did it. I figured that's how I would learn what works and doesn't work. I wasn't to worried about living on hagan daz forever. I knew eventually I would level off.

I think what was helpful to me was the fact I was open to trying different things and I was open to shifting what was and what wasn't working. The openness to think and see things differently was my key. Yep, it wasn't always fun and I wasn't always happy at first. But many days were fun and happy at first. I clung to those. If I could have one I knew I could have more.

Now I'm more even...middle road. It's not so up and down. It's really really good. I have nice sense of peace and I like myself. Things that happen don't feel like me. They just are part of life that happens to everyone. It's all okay. :)

Great job on 6 days!! You can do it!! You are doing it!!

Great thread!

• Taking a bath as soon as I got home from work (before, I would have grabbed a beer as soon as I walked in the door)
• Drinking TONS of water
• Eating a bowl of ice cream and warm cookies
• Going to the gym to walk on the treadmill
• Getting lost in back to back episodes of a TV show (Law and Order :))
• Making breakfast foods for dinner (not real keen on washing fried eggs down with beer)

Me, too, Kate! I don't you can ever underestimate the power of hunger. I often mistook hunger pangs for cravings (brain was also short-circuity!). Once I ate, the cravings were gone. Magic!

I drank a lot of seltzer, still do. Something about the bubbles replacing the carbonation in the beer. And I stopped eating the salty and spicy snacks that I used to eat so I could wash it down with beer.