Newbies Nest

[Guitarista]

Hiya Nester's near and not so far,

The celebrations continue with Pav's 1 year anni very close!

Eloise, often my tastebuds will fire a craving. Recently, some cookies i've been demolishing have somehow triggered AL thoughts, not always just sometimes. So i notice if i eat something different, e.g. something savoury straight away, it shakes my taste buds up and the physical craving that began (with my tastebuds) disappears. Just a thought.

Kick some arse in your own way out there everyone. Take it easy. G

[narilly]

El, my craving fires up once in awhile too. I come here and post if I can. My AL brain tells me not to post and just to have one drink. Then I always think "I can't just have one." So on it goes, over and over. Hopefully one day we won't have these darn cravings!
Glad your ok El, its nice to hear from you.

Kickin arse G!

[NoSugar]

Recently, some cookies i've been demolishing have somehow triggered AL thoughts, not always just sometimes. So i notice if i eat something different, e.g. something savoury straight away, it shakes my taste buds up and the physical craving that began (with my tastebuds) disappears.

Welcome to my world, Mr. G.:smile:! It's interesting - I also find that the relationship isn't 100%, which means I forget about the fact that sweet stuff sometimes wakes up my AL-loving brain and then I'm shocked to have all those old feelings come rushing back. That sure was the case after Thanksgiving. I'll have to remember your weapon of eating savory food to squash the pro-AL signal. Thanks.

To anyone struggling to get past the craving part of addiction, you might want to try reducing sugar and sugar-producing carbs (rather than using them as substitutes, especially if that isn't working very well for you). There seems to be a subset of people for whom sugar is a trigger for AL desire/consumption (and vice versa). We do much better with a lower carb, moderate protein, higher fat, low or no sugar eating plan while others can easily get past cravings by eating something sweet. Takes all kinds, I guess :wink: - but it is important to figure out which group you fit into.

[Guitarista]

Interesting stuff NS.

I've often noticed that my tastebuds are where an AL craving seems to begin before it hits my thought processes. Not sure if this is always the case, but def sometimes some sweet food can be a trigger. Chocolate soy ice-cream that i eat often, whilst satisfying my sweet tooth, i note does not trigger cravings (different sweetening ingredient to cookies?). I'm enjoying my sweet tooth at the moment, but i am on guard, knowing a little bit about the sugar relationship with booze, which has a lot of sugar.

[NoSugar]

A lot of the craving seems to relate to hypoglycemia - a condition that can trigger a craving for sweet stuff or alcohol. It could be that there is enough fat and protein in your soy ice cream to prevent the rebound hypoglycemia that sugar can cause while perhaps the cookies, with less fat and protein, cause a greater drop in blood sugar (after you've eaten them and insulin has done a bit too good of a job getting rid of the sugar you just ate!). It is pretty humiliating to remember this now but I used to deliberately not eat, which would lower my blood sugar drastically - because it made that first drink of the evening all that much more "rewarding". This is a horrible thing to have done to my body and seems especially crazy given the great lengths I otherwise went to in terms of diet, exercise, etc. to "be healthy". Obviously an addicted brain does not make good choices!!!

[Resolve]

Always pleasant to get back into a routine after a long holiday weekend (well not really). I used to find them especially painful after drinking even more and harder with bonus days off so this is just one of the many upsides to not being a drinker now. Though I didn't post over the long weekend, I did read all of the happenings and stories going on here. I think Lav wins for most interesting experience hands down! That did remind me of a similar story when I was a kid and an elderly man knocked on our door one evening when my parents were hosting a gathering for friends. He asked if he could sit quietly alone in our home and offered to pay to do so. Very odd and I recall feeling uncomfortable as my dad talked to him and told him that wasn't a good idea. In hindsight I wonder if he too was drunk or what the issue may have been. Odd how a memory can be resurrected that you hadn't recalled in years but that now has new context.

Our holiday was good with much food and family time. Spent a long day at FIL's home and have now had my fill in particular of SILs and BILs. My wife has a large family and when they all gather, I'd double down on some form of tension. Normally these gatherings are generally dry but this year had more than usual partaking in one form or another. The snarky SIL in particular stoked my wife's ire by going after our oldest daughter when she heard we recently bought her a car. That's really not so unusual, nor any of her concern, and since when is it ok to make the somewhat reserved, modest girl feel uncomfortable and awkward by calling her a spoiled princess among other snide comments? Funny now how I noticed the ever present glass of red in her claw the entire day and evening as the snark moments ratcheted up. I think at past gatherings I stayed out of the fray because I was always preoccupied with drinking, hiding it and only engaged on the surface so I didn't notice or care too much about any drama. Afterall it wasn't my family and maybe if they drank more they'd all lighten up, right. Well, my wife didn't drink either and let SIL know that she should cork the wine and her mouth in not so many less flattering words. And to use my daughter's terminology, that SIL is a bitchacho!

Another SIL brought my former fave BC, which I had turned her onto in the past, to which she proclaimed several times - look what I brought for you! Uh, thanks...she doesn't know and that's ok. I'm not in disclosure mode yet and probably won't be for some time. I found the discussion here about curiosity or experimenting with, not craving for, drinking interesting mostly because I don't have enough time under my belt or the confidence to entertain those thoughts with certainty of a positive outcome. A mere glance at my former party in a bottle friend was all I could do and literally had to divert the eyes so as not entertain any bargaining or what-if scenarios. I understand that nobody wants to have these thoughts, and I know how it must catche you off-guard and feel alarming, so I will keep this mindful experience of others on file for future reference. For me, I know that it's none, not one and done. A taste for me and I'd be toast.

Evan, Mstall and others - welcome. I think strength in numbers during this challenging season ahead will serve us all well.

Rahul - 300!:thumbsup:

[Lavande]

Good evening Nesters,

Out warm-ish December 1 has turned chilly & it's raining -oh well.
I wouldn't mind so much if the gate to the chicken had stayed closed all day. Somehow I found the gate open this afternoon & ended up having to round up my 27 feathered friends. They were out & about having a ball, LOL
Yet another reason to stay sober - makes the chicken roundup much easier!!!

Wishing everyone a safe & cozy night in the nest!

Lav

[Pinecone]

Hi friends,

NS, I used to do the same thing by delaying meals. Of course I'd be starving by the time I was good and drunk and would eat like as pig before passing out. What a mess!

Guitarista, I smiled at your Hellraiser reference the other day. Man, I loved those movies.

Evan, how are you? Thanks for checking in!
SueK, had it really been 22 days? Awesome!

[daisy45]

After numerous attempts and my vow to make 2014 the year I get sober, here I am in Last Chance Saloon! Day 1 done....
I have done a lot of soul-searching over this past few weeks...read a couple of books and am stocked up on supplements....feel ready
Have not read back but will not take me long as I will be glued from here on in.

[MossRose]

Resolve - glad you made it through the festivities. Amazing how someone in the family, or a coworker, or a friend always seems to have an uninvited opinion about how we are raising our children. Ignore them. We all try to do our best, and we make mistakes, and we do some things right. bitchacho! - this is great. I hope your daughter loves her car.

NS & G - good discussion on sugar and AL. I know I do much better when I stay away from sweets, although I craved them like crazy in the beginning. That was all new to me since I wasn't a sweets fan, but I suppose white wine is really just liquid sugar, so it's not surprising. I was replacing one addiction with another. Thankfully, I love savory foods, so I try to fill up on them first.

Lav, didn't mean to laugh, but I did. I just pictured your chickens frolicking in the rain, and you trying to round them up. xx

I just played the guilt card with my brother. Damn, I have no shame. He had a doctor's appointment today to learn the results of his PET scan. All my mom asked is that he call, email or text as soon as he knew anything. Six hours later, she was still waiting. I told her to hang up and wait for the call. She didn't even argue with me for a change. haha. Then I sent him a text. She got that call about 5 minutes later. I've done my duty for the day. Cancer or not, you still have to show compassion for your mother. End of rant.

The news is good and bad. His cancer hasn't spread, so there is still hope. But he does need radical surgery. One day at a time, right?

Have a good MAE everyone. Wishing you all a peaceful, sober night.

[abcowboy]

Rarely, have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly wanted to be AF. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely accept who they are, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

But then again, who am I to say? It took me a long while to admit that I was an alcoholic, that alcohol controlled me. I admitted to a couple of slips, then the old timers here made me realize, no such thing as a slip! You are in it for real, or you wish... Wish you can be a normie? Not in my life! Wish you can moderate? Not in my life! So where does that leave us? Come back over and over again asking for another day 1? Hoping it will be the last? No, you have to commit, you need to want it! Available and Pavati (pavailable) have shown us the way, like so many before them, so, what's holding us back? I'm here, one day at time, just praying that I get through another 24 hours!

[Mr. B]

Congrats on all these sober days going on. Great job. Happy sober Holidays. I'm working on my 3 month mark using the dope. I haven't made it past this point in years. Hope to be successful this time around. I done great with al. I can do it. I want this.

[MossRose]

Cowboy, don't mean to be disagreeable, but I'm not sure I totally agree with your post. I know for a fact that I wanted to be AF more than anything in the world, yet I failed a few times. And I think I've been completely honest with myself and the folks here at MWO. It hasn't been pretty, but it's been truthful. We are probably just coming at this in a different way. I believe that addiction is biochemical, not a character defect. Although if one drinks long enough, their character suffers. There can be no disagreement about that. So let's just agree to peacefully disagree and hope that everyone finds lasting sobriety. Sorry folks. Don't mean to stir up controversy, but you all know me. So please forgive me.

[daisy45]

Alcowboy, that is where so many find it hard.....I continuously admit to it and it doesn't take long before I am convincing myself otherwise. So here I am again.
For me, there are real physical side effects that were not there before. I fear for what might happen if I continue on this merry-go-round of torture.
I look at myself in the mirror and it isn't good.....for too long I have been in denial....even though I believed I wasn't. Denial about denial? I wish I knew.....but I am gonna give this my best shot.....I have done a lot of preparation for this quit and do really want it.

[NoSugar]

Many people can be completely honest and admit to themselves and others that they are addicted to alcohol but cannot bring themselves to accept that they cannot ever drink again. That isn't constitutional dishonesty - it is the power of an addiction. I think it takes time without the addictive substance, support, and finding something more meaningful to live for than a drink before the person can truly understand that they have the power over alcohol - they don't have to be the victim - as long as they don't consume it.