Sneaky Addictions – Watch Out!

One of my patients decided to give up alcohol a number of months back. She noticed that she was starting to crave more and more of the fruity stuff and realized that her health seemed to be deteriorating with rewarding that craving. Now off the alcohol she’s feeling a lot better, stronger emotionally and has more energy. She was sure that she had been developing an addiction.

I agreed with her. I have experienced the same phenomenon, not only with alcohol, but also with chocolate. Can anyone relate to this?

A number of years ago my husband and I were enjoying a glass or two of wine in the evening with dinner. We both love to try different wines, and were experimenting with our “senses.” Gosh, was that “old saddle,” or a “chocolate finish,” or, whatever. It was fun! One day I noticed, however, about mid afternoon, that my mind/body was craving the alcohol, even at our relatively low level of intake. The message was, “Oh boy, I can’t wait to have that glass of wine with supper tonight!” Now that’s okay, but it was beginning to feel that it was not okay with part of my body/mind not to have that glass of wine.

Just two weeks ago I discovered an absolutely fabulous chocolate at our local coop. It was made with hazelnuts, had no sugar, was sweetened with stevia minimally, and gosh, I just felt fine after eating it. What a great dessert! Gradually I found myself having a little bit more each night. Aside from the negative effect of the additional calories, I started to not feel okay about not having this wonderful dessert. And, why not have a little more since it seemed to be so healthy?

Dear Mind… You are Out of Control

In both cases,the alcohol experience a number of years ago, and the recent chocolate escapade I was able to come to my senses and realize that I was a bit out of control. I needed to be able to “walk” from any enjoyable experience, and not crave it.

So years ago I decided to no longer have wine every night with a meal. Now days I rarely have wine, but when I do I enjoy it. I was able to nip in the bud the more recent hazelnut/chocolate addiction. I made an agreement with myself that I could not have that particular chocolate more than once monthly. So fortunately, with both of these experiences I was able to act quickly and just say, “No, I guess not,” to my mind.

Catch it Early and Make it Easy

Catching these addictive tendencies early makes it much easier to turn the desire around. My patient was able to stand back and see a bigger picture. She did not like what she saw in that picture and was able to be proactive and change her outcome. I have never liked the idea of “something” controlling me so when I recognized the addictive allure of the wine and the hazelnut/chocolate I was able to stop and say, “Enough!”

If you find yourself locked into a habit, even if it is a delightful one, take back control of your mind and thoughts and just say no. If you are already seriously locked into a habit, get some professional help. You may also find certain essential oils may serve as helpful antidotes to a tendency toward addictive behavior.