How to Prevent Alcohol Cravings

Alcohol is one of the most difficult drugs to eliminate from one's life. In dealing with cravings, there are many techniques that can assist the addict in getting over them. Cravings generally come from four sources: a reaction to withdrawal symptoms, escaping unpleasant feelings such as anger or depression, habitual associations (e.g. certain friends or night spots, even music), and to enhance a generally pleasant mood. All of these can bring an addict to revisit old, bad habits.

Instructions

Coping with Alcohol Cravings

• 1

  Change your diet. Avoiding sugars and caffeine is a proven way to help reduce cravings. In addition, add more B vitamins to your diet, and make certain to take plenty of supplements of all the major vitamins to reduce cravings. A vitamin rich diet, plus a reduction in processed sugars, is an important, long term way to avoid cravings.

• 2

  Learn to distract yourself. There will be many times in your life that you will be surrounded by drinkers, those seemingly having a great time while you live in abstinence. Try to distract yourself with conversation, friends and, if that fails, to avoid as many of those associations as possible.

• 3

  Get new hobbies. Heavy drinkers have usually abandoned their old hobbies, since alcohol usually takes one away from those more healthy pursuits. If you have no old hobbies to resume, get new ones. Look around and begin to discover what interests you besides drinking.

• 4

  Use cognitive techniques. Reason away these symptoms. Recall what alcohol has done to you in the past. Think about the times you made a fool of yourself while drunk, or the times you have driven a car, endangering everyone around you. Recall to yourself dying of liver disease and withering away in a hospital bed. These techniques will quickly bring to mind the pain that alcohol has caused you.

• 5

  Learn to relax. One of the greatest causes of relapse is the negative emotions that come with anxiety, anger, depression, or boredom. All of these can be solved by basic relaxation techniques, exercise and good diet. If the basic techniques do not help, then consider seeing a psychiatrist and inquire about mood altering drugs such as Paxil or Prozac, or even mild anti-psychotics such a Zyprexa or Seroquel. These can improve your mood, and make cravings less intense.