One thing that I have been doing a lot of research on during the last 7 months is the biochemical aspect of alcoholism. It amazes me that so much research has been done on this and yet almost none of the findings have made it into the treatment centers. Alcoholics are still being treated the same way now that they have been for decades with horrible success rates yet nothing changes. If the alcoholic doesn't recover it's the alcoholics fault and not the method of treatment. Okay I'll get off my soap box.

One thing that I have dicovered in my case is that by changing my diet and by taking a few supplements and getting in some exercise I have been able to control my cravings for alcohol. The last time I had any real cravings to drink was last summer after a binge on candy bars and white pasta. I was able to tie the two things together becase I had just been reading about the connection between sugar and alcoholism so I cut out refined sugar and flour from my diet and began eating healthy and the cravings stopped almost overnight. I still have thoughts about drinking from time to time but they are not what I call cravings.

In more than one resource I have read that sugar, nicotine and caffeine all affect the same part of the brain that is affected by alcohol and that they can cause cravings to drink. Makes me wonder about all the AA meetings I sat through smoking, drinking coffee and eating candy. I know that I was addicted to sugar and I've cut that out of my diet. My last two addictions are nicotine and caffeine and I am highly addicted to both. I've been thinking a lot about it lately and this morning on the way in to work I decided that it was time to quit being a slave to anything especially if it is harmful to me. So after today no more nicotine or caffeine. This will not be fun and I except to be a bear for a few days but it will be worth it.