It is normal that you are eating more it is nervous eating but you should try to stop and try to eat healthy foods. Our bodies crave what we give it so if we eat fruits and veggies our bodies will crave it. You don't want to replace one addiction with another. It's ok just try to reel it in a little. You are gamble free that's what really matters. Hugs!

I was warned about replacing my gambling with another addiction from the beginning. (One of the benefits of going to an addiction counselor.) It was important for me, to get a relapse prevention plan in place as soon as possible. This is work, but worth it to make a very fluid user friendly tool. I wrote out each and every one of my possible triggers and wrote out a plan of something HEALTHY I would do the next time confronted with that specific trigger. Also, writing out a list of 20 HEALTHY things I can do for twenty minutes (average time it takes an urge to pass) is helpful too, to just have a list of things to do. These two tools can go a long way in helping to gain control and set boundaries for oneself. Example of Relapse prevention plan: Trigger: Aunt Mary's snide remarks at family gatherings make me want to gamble. Next time Aunt Mary makes a snide remark at a family gathering, I am going to ignore it and go spend 20 minutes with the children. or I feel like gambling when I get a paycheck, so for the next several paydays I am going to plan to go to a movie with my friend _______________. Example of healthy things that take at least 20 minutes: Write out what I am grateful for today, journal for twenty minutes about how hard this is, write out and practice some affirmations for 20 minutes, color in a coloring book, dance for 20 minutes, write out a 'good-bye to gambling, re-read your good bye to gambling and think about it, write out your worst day gambling, re-read that and think about it, review your relapse prevention plan, listen to a guided imagery/self hypnosis to quit gambling on You Tube, walk for 20 minutes, make a card for someone I care about, take a bubble bath, give myself a facial, give myself a manicure and or a pedicure, call someone who's been a big support to me, tell them so and thank them, go to the park, go to the library, go to a local event, go to a movie, learn to knit, watch a TED talk on Ted.com, watch/read/listen to something funny, sign up for a class, volunteer somewhere with a cause you care about, write out your life vision, (where do you want to be in one year? Physically? Emotionally? Financially? Spiritually? Socially? Mentally? . Five years? 10 years? 15,20?

I had to make concerted efforts to be social in a healthy way and healthy friendships are neither too distant nor too enmeshed and take maintenance to keep up. I had to make concerted efforts to be present, in the moment and aware of what I was feeling, in order to cease engaging in activities that helped me to not feel my feelings. It is often this very issue of feeling our feelings that is key to why many of us gamble. (For the numbness.) This is UNHEALTHY not matter what method one uses to get there. Addiction to gambling, prostitution, TV, food, exercise, shopping, drugs, just plain busy-ness (A human doing instead of a human being), it matters not the avenue of addiction. Being mindful of myself, taking inventory about my own motivations on a near constant basis in order to be fully self-aware and not slip back to that comfortable oblivion where my inner addict gets the car keys and usually takes me where I don't want to go, for longer than I want, for more money than I want to spend and I am off to races of addictions where I may not get back. I can't afford that in so many ways now. I hope this was helpful.

It was helpful to me. I have a question quit4good. You said you took a grieving workshop. I just started on called griefshare it is about 10 weeks long. Most of my losses are over 10 years or more ago but still hard on me. Then there is the loss of gambling. I don't know how to approach this . It seems like it is geared to deal with one loss not several. do i try to work on all of them or the biggest one now which would probably be either gambling or my mother and then do the work book alone for each one seperatley or do it all at the same time. it is so confusing and over whelming. So what do you think?

newgirl, I think that unresolved grief/loss is part of what led me to addiction (not all) and leads many to gambling. I thin the grief and loss workshop that I went through guided by two gambling addiction counselors would be difficult to do alone. In our workshop, the first thing our group of 25-30 recovering gamblers worked on was just listing ALL of our individual losses. We were instructed to try to make a time line of loss over our lives to include loss of homes, things, pets, people, relationships and any all loss/grief we had ever had. After an hour, no one was done. But we went on to a new activity. The workshop went for 8 hours over three days and included periods of talking, artwork, filmstrips and crying, ending on the third day with a silent ceremonial walk through a local park and setting our biggest hurts free in helium balloons and back for a final art project. Always with constant healthy snacks and drinks available and subdued lighting.

I am not sure I would attempt that alone. Likewise, the Book I recommend, by Penny Parks called Healing the Inner Child, (I think), was helpful to me and has lots of exercises intended to help heal from an abusive childhood. I worked the exercises on my own but I was fortunate to have a great counselor that I was able to discuss it privately with my counselor as I progressed. So my advice her is to work with a counselor if you can, we are all different but we have the same emotions that can be a joy or they can mess us up. It is hard to do recovery in isolation.

Well, I guess I'll add a couple of things here.

1.) In the short-term, substitute eating with something else.
In my case, I got a Fitbit. It was my goal to make 10,000 steps a day, no matter what. So the month or two after I quit, when I wasn't sleeping properly and felt like I was losing my mind, I would walk. Inside. Outside. Around my office. Around my apartment. Up and down my street. It got me away from other habits, like eating or gambling or shopping. And it helped.

2.) Identify your triggers.
There's an expert, Charles Duhigg, who talks a lot about habits and behavioral science. He says that the key to changing behavior is to identify that there is a Trigger, and then a Reaction. You can either change how the Trigger affects you or change your Reaction, but either one will lead you to a different outcome.

In my case, feeling discouraged, anxious, frustrated, overwhelmed or disgusted is a Trigger. Things that make me feel this way include stress at work, taking on too much at work, starting too many projects at work, disorganization at work and at home, and comparing myself to others disfavorably. On the other hand, another Trigger is boredom. Things that trigger boredom are, obviously, not having plans, but then also things that are unexpected, like my husband having to travel for work or a friend cancelling on me last-minute.

I've learned to change the way I perceive these triggers -- it's not about me, it's nothing to be ashamed about, I'm only human, I can deal with boredom, I know negative emotions will pass, I can change with my thinking.

But I've also learned to change my Reactions to the triggers. @qwit4good has a lot of suggestions that work, things like journaling and walking and having a tea/coffee instead of a meal when I'm not hungry.

Thank you so much for all of the great advice. I really enjoy ready the post and always find them helpful. I am also glad to know that others have these struggles and are making the best of it.

To answer your question, yes. I've at times replaced gambling with eating. Just the other day I had an urge on my way home from work so instead of acting on the urge I got a McFlurry. I know that this is not a permanent solution but it made me feel good and I didn't gamble. I guess we are sort of eating our feelings. I am in GA and going to a therapist every other week so I am working on the feelings. I agree that you don't want to replace one addiction with another but when we are early in recovery we need to do what it takes to stay the hell out of action. Thanks for posting and best wishes.