Dealing with Cravings 2: Replace the Habit

Photo Credit: @brunette23

Hello Sobertown,

Welcome to the first practical application in our dealing with cravings.

As stated within the introduction article, the idea is to override the pathway and sensation leading to cravings and their associated thought and action.

The simplest way to interject and slam the door closed on the craving process is to replace the habit of drinking with the habit of………………. drinking, the difference being obvious, the replacement contains no alcohol, not less alcohol, zero alcohol.

Cravings will have a tendency to occur with more frequency and vigour at times at which your habit would have been fed in times past. Most often toward the afternoon the cravings will gain momentum early in the AF journey.

Sensation, Perception, Feeling, Thought and Action

In our process we can let the process play out but replace the habit.

Sensation: Any number or multiple senses will tell you it is time for alcohol.

Perception: The mind perceives the sensation as processes it as a desire for alcohol.

Feeling: Craving for or simply thoughts about alcohol come to light.

Thought: Active decision making occurs based on the craving, this is where turning to alcohol would usually occur or stem from. This is where we STOP. We allow the thought but direct the thought toward thirst and consuming a beverage without alcohol.

Action: Prepare and consume an alcohol free beverage, something you enjoy, something you desire.

When the craving comes along you need to be prepared and to have pre-planned one or multiple alcohol free options which you actually WANT and ENJOY. For example some favorites are soda water and cranberry juice, Soda and lime, especially with some mint or there are a wildly vast amount of soda options. I would recommend a non alcoholic beverage which takes preparation, I would recommend it has more than one ingredient, I would recommend it be more than just a glass of flat water and I would recommend having plenty of its ingredients in the house ahead of time ready to go.

The act of preparing the beverage is very important, this hacks into our desire for the act of preparing an alcoholic beverage as we have done in the past, the desire for the noise as the cap is twisted or the pop of the cork, for example a couple of ice cubes and a slice of lime plus a dash of cranberry juice mixed into a nice glass, maybe even with a stirrer it really is up to you but the more of a process it is, the more of a song and dance you make about its preparation the better, this will feed that little noise in your head desiring the whole process of the alcohol, the packaging, the noise, the smell and the process, it all plays a part.

For the glass, you could use a nice glass, perhaps the one you would have mixed your alcohol in but only do so if you do not find this too triggering, some people do find they need to eliminate alcohol glasses from their kitchen altogether while some people like myself actually find it can be nice to use a large wine glass to mix a soda and lime, it just gives the experience that little extra something which is no different to when we consumed alcohol the fact is alcoholic beverages could just as well have been consumed from a regular glass or mug, the benefits to aeration or carbonation are not as important as people would have you believe. This is subjective and I recommend you do what is right for YOU, I can not emphasise that enough, doing what is right for you. If you feel better not touching or looking at alcohol specific glasses then great, get rid of them or stash them in the shed. If you like the idea of using a fancy glass for your soda water or your kombucha and you feel no trigger or attachment in doing so, great, go for your life. Your journey, your mind, your triggers, no right or wrong. perhaps you buy yourself a totally new glass dedicated to your alcohol free replacement drink. Perhaps you have the glass chilling in the freezer nice and cold ready to go. The more elaborate the better.

You have your lovely, cool, alcohol free beverage mixed with love in your hand and the craving or the habit or routine sets in. You sit down somewhere comfortable. You take a deep breath in and long slow breath out. The big day is over, you earned your drink. You take a sip, it tastes great and it refreshes you. You slowly drink the whole AF beverage and you take another deep breath in and deep breath out. When you use this process, you invest in ensuring it is a drink you love, you make it with intent and you sit down and feel that you earned it and that it is a reward and you will be surprised, pleasantly surprised. You will likely find this non alcoholic beverage replaces the habit of consuming alcohol with surprising efficacy, you will likely find that the craving is suppressed either totally or to significant extent. You might find the act of consuming the beverage induces a euphoria similar to that which alcohol did, recall the sensation you get even in travelling to the liquor store to buy alcohol, the trip to cop the drug is enough to send the brain into a frenzy and in some of us it is possible to create a boost of endorphins and dopamine simply from replicating the act but without the poison. You will realise you didn’t actually want or need the alcohol as badly as you thought you did and that it is purely a craving induced by the habit you created over time, the habit your brain is tricking you into thinking you want or even need when in reality the craving will pass and it will be ok. Replacing the habit is effective.

This may seem simple and it is, although it does require you to invest some time in trying new drinks, looking around a little more in the shop to check the options and having the alcohol free ingredients ready to go at home, simple, but being prepared is the key. This simple act of replacing the habit still requires investment, it requires pre-planning, shopping and ensuring you have what you need to make your favorite non alcoholic beverages at home. Your beverage of choice might be unhealthy itself, containing sugar, who cares, whatever it takes during early sobriety, you should not try to solve all of life’s problems all at once, if you need to consume an unhealthy non alcoholic drink to replace the extremely unhealthy alcoholic drink, so be it, work on that problem later, there will be time to improve everything in good time.

This is it. This is the first gate control option. Overriding the craving with the replacement of the habit with a non alcoholic drink. Simple, effective, attainable. The trick is to be prepared, know your AF beverage of choice and use your will power to direct your hand toward the soda water and limes and not toward the car keys to drive to the bottle shop, not easy, but achievable. Keep in mind there are so many great NA drink recipes and options around, you don’t have to look very far and it is worth doing some searching to find your favourite.

Aside from finding your alcohol free drink of choice, this takes us to the well worn discussion of, da, dada, daaaa, alcohol free beverages.

There have been many opinion pieces whose aim and attempt is to thrash out the question, are AF drinks helpful or hindering in sobriety. There have also been many and varied opinions heard as I traversed through time on the AF path. Some love them, some think they are a gateway drink and should be avoided altogether, some are on the fence. The topic has no single objective answer. The question:

Are alcohol free beverages a good option in sobriety

Rather than throw another opinion out into the ether I will simply convey my experience in alcohol free options during my sober journey.

I could absolutely NOT go near an AF replica-beverage until week 6 of my alcohol free journey. I was hellbent on making the lifestyle stick and as such I was in avoidance and caution mode for a solid 6 weeks. I would recommend doing this, no easing off the throttle, especially in the first 100 days. I could not consume anything that even looked or tasted like alcohol as I converted my mind to one which understood alcohol was no longer a part of of its experience. Essentially I stayed well away from AF beverages and Alcoholic beverages alike. Solid 6 weeks, absolutely not was my choice. Then, after 6 weeks I was confident enough in my decisions to begin testing the waters VERY carefully on multiple fronts. I began with AF beer and at the time at which I would usually have prepared a soda and lime I grabbed a zero beer. I was curious, I had gone from the taste of beer being a regular occurrence in my life to none. I poured it into a glass and sipped, I felt sick, physically ill, I had devoted so much effort to ensuring my mindset was that of a non drinker that I literally felt off drinking something that tasted like beer, that confirmed to me that I had done a good job of converting my mindset, I tried another sip, it was a little less harsh but still undesirable, I tipped out the rest.

I waited another week, I tried again and with a milder zero beer, I was calmer this time, I felt less like this was going to cause me to suddenly jump back to real beer as though it was a gateway drug. I did not love it, but I did not dislike it. I slowly consumed the whole beer, that was all.

I waited another week or so and we found a brand of zero beer named SOBAH, which resembled well made craft beers, I tried one of these next and the production quality was excellent, I tasted the taste I always loved and I still enjoyed it without the alcohol, the zero beer was made well to resemble hoppy bitterness, a flavor I genuinely adore. I felt ok with it and I felt stable in my journey. This was my experience, I gradually realised the enjoyment of the occasional zero beer bit by bit safely, testing the waters slowly until now I enjoy the taste and refreshment of zero alcohol beer perhaps once or twice per week and this involved drinking one or maybe two of them at most but rarely more than one.

I can see how for some, even the smell or taste of a beverage resembling the real deal would be triggering and cause cravings or at worst relapse. My advice would be to tread very carefully in your consumption of AF beverages and perhaps like me, stay well away for 6-8 weeks before testing the waters with great caution. Some people I know have successfully converted to a sober life and consumed AF beverages from day 1, so this is an individual thing, but either way, approach with caution. That aside, I see no problem with AF beverages, where a market exists people will fill the space with products, some will last and some will not. To believe conspiratorially that every manufacturer of zero alc. beverages is working to draw us back into the world of booze would be silly, the market is calling for non-alcoholic options for those who do not want to drink but still desire options out or a safer way to consume nice and well crafted beverages and I think that is fine, it is simply up to us to figure out if we can safely consume them and indeed if we even want them, because the truth is, some of us might just like regular old water, juice or soda, and hey, whatever floats your boat. Remember also that alcohol exists in many beverages in tiny quantities and in many types of medications and some cooking products, if you are highly sensitive it would be prudent to understand which products do contain trace alcohol such as some kombucha’s especially home made fermented drinks and some over the counter medications and steer clear of them. Again your journey. At the current stage of my journey I can happily consume non alcoholic beers which contain trace amounts of ethanol, I can consume kombucha and other trace beverages as long as the effects are not noticeable due to the incredibly low quantity, but that’s me, you do you and if you need to totally eliminate all trace alcohol products then absolutely do this.

Sobertown, replace the habit…

The Sobertown Blog articles and recordings are created as a means of assisting others in achieving and maintaining sobriety and freedom from alcohol. Experiences, entries, research and article content are that of the author and should be applied in a safe manner deemed best by the reader and applied safely, if relevant, with medical oversight. This is not medical advice and the author is not a medical doctor. No advice within is based on or crosses over with the authors profession or professional opinion as an AHPRA registered allied health practitioner or FA registered exercise professional.