[FullSteamAhead]

Jay, thanks for bringing up the differntiation between "addiction", "habit", etc. I so agree about getting off the merry-go -round, yet for me to get it off it meant walking briskly away from it, literally! : )

I had quit smoking, drinking, coffee, and rich foods or bad eating habits. I did it all simultaneously. I was not addicted to alcohol and as for the coffee, I am sure I was physically addicted. The smoking of course an addiction. I gave up the alcohol and coffee for some time as those things were major triggers for me and would set off a craving for a smoke. After some time, I could enjoy my cocktails again on weekends or social events and have my morning coffee w ithout any cravings,,, right along the lines of what you said about short term, etc. HOw I got off the so called merry go round was by replacing it with exercise. I started eating healthy and exercising, which led me to a healthy lifestyle for many years (10). I didn't gain any weight from quitting smoking, I went on to lose 43 lbs and reach my ideal. So for me, jumping on the healthy eating band wagon and exercising were my ticket, and thus, "replacement" if you will. Needless to say after 10 years, I started smoking again about 5 years ago what an idiot ha? NOw, I already eat healthy and exercise, what do I replace it with now? lol Yessssssss, good point about the replacement thing jay. I am going to quit cold turkey as before and not necessarily needing to replace it with something but just a sheer breaking the addiction!!! I will most definitely utilize exercise though as I currently do and have some other sort of back up ready. Knitting? lol I beleive in the power of the mind and that we can accomplish anything we want to.


another one of my long , rambling posts! sorryyyy I admire you ladies who can get your point across in such a succinct fashion. I am a rambler, lol

[LLV]

Originally Posted by BlueToBlue

I saw that Oprah show (while I was at the gym, working out, wouldn't you know... ) and, I know this wasn't the appropriate or healthy response, but after Carnie told her story, my only thought was "how? how did she drink all that alcohol and maintain her weight?" I can barely fit a glass of wine into my calorie plan and she was drinking something like a bottle of wine and ten martinis a day! Is there some sort of no-calorie wine that I don't know about?

She probably compensated. A friend of mine, who is also a calorie-counter and who has lost a ton of weight, drinks every night. Her calorie limit is about 1300 calories a day, I think. She calculated that she drinks about 500-600 calories a night in alcohol. So she simply makes sure she only eats about 800 calories a day in food so she can use up the rest of her calories drinking. Because I asked her one time how she drinks so much and has still lost all of that weight. Well, that's how.

Not healthy, but that's how she does it. Thank criminy she at least takes vitamins. I know it's not the same as getting your vitamins from food, but it's better than nothing at all, in her case.

[JayEll]

LLV, I'm afraid that your friend is an alcoholic. When people sacrifice food so they can drink alcohol, that's a pretty sure sign.

Jay

[LLV]

Originally Posted by JayEll

LLV, I'm afraid that your friend is an alcoholic. When people sacrifice food so they can drink alcohol, that's a pretty sure sign.

Jay

I know

[Janie Canuck]

Another conjecture re: Carnie Wilson's drinking. Let's face the ugly truth, when you're drinking huge amounts, it doesn't all stay down! Also, a large portion of the small intestine is removed in that surgery, is it not? Since the small intestine is where absorption takes place, I suppose she may have absorbed less than all the calories from the alcohol that she did keep down.

[funnygirl33]

I think that is interesting. I wolud like to become addicted to cleaning and ironing Not kidding. I will try to change my adiction to food to celaning and ironing because I wolud like to have cleaner flat. When I got hungry I will go clean my kitchen or irone my cloathing. I will let you know how it goes

I lack discipline in everthing not just around food.