If you want to change your eating habits, AA and complete abstinence are not the only options. The research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism shows that the majority of people changing their eating habits to do so without AA or rehab. Many decide that quitting is completely their best option, but just as many, if not more, to solve their problems by cutting or becoming safer drinkers.
1) Safety First
If you are engaged in any unsafe behaviors when drinking alcohol, such as drunk driving, unsafe sex, drunk dialing or any of a number of other, there is a is a way to help avoid this in the future. Take a sheet of paper and make a list of at-risk behaviors have engaged in and rank them in a hierarchy - remember that it is more important to avoid the riskiest behaviors first. Then make a written plan to prevent your high-risk behaviors before ever taking the first drink. For example, if you want to drink at a bar, take a taxi so that you will have to take a taxi home. You can not drive if your car is not there. Remember: think before you drink. It 's always a good idea to give priority to safety. The life you save may be your own.
2) decide what kind of a drinker you want to be
Many people believe that stopping altogether is their best option alcohol. No matter how much or how little you drink, anyone can make the choice to abstain completely from alcohol. Others believe that moderate drinking is their best goal and choosing to have a goal to drink moderately and never become intoxicated. Even those people who are unwilling or unable to refrain from drinking to intoxication, sometimes able to work in becoming safer drinkers by planning ahead. Safer drinking can be an important objective of reducing the harm to these individuals, since any plan to be more secure is always an improvement over non-potable. Safer drinking, reduced drinking, or abstinence from alcohol are all legitimate targets for the reduction of the damage and are all better than to make any changes. Also remember that your goal is not set in stone - many people who choose the targets for safer drinking or reduced drinking decide later that the withdrawal passage is their best bet. Life changes, and it's good to be flexible and change with it.
3) add some non-drinking days
Many people believe that having several alcohol-free days each week helps them keep their habit under control. If you drink every day for a long period of time you might find that adding even one day not drinking every week can help you start your change plan. Feel free to go at your own pace in addition to alcohol-free days in your week. Warning: if you are drinking heavily every day for a long period of time you can have alcohol withdrawal if you stop all at once. If you start to have withdrawal symptoms when you stop drinking, then it is safer or taper off slowly, to check into a detox, or to get some medication from your doctor to help with alcohol withdrawal.
4) Count and graph How much Beverages
One of the best ways to get a handle on your drinking is to count your drinks and keep a daily log on a calendar or some other chart type drink. To keep an accurate record of how much you drink you need to learn what a standard drink is. In the US this is a beer twelve ounces in alcohol five percent or a glass five ounces of wine to twelve percent alcohol or one and a half ounce of 80 proof alcohol. A drink in a bar can hold up to half a dozen standard drinks so beware of this when drawing up your drinks. The practice of measurement in the house to get an idea of what a standard drink is really. Write down your drink numbers on your calendar each day; If you have a day of abstinence then write down a zero. Many people believe that the act of charting in itself helps them to cut.
5) Make a plan Drinking
You can use the same calendar where to plot the numbers of drinks to plan how many drinks you will have on any given day. For example, you might want to reserve every Sunday to make your plan to drink for the week to come and write which days will be free alcohol and how many drinks you intend to have over your days drinking. Some people might want to have the same plan every week and will choose to write it only once. For example, a person may choose to drink quietly at home every Saturday night and refrain the other six days of the week. There are many different possible plans to drink as there are people so they feel free to do the plan that is right for you.
6) Make a listing pros and cons
Get out four sheets of paper. At first the pros of your current eating habits and second write the cons. The third write the pros of your intended change, and on the fourth write the cons. Do not be afraid to say that there are positive aspects about alcohol; if you try to repress the positives will only stay in your subconscious and cause problems later. If you get this out into the open now you can recognize and you can find other positive things to replace the benefits you get from alcohol. Feel free to do list pros and cons frequently - every time you write these out will strengthen your decision to change.
7) Take a break from drinking
Some people believe that the best way to jump start a change in their eating habits is to have a period not to drink. Taking a week or two or even a month or two off to drink can be of great help in changing your relationship with alcohol for the best. A stretch of time without alcohol will give you the chance to meet all of old without alcohol consumption situations - and you will learn new ways to cope with these situations without alcohol.
8) Make a list of ways to have fun without drinking
There are endless ways to have fun without alcohol ranging from knitted swimming to work for the New crossword York Times. Take a sheet of paper and make a list of things that you can do without alcohol and keep on hand to refer to when you get the urge to break your drinking fun plan.
9) accentuate the positive
Do not beat yourself up if you do not stick to your plan perfectly . Research shows that the majority of people do not get is perfect the first time. Make a change usually it takes several attempts and there are some slip ups on the way to achieve your goal change. If you beat on a little slip you can make yourself so miserable you want to drown your sorrows in alcohol and you may end up being a major bender accordingly. Persons who reach the long-term success are those that praise for any positive change. If you decide to take a month's break from alcohol and make it to ten days so be sure to praise yourself for those ten days - you will never lose them alcohol withdrawal. Do not waste a lot of time beating yourself up because you did not do the full thirty days, get right back on the floor if you decide to end the remaining twenty days, go for thirty consecutive days, or go to a whole new level.
10) Have a "Plan B" in place
slip ups are the norm when people try to change their habits; only the minority make the change completely the first time. But having a piece of chocolate cake does not mean you have to eat the whole cake. A drink should not mean a drink. If you are going to abstain, but slide up and decide to have a drink then make sure to do it safely; if you are out in the car then take your car home early and take a taxi to the bar. Have your plan B in place so that it remains safe, even if you do not slip. A backup plan is essential if your goal is to drink more secure, reduced drinking, or stop altogether.
Always remember that more is better. Any improvement you make on your old eating habits, no matter how small, is a success!
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