AF Daily - Friday 23rd

[Janice]

A quick start to today's thread as have to be at work soon. A bit of a struggle this morning to get going - I feel so tired yet slept well. Dived into 2 cheesecakes over the last two days so that won't help - I need to nip this sugar thing in the bud this time round so if anyone has any advice, I'd be so grateful (DG??). It always happens, when I give up the wine, I want more desserts etc. Had a nice evening with hubby when he got home from his trip, dinner with wine for him and tonic water/lemon for me, I had no pull (sorry, mean I didn't have any cravings!!).:H

Yesterday's thread was so inspiring and that's whats so lovely about coming here - we have such a mixture of AF journeys, longterm and starting out. Thank you to all who are celebrating longterm AF days and are well down that AF path - you give us "young uns" much hope and inspiration.

Will be back later to hear how everyone's getting on.

love Janice
day 6

[gyco]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

i Janice,hope you have a wonderful day,you did say it ,you got sleep,that is one of the most important things you can receive in early sobriety,hate fighting two battles,as far as the eating Ive been on many diets,i ,like drinking ,try to eat three meals,write now im on weight watchers,it does work for me,I'm a chips, and peanut loving man,and gain weight,but my biggest pet peeve,like drinking is peanut butter sandwiches,when i got sick last year i balllooned from 165 lbs to around 210,i gradually went down,to 175,it took me about 6 months,but it did work,but like AL,you have to maintain,as Ive said to many here,my title is chronic dependency syndrome,is what i have in anything i do,i hope you have a wonderful weekend, stay away from the cakes,hahahha gyco

[Kirova]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

'morning Janice, Gyco, and all to come. Sugar is a tough one...the more you have, the more you want (like something else insidious that we all know about). A friend of mine swears that the first 2 weeks of the South Beach Diet helped her kick sugar cravings. Have you heard of a book called Get the Sugar Out? It was written by Ann Louise Gittleman and presents hundreds of ways to cut sugar out of your diet. It's not a cold turkey approach -- has lots of natural alternatives that are geared to satisfying the urge for sweets...and are absorbed more slowly into the bloodstream to avoid sugar spikes. I really like some of the recipes. I'm off to work out. Happy AF-free Friday, all!

[cuckoosnest83]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Good morning Janice, Gyco, Kirova and everyone to come later in the day. Janice the only thing I can recommend with the sugar cravings is try to replace it with some healthy fat snacks such as almonds things along that line. Sorry can't be more help. WIP congratulations on I believe it is, 6 months AF. What a success story for you. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. I work at the shelter tonight so I hope tonight will be an easy AF day for me. Take care.

[Doggygirl]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Hi and Happy AF day to all Ab-Landers!

WIP I can't recall if I congratulated you properly yesterday - I don't think I did! Congratulations on 6 months sober. We are in the "back half" of our first year now! (well, you have done this before but for me? Not since childhood!)

And of course congratulations to everyone who is celebrating another AF day in the journey.

Janice it's great that you are sleeping well! I personally think the best way to get sugar out of our diet is to stop eating it, and suffer through a week or so of cravings. L-Glut helps with that just like AL. I do not recommend immediately replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners. For some people (many actually) the artificial sweeteners can be just as bad as the real thing for cravings and such. As cuckoo suggested, I too find snacks that are high in fat to be satisfying (as in stopping the "munchies" feeling).

Once you have sugar (and all sweeteners) out of your system for a couple of weeks, you can start to experiment carefully and figure out if / which artificial sweeteners agree with you and which don't. I personally avoid aspartame due to the chemical nature of it. Sucralose (splenda) tends to cause cravings for me so I limit that and stay very "aware" of how I feel after eating things sweetened with splenda. My favorite sweetener is a combination I make myself of Erythritol (a sugar alcohol, but doesn't give me any gastric problems like Malitol, sorbitol, etc.) and Stevia (natural from a plant).

This web site is where I get most of my recipes. Healthy Indulgences

The less sweets the better for me.

I had a strange "out of nowhere" thought of drinking this morning. (I was a day drinker and in the end, often started way before 7AM) I was happy that my mind automatically started listing what I love about sobriety. No wonder this is called a mind game. I intend to win.

Have a great AF day everyone!

DG

[greeneyes]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Morning all! Phew, what a week. It continues to be interesting to see an "alcohol moment" before you and you sort of sigh and face it or let it go if need be. And damn if the situation doesn't get resolved without AL! Whadda ya know! Cool.

[charlee]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Morning abbers
Janice, I had that feeling of being exhausted early on, lasted for a few weeks but really did cause me concern. It was a tired I had not remembered feeling in my adult life, I would find myself ready to doze at the drop of a hat, even during dinner. I guess "passing out" was my version of tired. It oes pass, hang on.
Can't help with the sugar thing. I was ok with the amount of sugar I could consume at the beginning of my sobriety, but unforturnaley I let the craving turn into habit and I still eat way to much sugar. I may just have to take DG's advice, bite the bullet, go thru yet another mourning period and just stop. If I can say goodbye to AL, I know I can say farwell to sugar, just need to "do it"....
Another weekend upon us....one more week to superbowl!!!

[retteacher]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Hi Everyone: I'm just getting a handle on the eating after 22 says AF. I've sort of accepted that this is what happens when I give up AL...at least for a while. I'm not worried about it. I have been exercising & meditating every day, & that has made a huge difference for me.

DG: You mentioned the "out of nowhere" AL thought. It's such a strange phenomenon. I don't need stress, fatigue, conflict, etc. for them to come to me. I like your idea of listing all the positives of sober living. I also go through a review of a drinking spell...complete w/hiding & hangover. That seems to dispatch the thought pretty thoroughly. Strangely, I haven't had any "OMG, what if I drink" panicky thoughts lately. I hope I'm not getting complacent. Maybe, I just know in my heart I'm not going to. I think that's what it is.

WIP: I am so very proud of you on reaching your 6 month mark. You & DG & all the other friends here that have many multiple AF days are my role models. Good for you. Your body is saying "thank you" I'm sure. I know I feel completely different.

Lent is coming. Strangely, my husb said he was thinking about giving up AL for Lent. He who only drinks 2 drinks at the most. I know he isn't a secret drinker. He can be a pain in the neck, but he's definitely not devious. Anyhow, I said that sounded good for me too.

Take care everyone. I'll check back later. If I've cross-posted w/anyone, hi there. Mary

[AAthlete]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Janice, I had that feeling last night too and for me it is a combination of things. I think this time of year for me is tough simply because of the crappy weather, so when I don't exercise and eat right I end up feeling like a total slug and it is hard to get anything done. So, I need to pay particular attention to doing the things that I need to do to keep me in the right frame of mind, both mentally and physically.

[ready2change]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Morning all...Happy Friday! It is finally raining here and we should be getting some more over the weekend. We definately need it.

Not much to report here. Congrats to all who achieve their goals. Everyone have an awesome weekend.

R2C

[LVT25]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Hello friends,
Cold and snowy here today. Had to get up early and take my son to BB practice. Looks like a good day to build a fire and work on some projects. I realized yesterday I need to get my 1099's ready by the 31st--yikes!

don't want to be a bummer here, but still feeling a little down since the bad accident last weekend. The funerals of the two men were yesterday, I only made3 it to the 21 year old's. That was plenty. A lot of young people there, I hope they learned something from the tragedy. Beer + speed = death. I have been talking to my 14 year old about it. It was the saddest scene watching the parents and sister follow that casket out of the auditorium. Now I keep thinking the rest of us get to go about our normal lives--but this will be with them forever.

Anyway, sorry to :upset: but thanks for listening!!!!

It's Friday (again). I know this is a tough day for some. I remember when it was just a given to drink on Friday. (I drank most of the other days too, but on Friday it was REALLY okay!) The boys will be gone, maybe I can have just a little alone time with hubby by the fire!!!:h

Have a good weekend all!

[retteacher]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

LVT: I too have a drunk driving story as you know...a ddriver smacking into our friends 17 yr old daughter resulting in her losing both her legs. We just found out this AM that he got 3 - 5 yrs in jail, will receive credit for the 173 days he's already spent in jail, & got a $350 fine. He'll be able to apply for a drivers license in 2 years. Is there any justice there? This young girl lost both her legs above the knee & is just now learning to walk on prosthetics. Her parents had to have a series of fundraisers, because her health insurance didn't cover the prosthetics. I'm not sure what the judge was thinking when he made this decision.

I can clearly remember stopping for that bottle of vodka on Fri. after work. Then drinking from it all night. Of course, the next day, I was pretty wasted but managed to drink again on Sat. as part of our social life. What an incredible waste of a weekend! Sun. was either another day of drinking (the remainder of the bottle) or just the necessary recovery period in order to go to work on Mon. Awful! The memories alone are enough to keep me from drinking. Thanks for the reminder.

Mary

[stargirl]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Good Morning all & happy al-free Friday!
Janice, we discussed the whole sugar issue not to long ago. I dove into Nerds and blowpops hardcore when I quit. aidanspa started a thread on the 11th. There was a lof of good advice given.
LTV- I'm sorry your still feeling down in the dumps. I can't imagine the effect one night had on sooo many people. I can't believe I ever did something so dumb as to drive after drinking. Makes me sick.
On a lighter note, I had to take my car in for an oil change yesterday. They had free coffee/hot chocolate in the waiting room. So I got a cup...and realized I didn't have to hold my cup in both hands to stop shaking out of control. Hehe the little things even make me happy. Ok, silly story
Happy Friday to all, and as always, keep up the wonderful work. You all rock!

[on my way]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Morning all, I would agree this time of year always leaves me feeling some what tired and lazy. I find parking myself in front of a sunny window and taking some extra vit D helps a lot. Yawnnnn!!

Stargirl, the lack of shaking is a bonus !!

Have a great weekend, nat

[kitkatsue]

AF Daily - Friday 23rd

Good morning to all !

Nothing much of interest here I wish the sun would come out.

Stargirl that is not a silly story I remeber just hating shaking uncontrollable, thank you for sharing that reminder

Everyone have a great day!!

kit