What vice did you use to quit drinking?

The movie, 28 Days, is one of my favorites. During the movie Sandra Bullock plays an addict who goes to rehab. While she's there her roommate tells her that chocolate helps her when she craves heroin. Sandra Bullock eats candy. Do any of you have something you do or eat, or even someplace you go that helped?

Hi bjtds3, I replaced drinking with food and coffee...lots of coffee...........

..there is a hill up near my place that I would climb....not a big one, small and steep though.
after some months of enthusiastic heavy drinking I went up the hill and could barely make it to the top without aches and pains and way out of breath!
this annoyed the crap out of me because I was often so fit (except for D and A binges)...and like to think I could survive in the wild for more than 5 minutes?
so I use regular exercise to keep the drink at a safe distance. I really value being fit. It's something more important to me than being smashed.....but only just!...I still gotta watch it.
It's hard to find that 'thing' thats more important sometimes....but I went looking for it.

I know I went up the hill deliberately to annoy myself.

(absurdly......during the drinking I would regard my physical health as having no importance at all....I would justify this by telling myself with conviction...."you are now using your mind mate!"....."I will get through this life excelling with my mind now"......what a cracker!)

I went to AA -- that was the ONLY way I could quit. I made more than 90 meetings in 90 days, and that sure helped! Plus when the cravings got bad, I ate chocolate, cause when we quit drinking we lose ALOT of sugar, cause alcohol has LOTS of sugar in it and when we stop, our body craves the sugar.

I also drank lots of fruit juices & water to kind of flush the system. I wanted to cleanse the system as quickly as possible so I'd feel better faster, and it did help.

But the meetings were the key. In a couple of months, I'll have 19 years clean/sober. So something worked! LOL Best of luck & God bless. Hugs, Lee

in early sobriety-orange juice, candy, fruit, anything with high sugar count, eating regularly. alcohol is primarily sugar. that's why these substitutes help the cravings for alcohol.
daily execise.
got help-AA
hope this helps. good questions, bjtds!

This time around I've tried to have things to do. Lately it's been looking forward to watching part of a movie when I get home... Hopefully I'll be able to go back to yoga some time next week as well. Letting myself indulge in my natural inclination towards alone time, with reading or drawing or the movies, allowing myself not to feel like I have to go out and do something because that usually takes me to a bar, recognizing the things I really need my money for (which also helps me eat better) are things that are helping right now.

But mostly the indulgence of 'me time' and allowing myself to be gentle and kind to myself. I can't do meetings right now, the social interaction is too stressful and draining for me.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
LMFAO that was a great break from work, thank you very much.

The first time I quit, last year, it was NY Super Fudge Chunk Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Nearly a pint a night. That didn't last long. This time around it is plain ol ice water, exercise and movie nights with my fiance.

I used to eat smaller portions of dinner to save room for drinking, now I make sure to fill my belly. I am normally not even hungry for a snack before bed either, I think it is going well. [that drink still sounds nice though damnit]

I replace one vice with another.

ugh, in bad taste!