Drunkorexia – Another Failed Diet Plan

A new study conducted from early 2012 – present by the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention shows nearly 1 in 6 adults engaging in binge drinking at least 4x per month. Of this statistic, the largest group of drinkers appears to be between 18 and 34 years of age. Though not specifically to blame, a new form of binge drinking, coined “Drunkorexia” is steadily gaining popularity among this demographic.

CDC studies from 2006 indicate the cost per average binge drinker to be $746, including various expenses, such as health care, auto accidents, STDs, and violence.

To sum it up, “Drunkorexia” refers to a form of binge drinking where young men and women consciously limit their food intake as a way of reserving calories for alcohol consumption; a practice that has been found to enhance the risks of unprotected sex and overdose.

A recent study, involving 227 York University students – ages 17 – 21 – showcased the three main types of eating disorders, including emotional eating, dieting, and eating as a direct response to external stimuli as opposed to hunger. Of these three types, dieting was found to show the highest risk for alcohol abuse.

This alcohol dieting practice is even more concerning, provided the fact that alcohol and weight loss are mortal enemies. Though the occasional drink can certainly have its share of health benefits, those choosing to consume massive amounts of alcohol in lieu of healthy calories actually stand to gain weight.

Alcohol is metabolized in a very different way than other beverages and food items. Under typical conditions, the human body is able to obtain its energy from the calories found in proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, which are processed and absorbed by the gastrointestinal system. When alcohol is present, this process is altered. Because the body views alcohol as a toxin, the fluids will receive immediate attention from the digestive system.

When alcohol is consumed on an empty stomach, the molecules within the alcohol diffuse through the walls of the stomach, reaching the liver and brain in a matter of minutes. The process is much slower when the stomach is full, but as soon as food has entered the small intestine, alcohol is given first priority, and quickly absorbed into the bloodstream.

To boot, alcohol makes it difficult for the body to properly absorb fat and carbohydrates. As such, the calories that would typically be processed for energy are ultimately converted into body fat and stored away within the body. As such, those seeking to maintain or shrink their waist line through drinking, will actually gain weight over time.

If you or someone you know is dealing with alcohol addiction, our Above It All addiction specialists are available to help. Give us a call 24/7, and find out how you can get on track towards the healthy, fit, and happy lifestyle you’ve been chasing.

Learning From Our Experiences and Making Changes

One of the hardest things in life is feeling stuck in a situation that we don’t like and want to change especially when we are powerless over drugs and alcohol and don’t know how to ask for alcohol addiction help. We may have exhausted ourselves trying to figure out how to make change, and we may even have given up after several failed attempts at getting and staying sober. However, each day offers us an opportunity to renew our resolve and to declare to the universe that we are ready for change. We may even say out loud that we have tried and struggled and have not found a way, but that we are open to help, and that we intend to keep working to create change for ourselves. We may realize we need the assistance of a drug addiction detox or an affordable rehab. It can be done today, right now.

It is difficult to understand, even with hindsight, how the choices we have made have added up to our current situation, but it is a good idea to examine the story we tell ourselves. If we tend to regard ourselves as having failed, this will block our ability to allow ourselves to succeed and stay sober. We have the power to change the story we tell ourselves by acknowledging that in the past, we did our best, and we exhibited many positive qualities, and had many fine moments on our path to the present moment. We can also recognize that we have learned from our experiences, and that this will help us with our current choices on how we plan on staying sober.

When we do this kind of work on how we view our past self, we make it possible for the future to be based on a positive self-assessment and give ourselves a fighting chance. This inner shift may allow us to get out of the cycle we’ve been in that’s been keeping us stuck. Allow today to be the day to end cycles and enter into a new way of being.

Living Sober – Happily

After spending years attempting to escape reality through drug and alcohol abuse, it’s important that you begin your road to sobriety with a healthy dose of optimism and pride. Many hold on to the idea that drugs and alcohol are the root of all their problems… Thus implying that without it, life will be grand! However, many who achieve sobriety will often tell you that the road to happiness far more complex. In this entry, we will offer up some tips on maintaining a positive, healthy and sober mindset throughout your recovery and the lifetime to follow.

1 – Delve into the stresses, anger and hurt that pushed you towards your escape in the first place. Divorce, low self esteem, business failures and family illness are all very common triggers. Once you’ve made the decision to stop using, you may very well find these issues ready and waiting for you to deal with them properly. Recognizing these triggers and taking the initiative to deal with them head-on will help alleviate some of the risks associated with relapse, while providing you with a greater sense of purpose and understanding.

2 – Take time to appreciate your sobriety and the effort it took to get where you are today. Many people struggle for years to achieve even a small amount of freedom from drug and alcohol dependency. If you’ve already made it this far, it’s an achievement worth taking pride in. Do Not Let Go.

3 – Accept the fact that while you likely have regrets; they do not require that you not be entitled to the beauty, wonder and happiness life has to provide. You deserve to feel all the happiness, pain, love, and splendor on a grand scale… not through an alcoholic fog.

4 – Weed through the people in your life who keep your thoughts negative, while choosing to spend time with individuals who encourage your success. Find someone to inspire you… fictional or real… and fill your heart with a full dose of hope.

5 – Find your purpose in life! Pick up an instrument, take a class, exercise, dance, go for walks, laugh, love, and TRY NEW THINGS! Devoting yourself to something outside of your own being will place you in a mindset far from self-indulgence and excess.

If you’re interested in a new lease on life, love and happiness, our Above It All treatment center alcohol counselors are there to help. Give them a call today and find out what we can do to help you achieve the fulfilling, centered and sober life you deserve.

Getting Sober and Starting Over

There are different forms of starting over and as alcoholics when we first ask for alcohol addiction help and get sober it’s very much a new beginning for us. There are several options and ways to start over, but when we make the choice to get sober it’s one of the most important choices we can ever make. It’s a choice to live a better life. We choose to let go of our past and the disease of alcoholism that has held us down for so long. Some of us choose to enlist the help of a 30 day rehab, AA, or a drug addiction detox for guidance. We learn that at any given moment we can start over and make a different choice. We can change our minds to find out what Gods will for us is or change our behavior around any situations. We learn we never have to drink to start over we just simply have to choose contrary action as opposed to doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results (insanity).  Starting our day over, redirecting our thoughts and realizing our actions and our thoughts can be beneficial and rewarding. Whether it be by letting go of something, trying something new, or changing our thought process or actions, it can mean the difference between a good day or bad day, a healthy happy relationship or a toxic one, drinking or not drinking, or other healthy or unhealthy choices. When we are able to realize that something is no longer working for us and are able to let go and start a new then we get to have a different experience with life. This is one of the several ways that sobriety work for us. The fact that we don’t have to drink anymore over our feelings, but instead stop what we’re doing and try a new approach and find peace amongst chaos is a miracle. We use to drink over our feelings/thoughts before as well as not getting our way or our fear and now after getting sober we are able to turn everything over to a higher power and realize that there is nothing we cannot do or be if we are willing to just to the footwork.

The Importance of Honesty in Receiving Alcohol Addition Help

When we first get sober we need to get honest with ourselves and others before we can receive alcohol addiction help. For starters we need to admit that we have a problem and that we are alcoholics to our innermost selves and then we can begin to get honest with others. After that we might need the assistance of an addiction program in Los Angeles and we must once again get honest this time about the fact that we can’t do this alone. This necessity for honesty does not stop but gets more important yet easier for most as time goes by. We might have to be honest with our Los Angeles rehab, sponsor, friends, and family if something is going on with us because our secrets can keep us sick and can eventually kill us. Honesty is not a familiar concept at first for alcoholics since we’ve often felt like we’ve had to lie and that it worked for us when we were using in regards to defending our right to drink as well as attempting to hide our disease but as time goes by and we recover sober alcoholics can be some of the most honest and reliable people in this world. We find we no longer have to lie, and can be honest because with our new found life and “ second chance” we have no need to hide things. We have a higher power that can handle any situation when we live an honest and loving lifestyle.

Alcoholics and Their All or Nothing Thinking

Often times alcoholics live in a world of extremes. Extreme ways of doing things and extreme ways of thinking. It’s another way our addiction plays out. We often have all or nothing thinking followed sometimes by all or nothing actions. Things for us are generally black and white. We at times look at things in a way that if we don’t “win” or get our way then nobody wins (especially when we are new and first receive alcohol addiction help). This thought process can actually be harmful to our sobriety in the sense that when we are unable to see any other way not only are we setting ourselves up for a us against the world mentality but we are potentially harming others, living in fear / self will, and we are shutting ourselves off from remaining teachable. If we fail to remain teachable it might lead to a relapse. When we go to a drug rehab in California, AA, or other Los Angeles rehab programs we learn that we cease fighting all places, people, and things. We learn to let things just be so that we can have peace and personal growth. Through this process of learning how to live life on life’s terms we start to rely on faith in a higher power, rely a little less on ourselves, and get to the point where we know that we are going to be ok no matter what even if things don’t look the way we think they should that very moment we know it is exactly how it is supposed to be.

Alcoholism, Agnosticism, and the Question of Faith

“Arrived at this point, we were squarely confronted with the question of faith.  We couldn’t duck the issue; some of us had already walked far over the bridge of reason toward the desired shore of faith.  The outlines and the promise of the new land had brought luster to tired eyes and fresh courage to flagging spirits.  Friendly hands had stretched out in welcome.  We were grateful that reason had brought us so far but somehow we couldn’t quite step ashore. Perhaps we had been leaning too heavily on reason that last mile and we did not like to lose our support.  That was natural but let us thinks a little more closely.  Without knowing it, had we not been brought to where we stood by a certain kind of faith?” –pg 53 We Agnostics from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

There are times in sobriety that require a great deal of courage and faith.  For example when we first seek alcohol addiction help and make the decision to get sober or other life changes such as going to a drug rehab in California, getting a new job, moving or starting a family.  Whatever it is, change usually requires a great amount of courage and faith.  Faith that everything will be okay and that there is something better for us on the other side if we just walk through the fear.  Through AA and measures we take after drug addiction detox, we learn how to practice faith and courage. We learn that through the use of the steps and a higher power we can walk through almost any situation with grace and dignity if we choose.  We also learn to live life on life’s terms knowing that everything is exactly how it should be in that moment.  Once we have the experience with a situation we never have to be fearful of it or the unknown again.  For issues relating to our sobriety this is a great way to build up a defense against the first drink, kind of like insurance.  For example, we build experience with staying sober one day at a time.  We now know how to stay sober and it is no longer a scary foreign concept for us anymore but rather a part of our everyday life.

Uncovering the Alcoholic Ego

“Our eyes begin to open to the immense values which have come straight out of painful ego puncturing.” –Step 7  pg. 74 from the Twelve and Twelve

When we first receive alcohol addiction help and get sober many of us have a huge ego that we might not even be aware of. We are some of the most entitled people. We are either feeling less than or greater than others because as ourselves we are not enough but When we go to a 30 day rehab or AA a shift happens. After drug addiction detox we learn how to live life sober. When we work the steps we become “right sized”. We no longer have to act on fear and ego. We cease fighting everything and everyone because we don’t need to .We are able to see beyond our wants and needs, we are able to see the bigger picture, and what is best for us and our fellows as opposed to just us. We can start looking at how everyone can win instead of just being out to get ours. As a result of this we gain a beautiful and fulfilling life full of amazing friends. Our broken friendships are repaired, and we are finally right with ourselves and our higher power. Things come together in ways unimaginable, and we lose interest in ourselves and gain interest in our fellows. This is beneficial at every stage of our sobriety because when I’m worried or concerned with you and your life then I’m not wrapped up with me and my problems and can finally experience peace.

Fear and Sobriety (Part 2)

Many of us experience fear around many different things. It can either be healthy or unhealthy. Healthy fear is when it’s used as a defense mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus such as pain or the threat of danger. There are also common fears such as fear of death, the unknown, and fears in cultures. Alcoholics can also add fear of failure and fear of success to this list. Unhealthy fear is when it is not based in reality and keeps you from living life. For us alcoholics especially in the grips of our disease we can find the fear paralyzing. Not knowing what is going to happen, or fear of not being able to get sober often times stops us from getting alcohol addiction help. When we overcome those fears and decide to get sober we are faced with new fears such as can I do this on my own? Is there an affordable rehab I can go to? or would a 30 day rehab and drug addiction detox program be best for me? Once we make that choice then the life fears along with reality start to set in. How do we live life? Will we ever be happy again? What do I do with myself? Who am I? Etc. The great fact for us is that through getting sober and working the steps we find a higher power of our own understanding and while there is fear from time to time it’s never paralyzing like it was when we were using because we have faith and are taken care of.

Fear and Sobriety (Part 1)

“Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self seeking, and self-pity”-pg 62 How it works from the big book of alcoholics anonymous

“The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentments, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear.” -pg 145 to employers

It is natural to have fear around the unknown as well as seeking out alcohol addiction help and getting sober. It is a huge life change and we are asked to give up the only life we know and have faith in something we have very little or no experience with. Sometimes we have to give up the things we have that are no longer working for us just for the hope of something better. If we are having trouble with overcoming our fear a 30 day rehab can help. Though the recovery process might still seem difficult through the help of a drug addiction detox your goal of getting/staying sober will feel more attainable. Once we are sober and see these new tools working for us we can begin to have more faith and a new found ability to walk through fear, regardless of what our fear is based off of. Many alcoholics live in constant fear when we get sober. It s an emotion that is familiar to us. While fear is something that will inevitably pop up at one point or another in our lives, regardless of being sober or not it no longer has to be debilitating and run our lives/actions. The more we walk through fear the less fear we will have. We can then begin to decide what we do with it. Do we let it hold us back from living life and miss out on amazing opportunities, or do we power through and prove to ourselves that we are taken care of no matter what and see what we are capable of? The choice is ours!